Hillcat Happenings July 20 – July 26: Zach Plesac strikes out career-high 10 hitters in last start

Zach Plesac1

Starter Zach Plesac has begun to turn around his season and has pitched especially well in his last five games for the Lynchburg Hillcats including his last start on July 25.

Plesac, 23, is the nephew of former MLB closer Dan Plesac and is a 12th Round selection of the Cleveland Indians in 2016. He pitched in college for Ball State University. This season is his second at the professional level.

For the 2018 campaign with Lynchburg, Plesac has started 17 games and pitched 95 innings. He’s 9-5 with a 4.26 ERA and has struck out 76, walked 25, and given up 93 hits.

In his last start against the Down East Wood Ducks on July 25, Plesac pitched seven innings and gave up just six hits and one walk while striking out a career-high 10 hitters.

During that appearance, he threw 92 pitches of which 66 were strikes. He’s been stretching out his pitch counts in those last five games and has thrown 90 or more pitches in each appearance.

Plesac, who is lasted at 6′ 3″ and 220 pounds, has thrown 27.2 innings in his last five starts and given up just eight runs for a nifty 2.60 ERA. He also struck out 28 and walked just five hitters while giving up 27 hits. He is 3-0 in those games.

Plesac, 23, spent a brief time with the Double-A Akron RubberDucks at the end of May and early June. He started three games for Akron before returning to Lynchburg on June 7.  He was 2-1 for the RubberDucks with a 2.25 ERA and pitched 16 innings. He gave up 13 hits and two walks while striking out 14. Since then, he’s made nine starts for the Hillcats.

In 2018, Plesac has fared better against lefty hitters and is holding them to a .229 average compared to a .279 average for right-handers. Not all that surprising is he tends to pitch better at home where hitters are batting .248. On the road, hitters have a .271 average.

Last season, Plesac split time between Mahoning Valley and Lake County. He appeared in eight games for the Scrappers with 26 innings pitched. He gave up just four runs for a 1.38 ERA while striking out 31 and walking just eight. Opponents hit just .161

At Lake County, Plesac pitched in 25 innings in six games. He was 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA and gave up 19 hits and six walks during his appearances.

Lynchburg (19-15) won three of six games last week and fell to second in Carolina Northern League Division standings behind Wilmington (21-11), which has a seven-game winning streak.

The Hillcats are on the road in Myrtle Beach where they will play a three-game series starting tonight at 7:05 p.m.

Weekly transactions: None

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