Pittsburgh Pirates Prospects: Pitchers Impress in AFL Debut

Tuesday night a trio of Pittsburgh Pirates pitching prospects made their Arizona Fall League debut and all three pitched well with the Peoria Javelinas

Through the first week and a half of the Arizona Fall League the Pittsburgh Pirates have had prospects impressing with their play. As Nick covered on the site on Tuesday a trio of Pirate position player prospects are off to a strong start in the AFL.

Tuesday night it was time for a trio of Pittsburgh Pirates pitching prospects to make their AFL season debut with the Peoria Javelinas. These three pitchers were Roansy Contreras, Mike Burrows and Carmen Mlodzinski, and all three pitched well in their AFL season debuts.

Contreras started for Peoria and pitched 2 innings. In his 2 innings of work Contreras allowed a run on 3 hits, a walk and a strikeout. This fall Contreras will be looking to build on what was a strong 2021 campaign between Double-A Altoona and his lone MLB start. His appearance on Tuesday night was a good start toward this for Contreras who will look to become a permanent rotation anchor for the Pittsburgh Pirates during the 2022 season.

When the night ended for Contreras another right-handed pitching prospect of the Pittsburgh Pirates took the mound. This is when Burrows was summoned to toe the rubber for the Javelinas.

Coming off a strong season in which the saw his first taste of High-A action pitching to the tune of  a 2.20 ERA, 2.38 FIP and 34.2% strikeout rate in 49 innings pitched. Burrows pitched 3 scoreless innings in his AFL debut. He allowed a pair of singles, did not walk a batter and struck out a pair.

Mlodzinski, a 2020 draft pick, then pitched in relief of Burrows. Mlodzinski allowed a hit, did not walk a batter and struck out a batter in his lone innings of work. All told, Pirate prospects pitched 6 innings allowing a run on 6 hits, a walk and 4 strikeouts.

Throughout the rest of the AFL season it will be fun for Pirate fans to follow how prospects are performing for the Peoria Javelinas, especially with them all off to a strong start to the season. Make sure to stay tuned here at Rum Bunter for updates on how Pirate prospects are performing in the AFL throughout the season.