State College Spikes

The Short A Season has started and the State College Spikes are playing. The prospects to watch in State College are almost all pitchers. Zack Von Rosenberg tops that list. He pitched opening day and struggled. He gave up four runs in four innings, walking one, and striking out two. But before massive panic sets in remember the Pirates like to focus on control in the lower minors especially of the fastball.

Another great prospect is Zack Dodson. He too struggled in his openning game. Two earned runs in four innings. No strike outs and two walks.

The one I am actually most interested in is Brooks Pounders. Pounders is often left out of the top pitchers drafted by the Pirates, but Pounders is good. While not necessarily the over powering pitcher Black can be, nor the high upside that Cain and Von Rosenberg have, Pounders just wins. And his first outing was a loss, but he gave up only one unearned run. He recorded a strike out and no walks.

Those guys of course were all drafted in the first 10 rounds of last years draft. The Spikes have a few guys from this year's draft like Justin Benscko from Villanova, playing the outfield. The Spikes also feature Gift Ngoepe from South Africa. But the hitting prospects on this team are low.