Pirates promote Tyler Glasnow

The 22-year old phenom will make his major-league debut Thursday against the Cardinals.

Less than a month after promoting another top pitching prosepct in Jameson Taillon, the Pirates find themselves in need of another promotion from the farm.

To clarify: Tyler Glasnow will start for the Pirates Thursday, Jon Niese Sunday. Pittsburgh hopes Tallion, Gerrit Cole and Ryan Vogelsong all return from the disabled list shortly after the break.

In his last start against Toledo, Glasnow walked just one batter, while striking out eight. He strung together 13 consecutive hitless innings during two starts on June 17 and June 22, and he hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in a game at Triple-A since May 12 and allowed few hard-hit balls, ranking fourth by allowing 0.38 home runs per nine innings.

It hasn’t been the best of seasons of ballyhooed pitching prospects.

Three Indianapolis coaches all had a similar evaluation of Tyler Glasnow: opponents won’t feel comfortable at the plate. As a team that was supposed to contend, the Pirates certainly face an uphill battle from their narrowly-above.500 record. Brault made his major league debut just last night as he threw four strong innings in the Pirates victory vs the Cardinals.

Glasnow will be the 11th different starting pitcher the Pirates used this season. Pittsburgh had been struggling for most of the season and have been on one of the biggest first half underachievers but a very impressive 10 game stretch has them right back in the hunt for a wild card spot and with their impressive lineup the Pirates should be a tough out the rest of the season. Their next-closest candidate is Juan Nicasio, who has been converted to the bullpen. He was a fifth-round pick in the 2011 Major League Baseball entry draft.