Jared Hughes Impressive, Jeff Locke To Start Tonight

It's hard to sit through an entire Pirate game these days. The team has fallen a long ways from where they were in mid July, and every day we are getting closer and closer to loss number 82. One of the only things that makes the Pirates worth watching these days are too see Jared Hughes and Jeff Locke pitch. Those two started the year in AA Altoona and were impressive enough in AAA Indianapolis to earn a September call-up. We have seen Hughes twice now and Locke will make the start tomorrow.

Here's what Hughes has done in his extremely small sample:

1.1 Innings vs. Houston:
J. Paredas grounded out to pitcher
J. Martinez grounded out to shortstop
C. Lee popped out to second base
M. Downs singled to center field
J. Michaels grounded out to pitcher

1.1 Innings vs. Florida:
R. Nolasco grounded out to third base
E. Bonifacio grounded out to second base
O. Infante grounded out to third base
G. Dobbs grounded out to short stop

That's 9 batters faced and 7 groundouts, a pop out, and a single. Pretty impressive. His average velocity on the fastball has been about 93, which is alright. He's also thrown a slider as his secondary pitch and has mixed in some change ups.

Locke is an even more intriguing pitcher, mainly because of he projects to be a starter. We'll get a close look at him tomorrow, and I'll be sure to post the Pitch F/X and what I noticed from his start a few hours after the game (I'll be in attendance), so check back for that.

It's an extremely unexciting time to be a Pirate fan, especially with the Steelers kicking off their season this weekend, but at least we have something to watch the games for.