Tyler Glasnow will return to the mound for the first time since leaving his start for the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 23rd with right shoulder discomfort. As reported here, Glasnow threw a simulated three inning game on Tuesday at PNC Park and everything went well. He is going to Altoona tonight and his catcher will be Chris Stewart. As we saw the other night with Clay Holmes, throwing to a veteran Major League catcher ended up being a very productive game as far as results and the learning experience.
Glasnow will be on a limit of four innings or 65 pitches, whichever comes first. I’m assuming that once he is activated from the disabled list, that they will send him to Indianapolis for the rest of the season, unless he is needed in Pittsburgh. The rest of the season would literally be four starts, since the minor league season ends in 22 days for Indianapolis. That’s not a big deal because he will need to get stretched out from 65 pitches and that would be at least two more starts before he is ready to throw 95-100 in a game. He also didn’t have the best second outing in the majors, so some extra time in Indianapolis won’t do him any harm.
The Pirates are sending him to Altoona first because they are the team at highest level currently home right now. Most pitchers make their rehab debut during a home game, which is why Glasnow ended up in Morgantown for a game last year when he was returning from his ankle injury.
I was thinking about it last night and you would hope that Glasnow isn’t considered an injury risk at this point. He missed the start of 2014 due to lower back tightness. He had the ankle injury last year on a seemingly innocent slide into second base. Now he has the shoulder discomfort and while it didn’t cost him any time, he mentioned during a start earlier this year that he was dealing with a stiff back. None of them were serious and the team was obviously holding him back due to caution, but the list is starting to build up at a young age. He will have one more start at age 22 after tonight, assuming all goes well. Just a fun fact which obviously means nothing for tonight, Glasnow had 12 strikeouts in his last start with Altoona. That’s a total he hasn’t reached since.
Anyway, didn’t want to give you something to worry about with him, so enjoy your Sunday. Sean McCool will provide live coverage of the game. I’ll be watching and probably adding some quick analysis of his outing in the Prospect Watch. I plan to watch Steven Brault as well before Glasnow takes the mound for the late game. Tim Williams will be covering a doubleheader in Bristol and Abigail Miskowiec will have coverage in West Virginia. So we will have you pretty well covered throughout the minors.
Just a friendly reminder when you look at the Playoff Push section below. I added the Pirates today, but only the wild card because the Cubs are ahead by 14.5 games with 48 games to go for the Pirates. Also, the minor league season ends on August 27th for the DSL, September 1st for the GCL and Bristol, September 4th for Bradenton and the 5th for the other four teams.
PLAYOFF PUSH
The Pirates trail the second wild card spot by 1.5 games.
Indianapolis is in second place in their division, trailing by 7.5 games. They trail by 11 games for the lone wild card spot.
Altoona leads their division by 3.5 games. The top two teams in the division go to the playoffs, with the first place team getting the home field advantage in the first round.
Bradenton won the first half title. They have home field advantage in the playoffs.
West Virginia is tied for fourth place in their division, trailing first by 2.5 games.
Morgantown is tied for fourth place in their division, trailing first place by 12 games. They are 6.5 games back for the lone wild card spot.
Bristol is in fourth place, trailing by nine games. The top two teams in each division go to the playoffs.
The GCL Pirates are three games back in their division. This is the only league where you have to win your division to make the playoffs.
The DSL Pirates have been eliminated from the playoffs. Their season ends August 27th.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates lost 8-4 to the Dodgers on Saturday. They will send Chad Kuhl to the mound this afternoon for his sixth Major League start. He allowed two runs over six innings in his last start, which followed up six shutout innings in his previous outing. Kuhl faced the Dodgers in his big league debut and allowed three runs over five innings in a win over Clayton Kershaw. The Dodgers will counter with Brett Anderson, who is making his season debut after missing the start of the year due to back surgery. He had a 3.61 ERA over 31 starts last season.
In the minors, Steven Brault gets the start, trying to regain his form after two poor starts. In his last two games, he has allowed nine runs on 14 hits and eight walks in 7.2 innings. In his two starts prior to that, he threw 12 shutout frames, with only three hits allowed. Stephen Tarpley has a 2.03 ERA in seven road starts and a 6.08 ERA in ten home games. Today’s start is at home. Tarpley and Brault have combined for 704 innings of pro ball without allowing a home run to a left-handed batter. That’s not a misprint.
Ike Schlabach will get the start for Bristol during a doubleheader today. He ranks sixth in the Appalachian League with a 1.21 WHIP. Logan Sendelbach is seventh in the South Atlantic League with a 1.13 WHIP. Stephan Meyer had a 7.89 ERA in his first seven starts and since then he has allowed three runs over 23 innings in his last four starts.
