Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Pitchers Continue Their Strong Seasons for Altoona

The Pittsburgh Pirates new Front Office has made it clear that they want to focus on developing their young arms.  Altoona has a couple of pitchers breaking out.

Last year, many prospects did not have an opportunity to play in any sort of official game.  So from a fan’s perspective, it was disappointing.  The Pittsburgh Pirates are a rebuilding team with a lot of new faces.  To lose last year’s minor league season was tough for fans who are trying to be optimistic about this team’s future.

While we still received a lot of reports and updates on the team’s top prospects, some of the lesser-known players never got a chance to show what they could do.  With the new Front Office implementing a lot of changes to the minor league development system, it was unfortunate that we as fans could not get a chance to really see players take steps forward.

There are three pitchers who are currently pitching for the Altoona Curve that definitely took steps forward during their time away. The three prospects are starter Jeffrey Passantino, and back-end relievers Shea Murray and Hunter Stratton.  All three are of them were a part of the 2017 Draft class.

Up until this year, there was not a lot to be super intrigued by numbers-wise.  However, the script is potentially changing on them. All three are posting the best numbers of their careers’ and it is not close compared to their previous numbers.  This is good news as this is the change that the Pittsburgh Pirates wanted to see, pitching prospects taking steps forward.

Jeffrey Passantino gave the Curve another strong outing, going six innings, allowing just four hits, a single walk, no runs, all while striking out six batters.  Oddy Nunez came in to relieve Passantino, who fired one scoreless inning with two strikeouts, albeit one hit. Shea Murray was the next pitcher the Curve used. The right-hander pitched a hitless eighth inning, but did run into some trouble because of a hit batter and a walk. Hunter Stratton closed out the game for Altoona. Stratton has been excellent at Double-A this year, earning the save while pitching a scoreless ninth inning, allowing just a single hit while getting one batter to go down on strike three.

For the year, Passantino has an ERA of 2.15 with 33 strikeouts in 29.1 innings pitched.  Throughout his career, Passantino has always struck out more than one per inning.  This impressive start to the year has dropped his career ERA to 3.15.

The Bucs took Shea Murray in the 18th round of the 2017 Draft.  At the time, he was viewed as an intriguing late-round pick purely because of his projectable frame of 6’6” and 215 pounds.  On the year has owns a 1.23 ERA in 11 games.  Over his 14.2 innings of work, he has struck out 19 batters.  Control continues to be an issue for Murray, but he should be in line for a Triple-A promotion.

A lot of the same can be said for Hunter Stratton.  The Bucs took him in the 16th round of the 2017 Draft out of the Junior College ranks.  Like Murray, Stratton possesses a very projectable frame at 6’4” and 225 pounds. On the year he is credited with a 1.20 ERA in 11 games.  He has recorded three saves and has compiled 27 punchouts in 15 innings of work.

Now Passantino and Murray are a bit on the older side for Double-A.  Passantino is 25 and Murray 27.  However, they both lost last season, which could have seen them make a little more progress through the system.  Also, they were later-round picks, obviously, they were going to need more time in the minors.  Stratton is a little younger at 24 years old.