Following an outstanding spring that turned heads all around baseball, the one time long shot to make the opening day rotation, today, Nicasio emerges triumphant.
Rob Biertempfel of the Trib is reporting that Juan Nicasio will begin the season as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation.
https://twitter.com/BiertempfelTrib/status/715270612927836160
Leading up to this official word, general manager Neal Huntington had indicated that the starting rotation’s final two spots would come down to a competition between Nicasio, Jeff Locke and Ryan Vogelsong. With Locke being announced yesterday as being in the rotation, the battle then came down to Nicasio and the veteran Vogelsong.
As a refresher, here are Nicasio’s career stats:
| Year | Tm | W | L | G | GS | GF | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | COL | 4 | 4 | 4.14 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 71.2 | 73 | 35 | 33 | 8 | 18 | 58 | 3.65 | 1.270 |
| 2012 | COL | 2 | 3 | 5.28 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 58.0 | 72 | 37 | 34 | 7 | 22 | 54 | 3.99 | 1.621 |
| 2013 | COL | 9 | 9 | 5.14 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 157.2 | 168 | 97 | 90 | 17 | 64 | 119 | 4.25 | 1.471 |
| 2014 | COL | 6 | 6 | 5.38 | 33 | 14 | 7 | 93.2 | 107 | 59 | 56 | 19 | 31 | 63 | 5.45 | 1.473 |
| 2015 | LAD | 1 | 3 | 3.86 | 53 | 1 | 12 | 58.1 | 59 | 25 | 25 | 1 | 32 | 65 | 2.83 | 1.560 |
This spring, Nicasio has turned heads, as his stat line will show:
Though he has been reported as having worked on a sinking fastball this spring, Nicasio will need to show a more varied pitch selection if he is to stick as a starter.
Nicasio’s career pitch usage
Perhaps, that will be one of the focal points as Nicasio gets in some last minute work at Pirate City on Friday before heading to Pittsburgh to join the team for Sunday.
https://twitter.com/BiertempfelTrib/status/715271062997639168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Meanwhile, Ryan Vogelsong took the news well though, as reported by Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Hurdle on Vogelsong: "He was completely professional. Disappointed, absolutely. You’d want him to be."
— Bill Brink (@Bill_Brink2) March 30, 2016
The Pirates and Cardinals also announced the starters for the opening series, today.
Pirates' season-opening rotation against the Cardinals:
Francisco Liriano
Jon Niese
Juan Nicasio— Adam Berry (@adamdberry) March 30, 2016
#STLCards will match up with Adam Wainwright, Michael Wacha and Mike Leake. https://t.co/VvhkDhJdOC
— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) March 30, 2016
Pirates Breakdown will have more analysis on this news in the coming days.
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