ST. LOUIS — Sporting a quicker delivery and a pitch arsenal better equipped to retire major league hitters, Tyler Glasnow will receive another shot in the rotation.
The Pirates promoted Glasnow, 24, who entered the season as the No. 3 prospect in the system according to Baseball America, and five other players Sunday after Class AAA Indianapolis was eliminated from the International League playoffs Saturday night. Glasnow will start Wednesday in Milwaukee.
Glasnow got the final rotation spot out of spring training but pitched to a 7.45 ERA in 12 starts before being demoted. A quicker delivery upon his return to the minors helped the 6-foot-8 right-hander tap into his athleticism, increasing his fastball velocity while sharpening his curveball, and he had a 1.94 ERA and 140 strikeouts in 93⅓ minor league innings.
“I went down and it was kind of a wakeup call,” Glasnow said. “Just kind of a whole changeup of mechanics and switched everything up. Fastball velo went up and I had two off-speed pitches, and it’s a lot easier to pitch with three pitches than half of one.”
Glasnow walked 29 batters in 54⅓ innings in the majors, a rate of 4.8 per nine. He allowed 75 hits and 12 home runs, posting a 1.91 WHIP.
“Even when I was here, [pitching coach] Ray [Searage] talked about it,” Glasnow said. “ ‘You’re slower now, you’ve got to go faster,’ and it was something I just couldn’t really grasp. I didn’t know how to do it athletically.”
The recommendation clicked in Glasnow’s first minor league start. He struck out 10 or more batters in seven of his 15 starts, and did not walk more than two batters in any of his final seven.
In his 10 weeks in the Pirates rotation, Glasnow also became more comfortable with his teammates and better understood the need to embrace his personality without worrying about it causing problems.
“I think when you come up here, you don’t want to step on anyone’s toes and you can kind of lose who you are a little bit,” said Glasnow, an outgoing guy with a good sense of humor. “What I learned most is just do what I do, just kind of be who I am and not worry about … obviously don’t come down and be an idiot, but just be yourself and don’t worry about stepping on anyone’s toes.”
Catcher Jacob Stallings, right-handers Edgar Santana and Johnny Barbato, and left-handers Jack Leathersich and Dan Runzler joined the Pirates as well. Josh Harrison moved from the 10-day disabled list to the 60-day DL to clear a 40-man roster spot for Runzler.
Santana, like Dovydas Neverauskas, will get some opportunities in the late innings.
“As we look toward 2018, those are important innings for those guys to get,” general manager Neal Huntington said.
Fourth option for Kingham?
Right-hander Nick Kingham was not among the promotions and will not receive a September call-up.
“The volume of the year coming back from Tommy John, the good second half that Nick had and then the availability of innings,” Huntington listed as reasons the Pirates not to promote him. “We felt it was better to just go ahead and let him take a deep breath and get ready to come in next year.”
Kingham has used his three minor league options but should qualify for a fourth, because of the short amount of time spent on the active roster in 2015 before having elbow surgery. Should he officially receive one, the Pirates will have another year to evaluate Kingham in 2018 and can send him to the minors without exposing him to waivers.
Fall League uncertain for Tucker
Class AA Altoona shortstop Cole Tucker still wants to play in the Arizona Fall League after breaking his left hand sliding into a base Friday night, Huntington said, but depending on how quickly the fracture heals and when the AFL requires the Pirates to make a final decision, he might not be able to.
“We’ll have a much better feel in a couple weeks when we’ll re-X-ray him and see how the healing process is going,” he said.
Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.
First Published: September 10, 2017, 4:25 p.m.