Pittsburgh Pirates: Tyler Glasnow and Mitch Keller Dominate

Yesterday, the Pittsburgh Pirates saw Tyler Glasnow and Mitch Keller throw in minor league action.  Both pitchers put up very strong starts.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are skipping Ivan Nova‘s next start, but unfortunately, it is not Glasnow who will be filling in for him, but rather Steven Brault.  So with that, Glasnow got to make another start for Indianapolis yesterday.  It very well could have been his last start in Triple-A for the season last night.   If it was, Glasnow showed that he has no more experience to gain by pitching at the Triple-A level.

Glasnow went to the hill against the Toledo Mud Hens of the Detroit Tigers organization.  The big right hander only threw six innings, but he went unscathed on the score sheet.  In his six innings of work, he threw 91 pitches and 63 were for strikeouts, punching out nine batters while only walking one.  He also held the Mud Hens to only five hits. Glasnow has now improved his record to 9-2, and has lowered his earned run average to 1.93.  It is still unknown if he will ever pan out in the major leagues, but with his numbers being the way they are in Triple-A, it is time to give him another shot with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

For as dominant as Tyler Glasnow was last night, Mitch Keller was even more so. The former second round pick has only made a few starts for the Pittsburgh Pirates Double-A affiliate, but he has already established himself as the team’s ace.

Last night Keller and the Curve took on the Harrisburg Senators of the Washington Nationals’ organization. Like Glasnow, Keller threw six innings of scoreless baseball.  He threw a total of 92 pitches and rang up 63 strikes, just like Glasnow did.  However, Keller posted more strikeouts than Glasnow did.  While Glasnow posted a strong nine strikeout performance, Keller matched him and then some by striking out 11.  Meanwhile, Keller only walked one batter and allowed just three hits.  It is great to see Keller pitching well in playoff baseball.  Hopefully he will be doing this at the major league level sooner than later for the Pittsburgh Pirates. For the Curve, Keller now has an earned run average of 3.12 with a record of 2-2.

Next: Nicasio's Tenure

All in all, the Pittsburgh Pirates have a few good pitching arms that should be making an impact at the next level.  There is no reason that Tyler Glasnow should not be given a chance to make some low leverage starts as the 2017 major league season concludes.  Meanwhile, Keller is pitching like a top end of the rotation type prospect. Also, he is showing that his stay at Double-A could be short.