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First Pitch: The Biggest Improvement Tyler Glasnow Needs to Make

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After the last outing from Tyler Glasnow, there was hope that he was starting to put things together. He showed some of the best control of his career, striking out 11 batters in seven innings, and needing just 95 pitches, with 65 strikes to get through the outing. It was the second time in three starts that he struck out 11 batters with just one walk. Those two outings sandwiched a start that had five walks in five innings.

You hoped that the May 1st outing with the walks was an outlier, and the other two outings were a sign that everything was coming together for Glasnow. But that doesn’t look to be the case after tonight’s start.

Glasnow walked five batters, giving up six hits and three runs in five innings, with just one strikeout. He threw 98 pitches and 50 strikes. The outing changes the perspective on his season. Instead of seeing two dominant starts and one possible outlier start, he now looks inconsistent with his control, with poor walk totals in four of his seven outings. This has led to 18 walks in 38 innings this year.

If that is the look for Glasnow, it’s a familiar one. I’ve covered him a lot throughout his career, and have seen some truly promising starts. Last year, I saw his outing in Altoona’s home opener, where he struck out seven in six innings, with no walks, and 57/80 pitches for strikes. The command in that start might have been better than anything he showed the previous year in Bradenton. And yet, a month later he walked four in 3.2 innings, with 37/72 pitches for strikes.

Glasnow did continue to improve in Double-A, putting up some of the best overall walk totals of his career. But he went to Indianapolis and the control issues returned, with 22 walks in 41 innings. He returned to the level this year, and showed some promise once again, walking just seven batters in his first 21 innings. The bad outings weren’t horrible, and the good outings were outstanding. But once again, the control slipped, and he has walked 11 in his last 17 innings.

Thinking back to where Glasnow was in West Virginia, and even before that, there has definitely been an improvement to his control. And all of those moments when you think that he’s finally figuring it out have been moments where he’s improving. The problem is that we want to see that magic switch get flipped, where Glasnow just no longer has control issues.

It’s possible that this will never happen. I’m not saying Glasnow will bust as a prospect, or fall shot of being a top of the rotation starter. But I think control issues are going to be part of his game, with the hopeful situation being that he limits the horrible outings like he put up tonight. Fortunately, baseball has a minor league system where you can work on these types of things, and show improvements before you’re ready for the Majors.

There’s a reason I’ve been saying constantly that Jameson Taillon is ahead of Tyler Glasnow, and might be the first guy up this year. Taillon has very little to do to improve his stuff. He needs to polish his pitches, and get used to pitching against upper level guys. The numbers say he’s doing a fantastic job, and the live looks show that he still has some work here, but not that much.

Meanwhile, Glasnow projects with a higher upside than Taillon, but definitely isn’t there yet. Eventually he will come up to the majors, and while he won’t be close to his upside, he’ll put up some good results. If he ever did figure it all out, then we’re talking about potentially one of the best pitchers in baseball. As I said above, even if he has some control issues, he could be a top of the rotation guy.

The problem right now is that he is having control issues, and they’re taking place in Triple-A. Imagine how MLB hitters would fare against him if he’s walking almost half his batters in the minors. This isn’t a reaction to one start. It’s not about Super Two, or anything else. It’s pointing out a trend that expands beyond one start, and beyond one year. Tonight was an example of why he’s not ready now, and what he needs to work on to get ready for the majors.

**Prospect Watch: Tyler Glasnow Struggles With Control in Latest Outing. A breakdown of all the games tonight, with live reports on Altoona and West Virginia.

**Casey at the Bat: Breaking Down Casey Hughston’s Strikeout Issues. Abigail Miskowiec takes a look at the cause of Casey Hughston’s strikeout issues in West Virginia. Hughston was a third round pick last year, and received an over-slot bonus.

**Alen Hanson Getting More Time in the Outfield and Making Adjustments to His Swing. Ryan Palencer writes about the adjustments Alen Hanson has been making with his swing, along with his new spot in the outfield.

**Morning Report: Pirates Have Two of the Toughest Minor League Teams to Strike Out

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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