Breaking Down Tyler Glasnow’s Debut

On Thursday afternoon right-handed pitching prospect Tyler Glasnow made his Major League debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Below is a more in depth look at his outing.

Tyler Glasnow is officially a Major League starting pitcher, yay! However, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost his Major League debut on Thursday afternoon, boo! All in all, Glasnow’s outing on Thursday was a solid one.

Even though the Pirates lost, Tyler Glasnow pitched well on Thursday afternoon. Glasnow lasted 5 1/3 innings allowing just three hits, two walks, and he struck out five batters. Despite posting a WHIP of just 1.00 and striking out the same amount of batters as innings pitched, Glasnow was charged with four runs on Thursday afternoon.

When you look deeper into Tyler Glasnow’s outing, you see he pitched much better than his final line. Of the four runs Glasnow allowed, an argument can be made that only one was his fault. This one run that was undoubtedly his fault was a solo home run he allowed in the fifth inning to Randal Grichuk.

The first run Tyler Glasnow allowed came in the bottom of the fourth inning. Glasnow allowed a lead off triple to Aledmys Diaz, but after a ground out with the infield drawn in and a strikeout he seemed primed to get out of it without allowing a run. However, with two outs Glasnow uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Diaz to score. 

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How is a wild pitch not Tyler Glasnow’s fault? Well, here’s how. The pitch, in my opinion, should have been ruled a passed ball on Eric Fryer. This was a pitch that Eric Fryer should have blocked. Had he done this, the Cardinals would not have scored in the fourth inning.

The other two runs Tyler Glasnow allowed came when he was not on the mound. Glasnow was lifted in the bottom of the fifth inning with one out and runners on the corners. Arquimedes Caminero entered the game for the Pirates, and allowed a three-run home run to Stephen Piscotty. This gave the Cardinals a 5-1 lead, and two of these three runs were charged to Glasnow.

Despite being charged for four runs, Tyler Glasnow flashed a lot of good on Thursday afternoon. His fastball sat in the mid-90s, and his curveball was absolutely filthy. Glasnow threw a curveball that was very crisp and had a lot of bite to it.

Glasnow’s biggest issue was struggling with command at times. While finishing the game with only one walk was awesome to see, he hung too many curveballs on Thursday. One of these hanging curveballs was the pitch Randal Grichuk cranked for a solo home run in the fifth inning. Once Glasnow starts to command his curveball better, it will be an absolutely dominating pitch.

Tyler Glasnow threw just one change up on Thursday afternoon. Moving forward, this will need to change. One of the things that kept Glasnow in the Minor Leagues as long as he was there was his lack of change up use. In order for Glasnow to reach his potential in the Majors, he will need to use his change up more.

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Tyler Glasnow demonstrated a lot more good than not good on Thursday afternoon. This is definitely reason for huge optimism moving forward. My biggest concern with Tyler Glasnow in the Major Leagues was lack of control, and this was not much of an issue on Thursday afternoon.

Moving forward, I expect Tyler Glasnonow to remain in the Pirate rotation. After the All-Star Break I expect the Pirate rotation to be Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon, Francisco Liriano, Tyler Glasnow, and of the three between Chad Kuhl, Jeff Locke, and Jon Niese.