Selman fans nine, improves to 4-0
Drafted by the Royals on June 4 and signed just 10 days later, the lefty pitching prospect went from majoring in human and organizational development at Vanderbilt to making his professional debut less than three weeks later.
The 21-year-old has already appeared in eight games -- including seven starts -- for the Rookie-level Idaho Falls Chukars, and things could not have gone better.
His strong start in the Pioneer League continued Wednesday night as he scattered three hits over six shutout innings in the Chukars' 10-2 rout of the Great Falls Voyagers.
Selected by Kansas City in the second round of the 2012 Draft, Selman allowed four batters to reach base, but only one of them got the ball out of the infield.
The Texas native struck out the side around Bradley Salgado's infield single and Micah Johnson's walk in the first inning, and he was perfect in each of the next three frames.
Selman set down 12 batters in a row before Patrick Palmeiro singled to shortstop and Bryce Mosier followed with a clean base hit to left field.
But the 6-foot-3 left-hander induced an inning-ending double-play ball off the bat of Daurys Mercedes and then worked a 1-2-3 sixth.
Fernando Cruz pitched the final three innings for the Chukars, surrendered two runs on four hits and a walk while striking out two over three innings.
Selman lowered his ERA to a Pioneer League-best 1.67 and improved to 4-0 in the win.
He has only walked more than two batters in just one of his seven appearances. Over 32 1/3 innings, he has struck out 44 batters -- the most on the circuit -- and issued eight free passes. His 0.99 WHIP ranks second only to Billings' Robert Stephenson (0.98) while his .217 batting average against is good enough for third behind Great Falls' Jonathan Casey (.207) and Stephenson (.195).
Great Falls starter Brandon Parrent (0-2) allowed three runs over 4 1/3 innings in the loss. He fanned five and walked one batter.
Ashley Marshall is a contributor to MLB.com.