What To Expect: Tyler Glasnow

The Pirates are expected to recall 6-foot-8 righthander Tyler Glasnow to make his major league debut Thursday against the Cubs.

With the callup of their top prospect—and No. 14 overall in the game—the Pirates have now called up four-fifths of Triple-A Indianapolis’ rotation—Jameson Taillon, Chad Kuhl, Steven Brault and now their fifth-round pick in 2011 out of Southern California.

But Glasnow is clearly the most dominant of that quartet. He’s been the organization’s top prospect two years running and has an elite fastball/curveball combination that makes him unhittable. Glasnow has a career batting average against of .172 for his minor league career. That’s not only the best among current minor league pitching prospects, it’s a magnitude better than anyone else. You have to go back to 2004 (Yusmeiro Petit) to find a minor league starting pitcher who posted a lower average against in a single season with a qualifying number of innings. There is no other starting pitcher in the minors who comes close to Glasnow’s track record of avoiding the sweet spot of the bat. In his minor league career, Glasnow has left with a no-hitter or one-hitter in 25 different minor league starts. He’s allowed six or more hits only five times.

SCOUTING REPORT

Glasnow pitched at the same Hart High in Santa Clarita, Calif., that also produced former Pirates righthander Bob Walk as well as James Shields, Mike Montgomery and Trevor Bauer. He was a late-bloomer in high school who blossomed after he grew a foot. He comes from an athletic family, but Glasnow himself is more of a slow-twitch pitcher whose long levers and merely adequate body control have led to a continual struggle to stay on top of his delivery and his control.

This season, he is 7-2, 1.70 through 17 starts at Indianapolis. He had recorded 10.6 strikeouts and 4.9 walks per nine innings, while allowing just 57 hits (three home runs) in 96 innings.

While Glasnow has plus velocity, it’s his angle that creates uncomfortable at-bats. At 6-foot-8, he has great downhill plane that helps the fastball explode on a hitter. With his smooth delivery, Glasnow is not a maximum-effort thrower but the fastball gets on a hitter quick and at an eye level that makes it hard to resist. The curveball is a power pitch with downward action, but he can lose command of it at times, leading to the too-high walk rate. The changeup is still in development and will need to continue progressing for long-lasting success.

As with some other Pirates hurlers, such as Taillon, the few batters who reach run easily on Glasnow. The Pirates have made keeping pitchers on line to the plate and in sync more of a priority than holding runners.

WHAT TO EXPECT

As with most young players, Glasnow’s stay in the majors will be predicated on how he performs and his health. Taillon did well but shoulder fatigue sent him to the disabled list, necessitating Steven Brault’s callup. Gerrit Cole’s injury leaves the Pirates thin in the rotation right now, so even if Glasnow is mediocre early he’s likely to get a longer leash than most rookies.

Pitch efficiency and command are going to be the biggest issues for Glasnow. He should have the edge on batters early before scouting reports are passed around, but if he can throw his curveball for strikes, he should do well. There’s no minor league pitcher being promoted this year who has a better chance of throwing a no-hitter. But he’s also very high risk as his control troubles could lead to some short outings and high pitch counts.