The GCL and DSL Pirates are both off today.
MLB: Pittsburgh (58-56) @ Dodgers (65-51) 4:10 PM
Probable starter: Chad Kuhl (3.91 ERA, 9:17 BB/SO, 25.1 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (61-61) @ Lehigh Valley (71-49) 1:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Steven Brault (3.26 ERA, 30:71 BB/SO, 58.0 IP)
AA: Altoona (66-52) vs Reading (77-41) 6:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Tyler Glasnow (NR)
High-A: Bradenton (60-56) vs Ft Myers (58-59) 1:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Stephen Tarpley (4.20 ERA, 30:78 BB/SO, 83.2 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (60-58) vs Delmarva (61-57) 2:05 PM(season preview)
Probable starter: Logan Sendelbach (3.53 ERA, 29:86 BB/SO, 117.1 IP)
Short-Season A: Morgantown (25-30) @ Brooklyn (29-26) 4:00 PM (season preview)
Probable Starter: Stephan Meyer (4.96 ERA, 16:32 BB/SO, 52.2 IP)
Rookie: Bristol (19-29) vs Pulaski (21-25) 5:00 PM DH (season preview)
GCL: Pirates (17-25) vs Yankees East (14-27) 12:00 PM 8/15 (season preview)
DSL: Pirates (26-34) vs Rangers1 (43-19) 10:30 AM 8/15 (season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is Frank Duncan, working out of a bases loaded jam to finish off eight shutout innings on Friday night.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
8/12: Chris Stewart assigned to Altoona on rehab.
8/10: Christian Kelley promoted to Bradenton. Raul Hernandez assigned to West Virginia.
8/10: John Kuchno assigned to Altoona.
8/9: Chad Kuhl promoted to Pirates. Curtis Partch optioned to Indianapolis.
8/9: Erik Lunde retired.
8/9: Kyle Lobstein placed on disabled list. Kelvin Marte activated from disabled list.
8/9: Raul Hernandez assigned to Bradenton.
8/8: Delvin Hiciano assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab.
8/8: Josh Outman assigned to Indianapolis.
8/7: Austin Meadows activated from Indianapolis disabled list.
8/6: Arquimedes Caminero traded to Mariners for two players to be named later. Curtis Partch recalled from Indianapolis
8/6: Jason Creasy assigned to Morgantown on rehab.
8/6: John Kuchno assigned to Indianapolis. Josh Outman assigned to Altoona.
8/6: Chris Harvey assigned to Morgantown
8/4: Ryan Vogelsong activated from disabled list. Max Moroff optioned to Indianapolis.
8/4: Pirates release Wilfredo Boscan.
8/4: Kelvin Marte placed on disabled list.
8/4: Henrry Rosario promoted to Bristol. Sam Kennelly assigned to GCL Pirates.
8/3: Chris Harvey promoted to Indianapolis. Trey Haley sent to Altoona.
8/3: Elvis Escobar promoted to Altoona. Justin Maffei assigned to Bradenton.
8/3: Erik Lunde assigned to Bradenton. Jose Regalado activated from disabled list.
8/2: Wilfredo Boscan placed on disabled list.
8/2: Tomas Morales assigned to Altoona. Chris Diaz activated from temporary inactive list.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Two former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a transaction of note. On this date in 1911, the Pirates sold first baseman John Flynn to St Paul of the American Association, which is where the Pirates purchased him from following the 1909 season. During that 1909 season, the Pirates went with Bill Abstein at first base all season. Despite the fact he was a regular and they won the World Series, he was not well liked. Fans believed that he didn’t always give 100% and he wasn’t the smartest baseball player. After the season, the Pirates brought in two minor league first baseman to compete for the job, with Flynn eventually winning over Bud Sharpe. By 1911, future Hall of Fame manager Bill McKechnie took over the spot and Flynn became expendable.
Dale Coogan, 1950 first baseman. He made the Opening Day roster as a rookie, but by July he was sent back to the minors for more seasoning. The Pirates actually called him up in September 1950 and 1951, though he never played after that first July. He ended up spending the next two years in the Army and he wasn’t able to regain his skills after the time off, spending the rest of his career in the minors.
Alex McKinnon, first baseman on Opening Day in 1887, the first Pittsburgh game in NL history. The Alleghenys moved from the American Association to the NL following the 1886 season and they purchased McKinnon that December. He was hitting .340 through 48 games in 1887 when he came down with typhoid pneumonia. He ended up passing away 20 days after his last game with Pittsburgh. You can read a full bio of McKinnon here.
