The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed another sixteen-year-old out of Australia. After signing shortstop Sam Kennelly in July, they signed pitcher Nick Hutchings in November. Hutchings has been playing with the Adelaide Bite of the Australian Baseball League and doing well in his limited time. The 6′ 2″, 165 pound right-hander has made four appearances for Adelaide in relief. He has pitched a total of 4.1 innings, allowing just one hit, while striking out eight. On December 8th, he struck out all three batters he faced.
Hutchings is currently competing in the U18 National Youth Championships in Australia along with Kennelly. Hutchings started game two yesterday for the South Australian team. He threw four innings and had a rough outing, along with some trouble in the field behind him. He allowed six runs in the first, though the last four runs were unearned. Hutchings finished with the loss, allowing seven runs (three earned) on five hits, with three walks and five strikeouts.
Hutchings was signed by Tony Harris, who not only scouts for the Pirates, but also manages the Adelaide Bite. Hutchings has been a top player among his age group for years, starring in the U16 version of the National Youth Championships last year. He also earned an invitation to the ABL’s National Academy on his 16th birthday. Hutchings has been working with Harris on improving his control, velocity and off-speed pitches. He currently throws in the upper 80s with his fastball, and complements that with a slider and a changeup.
Hutchings reportedly turned down offers from the Padres, Reds, Phillies, and Astros to sign with the Pirates. He becomes the seventh player out of Australia signed by the Pirates since 2009. The right-hander isn’t expected to make the jump to the US until the 2013 Fall Instructional Leagues.
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.
Hi John,
Yes pitching today (tuesday) in the game at 1pm our time. You can follow play by play at this link http://www.baseball.com.au/site/baseball/results/NYC13/GEEL/diam3/xlive.htm
Should be live in about 30 minutes
Thanks, I’ll have an update on this site tomorrow
No worries, he was misreported when first interviewed here in Aust and its kept going. He said he had ‘interest’ from those 5 clubs and the reporter turned that into ‘offers’ somehow.
Inside info yes, I’m his Father 🙂
Thanks for the info and welcome your son to the Pirates from us! Any idea what day he is pitching next in the tournament?
Obviously, we hope Nick wins some world series games for the Pirates in a few years. But, since he is only sixteen I will just wish him the best of luck and hope that his experience with the Pirates is a good one. Welcome to the organization.
He only received one other offer from the Padres. The other clubs were interested but did not put anything forward, so he had 2 offers to choose from and at the time wanted to sign, he could have waited till the national championships but wanted it out of the way by then.
He is very happy to be a Pirate.
I’m just going by the article.
Do you have some insider info? Got a link?
Apparently he doesn’t mind that we’re a laughingstock organization, spurning those legitimate orgs to sign with us!
foogot sarcasm icon. my bad.