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Luis Escobar Selected for 2017 MLB Futures Game

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The rosters for the July 9th Futures Game were announced on Thursday afternoon and West Virginia right-handed pitcher Luis Escobar is the lone representative of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Escobar will play for the World squad, representing his home country of Colombia.

Escobar hasn’t put up the best stats this season, but he is a dominating pitcher when he is on his game. He mixes a mid-90s fastball, with a big breaking curve and a changeup, with all three pitches looking like plus offerings at times. That gives him the ability to use any of the pitches for strikeouts. Escobar has picked up 97 strikeouts in 71.2 innings, but also has a 4.77 ERA. He has had six outings with at least eight strikeouts this season.

Abigail Miskowiec wrote about his inconsistencies earlier this year, and what the Pirates are trying to do to avoid those problems from happening so frequently.

The Futures Game will be broadcast on MLB Network at 4 PM next Sunday. Escobar will likely pitch one full inning if he comes into the game early, or later on in the game the last few pitchers split innings so everyone gets into the game.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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