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Pirates' Glasnow returns to pre-injury form

Sets season highs with nine strikeouts over seven scoreless innings
July 16, 2015

Before he injured his ankle in May, Tyler Glasnow thought he had the best fastball command of his career. On Thursday night, he was as close as he's been to that level.

The Pirates' top prospect tied a career high by going seven innings as he pitched Double-A Altoona to a 5-0 blanking of Richmond. 

Glasnow (4-2) set a season high with ninestrike outs, scattered three hits and tied a season best with 87 pitches. MLB.com's No. 9 overall prospect has a 2.12 ERA and 60 strikeouts over 51 innings in 10 starts for the Curve.

"The fastball command was good all game," he said. "The curve was a little off. … My change was pretty decent, and I worked in some of those just to work on it. Mostly, though, it was just fastball command."

The 6-foot-8 right-hander sprained his right ankle sliding into second base on May 6 and was placed on the disabled list later that month. He rehabbed at Class A Short Season West Virginia for two outings in late June, then returned to the Eastern League on June 29.

Glasnow has been on tight pitch counts but managed to increase his innings in each of his four starts since returning. He logged 3 2/3 frames on June 29, then managed five innings his next time out and six on July 10 before tossing seven against the Flying Squirrels. His strikeout-to-walk ratio in those four outings is 37-to-3.

The 21-year-old is excited to be trending in the right direction after the injury interrupted his early-season momentum.

"I think before I got hurt, that was the best I've felt in pro ball," he said. "I was feeling really good before that happened, so it was unfortunate for that to happen. I'm starting to get back on track, back to where I was before I was hurt."

The 2011 fifth-round Draft pick said the ankle isn't back to 100 percent but described the discomfort as tightness rather than pain.

"I think tonight, the ankle felt the best it has since it happened," Glasnow said. "Ankle sprains never really go away, but it's nothing that is going to mess up my mechanics or anything like that."

Working through discomfort was a goal for this season even before the injury. In the past, Glasnow has been overeager to adjust. If his curve wasn't breaking the right way, he'd tweak his mechanics to get it back; same with fastball command or the feel for his changeup -- if even something small was off, he was going to try to fix it on the spot.

This year, he's tried to put more faith in his athleticism. With the ankle less than 100 percent and subpar feel for his curve on Thursday, he put his faith in an upper 90s fastball, and that was all he needed to dispose of the Squirrels.

"I think I had to realize that for every game, I'm not going to feel really good," he said. "Before, when I didn't feel 100 percent, I always tried to change something rather than work with what I have.

"Now I've accepted that I'm not always going to feel great and I'm not going to put the ball exactly where I want it, but I'm coming to terms with that. If I can feel athletic, that's the only adjustment I can make. Being confident with what I have has helped the most."

That dependency on his athleticism was a big key when Glasnow spun six scoreless innings against Bowie on July 10. On Thursday, he again leaned on his feel and physicality, finally finding some semblance of comfort and repeatability out of the stretch after years of erratic results with men on base.

"I think I've become consistently more consistent, if that makes sense," Glasnow said. "The last couple of years, I'd feel good in the stretch maybe once every five starts. It's come along more. I'm not thinking mechanics, I'm thinking about being athletic. It's more of a whole body rhythm thing rather than thinking about getting my arm out to here or staying back."

Glasnow was perfect until allowing a one-out double to Austin Slater in the fourth inning, then didn't give up another hit until Engel Beltre singled in the sixth. An inning later, he allowed a one-out single to Devin Harris but closed out his effort with consecutive popouts from Hunter Cole and Myles Schroder.

The seven-inning stint was the third for Glasnow since the Pirates grabbed him in the fifth round of the 2011 Draft. He logged seven frames twice last year, both with Class A Advanced Brevard County and most recently on Aug. 17.

Jhondaniel Medina and Brett McKinney each pitched a hitless inning after Glasnow exited, finishing off the Curve's ninth shutout of the season.

Jake Seiner is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Jake_Seiner.