Nick Kingham is scheduled to make his 2017 season debut tonight with the Bradenton Marauders. It’s been a long detour for Kingham, who looked like he would be part of the 2015 rotation in Pittsburgh around mid-season, until Tommy John surgery derailed his season in early May. In that game, he gave up one run over 5.1 innings before leaving early. It was his sixth start that season for Indianapolis and he put in 14 starts with them the year before. He hasn’t made it back to Triple-A since that game.
Kingham was throwing in Spring Training last year, but he didn’t pitch his first game until July 8th in the Gulf Coast League. He went three innings that day, but that means that he had already pitched in games, either simulated or Extended Spring Training games, because no one starts with three innings in their first game. He made five more starts for the GCL Pirates as he continued to increase his pitch count. On August 17th last year, Kingham threw five shutout innings for Bradenton, giving up three hits and no walks. He was even better six days later, throwing six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts.
On August 29th last year, Kingham went to Altoona and allowed one run on three hits over six innings. Things were looking up at that point, though he was running on fumes during his last two starts, including one in the playoffs. He didn’t finish strong, but he still put in his innings/throwing from March until mid-September. Those six months of throwing gave Kingham a nice base to work with this year. He was probably going to be somewhat limited like what they did with Jameson Taillon last year. Give him a lower pitch count early, maybe skip a start around mid-season, while pushing the occasional starts back a day or two here and there.
That was the plan before Kingham twisted his ankle during minor league Spring Training. Kingham pitched five innings over three outings with the Pirates this spring before heading over to the minor league camp to get stretched out to five innings. The ankle injury briefly shut him down and caused him to start the building up process over.
Kingham is scheduled to go five innings today, but if he was healthy on Opening Day, then he would have been able to put in five innings that day. Just by being five weeks behind schedule, he shaved off about 15 innings or so from a healthy season total. You’re basically talking about the same amount he would miss by skipping a start and beginning at a lower total, so that could mean that Kingham is able to pitch the rest of the season on a regular schedule.
Thanks to the magic of MiLB.tv and Bradenton becoming the first Florida State League team to broadcast home games, I’ll be able to watch the start from Kingham tonight. So I’ll have a recap in the Prospect Watch shortly after Kingham’s night is over.
I should say now that whenever I mentioned a pitcher the morning before his start last year, that game got rained out. Probably didn’t happen every time, but it sure felt like it did. Forecast says 10% rain for Bradenton tonight, so I went for it anyway.
The Pirates haven’t said what the next steps are for Kingham after tonight. It’s probably something that they will decide on after seeing how well he does tonight. He will eventually get to Indianapolis, which could be his next start if all goes well today. It’s impossible at this time to know when he will be ready for Pittsburgh, but I expect to see him get his share of innings with the Pirates. That’s because he is now out of options, so you want to get him some experience going into next season when he has to make the team out of Spring Training.
Tonight is the next step in getting him to Pittsburgh.
PIRATES GAME GRAPH
Source: FanGraphs
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 5-2 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night. The Pirates now travel to Arizona for four games,where they will send Gerrit Cole to the mound tonight to make his eighth start of the season. He allowed one run over seven innings against the Milwaukee Brewers in his last start. He has a 4.30 ERA on the road and 1.80 at home. The Diamondbacks will counter with Zack Greinke, who has a 3.09 ERA, 47 strikeouts and a 1.17 WHIP in 43.2 innings this season.
In the minors, Steven Brault is scheduled to go for Indianapolis. He leads the team with 31 strikeouts. Austin Coley wasn’t supposed to be a starter this year, but this will be his fifth start already, as he takes the place of JT Brubaker, who is out with a blister on the index finger of his throwing hand. Oddy Nunez retired all 12 batters he faced in his last start. Kevin Kramer has a 27-game on base streak active. Cole Tucker currently has a 19-game on base streak.
MLB: Pittsburgh (14-20) @ Diamondbacks (19-16) 9:40 PM
Probable starter: Gerrit Cole (3.14 ERA, 9:42 BB/SO, 43.0 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (13-16) vs Norfolk (14-18) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Steven Brault (3.52 ERA, 15:31 BB/SO, 30.2 IP)
AA: Altoona (18-12) vs New Hampshire (11-21) 6:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Austin Coley (3.47 ERA, 6:19 BB/SO, 23.1 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (21-13) vs Palm Beach (17-16) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Nick Kingham (season debut)
Low-A: West Virginia (15-18) @ Asheville (16-16) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Oddy Nunez (4.29 ERA, 4:17 BB/SO, 21.0 IP)
HIGHLIGHTS
Here is a triple from Kevin Newman on Tuesday night.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
5/10: Albert Baur activated from West Virginia disabled list.
5/9: Jackson Williams assigned to Altoona from Indianapolis. Zane Chavez assigned to Morgantown.
5/8: Pirates add Max Moroff and Chris Bostick to roster. Elias Diaz and Phil Gosselin assigned to Indianapolis.
5/8: Adam Frazier assigned to Indianapolis on rehab. Just Maffei assigned to Indianapolis.
5/8: Boomer Synek retired.
5/8: Kevin Krause placed on disabled list. Logan Ratledge promoted to Bradenton.
5/7: Michael Suchy placed on disabled list. Jerrick Suiter promoted to Altoona.
5/7: Jess Amedee activated from disabled list.
5/6: Jameson Taillon placed on disabled list. Josh Lindblom promoted to Pirates
5/4: Brandon Waddell activated from disabled list. JT Brubaker placed on disabled list.
5/3: Jordan George activated from Bradenton disabled list.
5/2: Jackson Williams promoted to Indianapolis. Justin Maffei assigned to Morgantown.
5/2: Zane Chavez assigned to Altoona.
5/1: Pirates recall Elias Diaz. Option John Bormann to Bradenton.
5/1: Pirates release Greg Williams, Holden Helmink and Julian Villamar.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Five former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, and one of them shines above the rest. Quickly with the other four players before we get into the All-Star pitcher. Mike Garcia was a pitcher for the 1999-2000 Pirates. Mark Huismann, pitcher for two playoff teams in 1990-91. Walt Terrell, who was Huismann’s teammate in 1990 with the Pirates. Both Huismann and Terrell were born on the same date in 1958. The Pirates signed Terrell just 16 days after he became a free agent following the 1989 season. They ended up getting just 16 starts and two wins out of him before he was released. Gene Hermanski, outfielder for the 1953 Pirates, who served in the military during WWII, missing two seasons.
Rip Sewell was born on this date in 1907. During his 12 seasons in Pittsburgh, he won 143 games. He came from a great baseball family, with three cousins that played in the majors and one of them (Joe Sewell) is in the Hall of Fame. Sewell was a three-time All-Star and he received MVP votes in three different seasons while with the Pirates. He led the NL with 21 wins in 1943 and his 13-3 record in 1948 gave him the best winning percentage in the NL. Sewell is famous for throwing the Eephus pitch, which he started doing in 1942 after a hunting accident. You can read a full bio on Sewell here.
