The Pittsburgh Pirates are a team that must live and die by its prospects. In a new series, PBD will project each of the team’s Top 20 prospects in 2017.
Welcome to a new recurring series here at Pirates Breakdown in which we count down and project the 2017 seasons for each of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Top 20 prospects, ranked as per MLB Pipeline.
Today we take a look at the team’s #10 prospect, P Nick Kingham.
Prospect Primer
Nick Kingham was given an over-slot deal by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the fourth round of the 2010 MLB draft. This was indeed a part of the Pirates persistent picking of high school pitchers early in the 2010 draft. Nick Kingham has been higher on this list before, but due to injuries, his position has been re-evaluated. Kingham has a good bit of experience in the Pirates minor league system, pitching 580.2 innings overall.
As many know, Kingham also fell victim to the Tommy John epidemic that befell many Pirates pitching prospects. After a grueling rehab, Kingham made it back to professional baseball last season.
Let’s now take a look at Kingham.
Strengths
Kingham may be one of the most “MLB ready” prospects on this entire list.
Kingham has a free and easy delivery that he is able to replicate on a regular basis. The ball explodes out of his hand, though by scout grades he does have an above average fastball. The Pittsburgh Pirates monitored Kingham very closely after his Tommy John surgery in 2015, and were overall impressed with the resolve and toughness that Kingham showed during his rehab.
One of Kingham’s major strengths is his ability to throw strikes. Kingham does an excellent job using a combination of fastball, change-up, breaking ball. While his breaking ball is by far his weakest pitch, it still may end up being a MLB average pitch. In 2014, Kingham’s last serious amount of work from the mound, he only walked 52 batters in 159 innings pitched. That is an excellent innings pitched to walks ratio. Kingham will need to lean on his control as he continues to rehab with the Pirates in 2017.
Areas For Improvement
One area that Kingham could focus on in the 2017 off-season is his breaking pitch. While Kingham features an above average fastball and change-up, his breaking ball needs some work. Kingham may be the toughest pitcher that we have had to critique so far. While this may be a small critique, it could push Kingham over the top making him a frontline starter in the future. Kingham was right on the edge of being called up to the Pittsburgh Pirates before his injury in 2015.
The fans and organization were very excited about what he could bring to the table.
Where He Starts 2017
It is likely that Kingham will start the 2017 season with the Indianapolis Indians. He will have a chance to continue his rehabilitation period there and also be able to work on being a complete pitcher. If he is able to show that he is back to his old self before Tommy John surgery, he could join the Pittsburgh Pirates sooner rather than later.
Where He Ends 2017
If Kingham follows his 2017 rehab plan successfully, it is easy to imagine him throwing off the mound at PNC Park at some point in 2017. The one stop gap that is in the way is the right handed heavy rotation Pittsburgh already has.
Current projections show Steven Brault to be the lone LHP in the Pirates starting rotation, barring any still-to-come trades.
It could be an injury that gets Kingham called up to the show in late May or early June. If not, he will have to rely on strong performances to make the Pirates pull the trigger. Here at Pirates Breakdown, we like the chances that Kingham is an above average starter in the Majors at some point soon.
Image Credit – Indianapolis Indians
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