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Pirates Prospects Daily: Dominic Perachi is Pitching Strong in Bradenton Rotation

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By time it was all said and done, it was very obvious what their approach was to the 2022 MLB Draft. After taking Termarr Johnson fourth overall, the Pirates went super college pitcher heavy, taking 13 of them with their final 20 picks.

It helped fill some of the holes in the lower level pitching staffs, and provided a buffer for some of the younger arms as they get acclimated to their new assignments.

One of the lesser known players taken has established themselves in the Bradenton rotation, lefty Dominic Perachi.

Drafted in the 13th round out of Salve Regina University, Perachi has pitched in five games – all starts – for the Marauders. He has posted a 2.62 ERA in 20.2 innings pitched, while striking out 27 batters.

He has a little bit of an old-school lefty feeling to him, as he doesn’t have an overpowering fastball (averaging around 89-90 mph right now), but relies on a really strong pair of breaking pitches to carry him.

The curveball has been his primary breaking pitch, which he throws with plenty of spin to it. Things didn’t get off to the best of starts, he didn’t get any whiffs on the first 17 swings on the pitch over his first two games. Over his last three games he’s posted a whiff rate over 50% (12-of-22).

He also throws a slider with high spin rate and a mid-30% whiff rate.

Tuesday was his best start to date, striking out nine over five innings of one-run baseball. While he was in position to earn his second win of the season, a late rally by Lakeland prevented it.

The Pirates made it a point to inflate the lower levels with as much pitching depth as possible, and while any of them are a long ways from making a bigger impact on the organization, Perachi is rising to the top of the college pitching group.

Prospect Notes

— Henry Davis hit two more home runs, and a double for good measure, in Altoona’s extra-inning loss to Akron on Tuesday. He’s been fantastic at the plate, and looks like he’s making strides on the defensive side of things.

In almost any other scenario, it’d be time for a new challenge for the former number one overall pick. The Pirates are the one time that have an actual incentive to keep him in Altoona right now, and that’s their other top hitting prospect in Endy Rodriguez.

As long as the front office is committed to both being catchers, they are going to keep them apart as long as possible, and that’s how it should be.

Both of their values offensively remain the absolute highest behind the plate. It’s the same theory in why you give Oneil Cruz as much time at shortstop that his defense will allow, the value is so much more at a premium position.

Will it be a bridge they will have to cross eventually? Absolutely, but it’s one they’ve done before last year, and honestly, about as good a bridge you can cross when it comes to player development.

So while it doesn’t seem ideal to have your former number one overall pick from two years ago still playing in Altoona, the Pirates are trying to maximize what they have between the two.

Neither are coming up before a certain deadline passes, so until then, keeping them separate for another couple of weeks won’t hurt anything.

Daily Video Rundown

It’s been a rough stretch for Javier Rivas, at least when it comes to the strikeouts. He picked up a pair of hits on Tuesday, including this RBI single.

Tsung-Che Cheng continues to collect extra-base hits, this time hitting a double to the left-center field gap.

Jase Bowen picks up this two run double in the first inning. He also hit a home run later in the game.

Pirates Prospects Daily

By John Dreker

Pirates play the Colorado Rockies in an early afternoon game today to decide the three-game series. There are also two late morning start times on the minor league side. Our P2Live Game Discussion will be up later this morning. Feel free to join along. Yesterday’s had 143 comments by the end of the night.

**Pirates added two players before last night’s game, then lost 10-1.

**Last night’s Prospect Watch, headlined by the big day from Henry Davis.

**The Pirates made some minor league moves yesterday, including Jared Triolo.

**Jeff Reed looked at the minor league action for the week.

Song of the Day

Anthony Murphy
Anthony Murphy
Anthony began writing over 10 years ago, starting a personal blog to cover the 2011 MLB draft, where the Pirates selected first overall. After bouncing around many websites covering hockey, he refocused his attention to baseball, his first love when it comes to sports. He eventually found himself here at Pirates Prospects in late 2021, where he covers the team’s four full season minor league affiliates.

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