Pittsburgh Pirates: Roansy Contreras Dominates in Double-A Debut

The minor league season kicked off on Tuesday night and one of the top performers in the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system was pitcher Roansy Contreras

As you all know, my first love, first and foremost, is watching, listening, and talking about young Pittsburgh Pirates prospects. 2020 was robbed not just my joy but thousands of players, coaches, and fan’s joy. Fast forward to May 4, 2021, you could feel life pumped back into not just myself but others as well! Minor league baseball has returned!

We saw the all of the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league affiliates kick off their 2021 seasons on Tuesday night. Bradenton faced Fort Myers, Greensboro faced Hickory, Altoona faced Bowie, and Indianapolis faced Iowa. Although I watched all four play today, I paid attention to one game in particular, and that was Altoona’s game.

Not only is the Altoona roster stacked with a multitude of talent, but they also have a few pitchers that intrigued the hell out of me, and one of them happened to start the first game of the season. That pitcher’s name is Roansy Contreras, and I owe him an apology, if I’m being honest. I mentioned on Twitter how I thought he should be a bullpen arm, and I didn’t think he could last more than one time through a lineup. Boy was I wrong today.

Now I know it’s the first game of the season, and a reaction like this should be crucified, but I think the Pirates may have someone special on their hands. Contreras pitched 5 scoreless innings, surrendering 5 hits, issuing zero walks and he struck out a career high 11. One of the more shocking stats on the day dealt with top prospect Adley Rutschman and how he struck him out twice. Below is the video of one of them.

One thing that was surprising to me about Contreras on Tuesday was how good his curveball played. It seemed like on several occasions, it would stay up for a while and then drop all of a sudden, fooling hitters into taking an easy strike. It seemed to have a true 12-6 curve drop, and just like the pitch represents the times on a clock, he sure did disrupt hitters timing.

One thing that doesn’t have a stat or an advanced number is swagger and confidence. When I tell you that a 21-year-old kid at the Double-A level was making hitters look like they were in rookie ball, I mean it. Confidence and how you carry yourself doesn’t just affect how you play, but it affects the opponent’s play as well.

As I said, it’s just the first game of the season, and there will be plenty more starts and games for Contreras but seeing this and watching how he played today is a very promising sign. I’m not one to overreact, but if Contreras continues what he did tonight, then I tell you what, the Yankees made such a dumb decision.

Other Key Players Down on the Farm

Travis Swaggerty – 3-4 with 2 RBI and a walk

Chase De Jong – 6 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 10 strikeouts

Oneil Cruz – 2-4

Cannan Smith-Njigba – 1-2 with a double

Liover Peguero – 1-4 with a 3-run home run

Nick Gonzales – 1-4 with a double

Endy Rodriguez – 2-4 with an RBI double

Alexander Mojica – 1-3 with an absolute moon shot

Quinn Priester – he struggled today in 3 innings of work, but his defense let him down