Pirates have plenty of arms to pick from at Indy
Neil Huntington rattled off the names of four starting pitchers at Class AAA Indianapolis that he thought would be capable of being called up and helping the Pirates right now.
“You can never have enough starting pitching. Never,” Huntington said. “We’re fortunate to have some depth.”
Huntington said deciding who to call up to start Monday’s game was one of the most difficult decisions of his nearly seven-year tenure with the Pirates. He said that right-handers Brandon Cumpton, Vance Worley and Casey Sadler and left-hander Jeff Locke were all capable of doing a good job.
Cumpton and Locke were 1 and 1A on the list and Cumpton got to nod to start against the Mets at Citi Field in New York.
It turned out to be a wise choice because Cumpton pitched very effectively again in a major league game, holding the Mets to two runs — one earned — in six innings of a no-decision in a game the Pirates won 5-3.
Cumpton again more than held his own his own against major-league competition. In eight career starts, including three this season, he is 2-2 with a 2.72 ERA.
To an organization that watches every penny despite turning a $40-million profit last year, watching Cumpton pitch that well with a $507,000 salary at least eases the sting of knowing they paid left-hander Wandy Rodriguez approximately $5.6 million to go away last week when they designated him for assignment.
As impressive as Cumpton has been during his major league stints, it says something that Huntington also believes Locke deserves to be in the major leagues.
Locke, of course, went from All-Star Game participant to being left off the postseason roster following last year’s second-half collapse, then missed most of spring training with a strained oblique. Thus, he has had to make up significant ground to be ready to pitch in the major leagues again.
Worley is 26 and just years removed from going 11-3 with a 3.01 ERA in 25 games with the Philadelphia Phillies. Sadler looked very poised when he made two two-inning scoreless relief appearances for the Pirates earlier this season.
Considering the Pirates’ rotation entered the week having allowed 4.35 runs a game, which was the third-worst mark among the 15 National League teams behind only the Arizona Diamondbacks (5.04) and Phillies (4.66), it might not hurt if Huntington called on some more of those reinforcements at Indianapolis.