Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Nick Kingham made his major league debut on Sunday, April 29 against the St. Louis Cardinals. The 26-year old carried a perfect game into the seventh inning before surrendering his first base runner.
The Pittsburgh Pirates rookie retired twenty straight batters, the most by a player in their MLB debut since the expansion era (per ESPN).
His day ended after he cleaned up the seventh inning without surrendering any runs. He tallied nine strikeouts, which is tied for the third highest total in Pirates history for a MLB debut, while also not allowing any walks.
Kingham is one prospect that Pirates fans knew about but were unsure as to if and when they would see him. After needing Tommy John Surgery, he missed all of 2015 and 2016 and at that point he was rated the Pirates’ number five prospect.
Well, he was finally able to give fans a taste of what he has. Now fans will look to see if he can continue his strong performance on the mound.
It’s Electric (Kingham’s Slider)
Kingham threw 98 pitches in the magnificent first outing.
His slider accounted for 32 of his pitches with 28 for a strike and 12 were swung at and missed. He established it early and used it to put hitters away.
This is something other Pirates starters need to focus on more. (*cough* Jameson Taillon and his curveball).
In the early going for Kingham, there is going to be limited scouting reports on him. By continuing to throw his best pitch more often (and for strikes), it will keep the hitters guessing on what is coming next.
Mound Presence
For making his major league debut, Kingham looked naturally comfortable on the mound. While he had one of the best rookie debuts in team (possibly MLB) history, he never really seemed phased by the environment.
Imagine finally making your major league debut after dealing with injuries and then taking a perfect game into the seventh inning. Seems pretty easy to get caught up in the moment but the right-hander didn’t. He went about his business and showed he deserved the opportunity.
I expect him to carry this through all of his starts, good or bad.
The Pirate brass decided to move Steven Brault out to the bullpen and place Kingham into the starting rotation for the time being.
He will make his second start tonight against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park, which has proven to be a “House of Horrors” for the Pirates in recent memory.
However, I think we truly have a good one on our hands with Kingham and he deserves every chance to prove he belongs.
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