Alex McRae was one of the best pitchers in the Pirates’ farm system down the stretch last year. In his final eight starts of the season for Altoona, he put up a 2.23 ERA in 48.1 innings. For the start of the 2017 season, he picked up where he left off, posting a 2.12 ERA in 29.2 innings in his first month of the season. That was enough for him to be our Pitcher of the Month for the month of April.
McRae doesn’t get a lot of strikeouts, but has a lot of his success from putting the ball on the ground. He had a 53.7% ground ball rate last month, with four of his five starts seeing a GO/AO ratio of 2.00 or higher. He had some strikeouts, including a nine strikeout game against Harrisburg that fueled his numbers. He didn’t have any strikeouts in two starts this month, although they both came against Erie, and he had his highest ground ball rates in those games, so there could have been a difference in approach against that team. As an added note, McRae hit a home run for his first hit of the season in Altoona this year.
The Pirates typically keep their starters in Altoona for about a full season of innings. To date, McRae has pitched 118 innings at the Double-A level. There is no room for a promotion up to the Indianapolis rotation right now even if McRae was ready to move up early, which means he should get some more time in Altoona to try and continue putting up these results.
When a spot opens in Indianapolis, McRae would be the top candidate for the first promotion, due to his continued success in Double-A, and his amount of experience at the level so far. If he eventually reaches the majors — which probably wouldn’t happen until 2018 at the earliest — it would be as a middle or long reliever who works primarily off a sinker that can get to the mid-90s, but lacking a strong out pitch that would allow him to be a starter or a late inning reliever.
PITCHERS OF THE MONTH BY LEVEL
Indianapolis – Tyler Eppler, RHP (2.45 ERA, 15:2 K/BB, 22.0 IP)
Altoona – Alex McRae, RHP (2.12 ERA, 17:7 K/BB, 29.2 IP)
Bradenton – Dario Agrazal, RHP (2.64 ERA, 18:2 K/BB, 30.2 IP)
West Virginia – Luis Escobar, RHP (3.29 ERA, 45:6 K/BB, 27.1 IP)
