Pirates Pitching Coach Ray Searage: Glasnow "Not A Finished Product"
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan) - Pittsburgh Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage joined Ron Cook on the "Cook and Poni Show" Thursday morning to preview the Major League debut of Tyler Glasnow who was called up to make the start today against the St. Louis Cardinals.
"He is not a finished product," Searage said. "He is still learning."
Searage said that Glasnow, much like Jameson Taillion and Chad Kuhl, have all the talent in the world but are still going through a learning moment at the major league level.
"As long as they don't look at the names on the back of the uniform, who cares, go get them," Searage said. "It's just a hitter with a stick trying to make contact on you, so be aggressive."
Glasnow will be the fourth Pirates' pitcher to make his major league debut this season.
"It's outstanding," Searage said. "Shows the hard work this organization has done in the minor leagues and how good our coaches are in helping fill holes that come up during the season and have guys that are qualified. All the the teachings that we do, it's pretty much that when they come up here, they compete and throw all of their pitches for strikes and they don't back off. It's really good to see and it really helps in the locker room with the infusion of youth."
The Pirates will be counting on these young arms during the second half as they look for a chance to make the playoffs for a fourth consecutive year.
"These two guys [Taillion and Glasnow] are going to be viable parts of our rotation," Searage said. "And to us, consistent outings so we cam make a real run at this thing."
Searage says that the Pirates pitching staff has really turned it around as of late, especially the bullpen, but admits the starters need to go further into games.
"It is kind of frustrating," Searage said. "We need to go deeper in games that's for sure. When they do, it just freshens the bullpen so that is what we are focusing on."
With Taillon, Glasnow, Locke, Neise, Liriano and the return of Gerrit Cole, there could be some interesting decisions to be made with that rotation. Searage says getting Cole back is like making a big trade at the deadline.
So the arrow is pointing up on the Pirates pitching, which struggled in June but has put together a real nice stretch heading into July in what Searage calls a real run for a playoff spot in the second half.
"We're really pleased," Searage said. "But not satisfied."