Pittsburgh Pirates Must Promote Tyler Glasnow To Big Leagues Right Now

The Pittsburgh Pirates have fallen hard and fast during the month of June, and if they don’t get things turned around soon, it may be too late to save their season. With one of the worst pitching staffs in the National League, a sudden change of direction seems unlikely. However, the Pirates have help waiting for them in Triple-A in the form of Tyler Glasnow, one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball, and it’s time for the team to bring him up to the big leagues.

Glasnow has been utterly dominant at Triple-A this season. In 15 starts, he has a 1.61 ERA, a 1.14 WHIP and has struck out 100 batters in 84 innings of work. He did not allow a hit in either of his last two outings, which covered a total of 13 innings. If ever there were a pitcher who was ready for the majors and had nothing left to prove in the minors, it’s Glasnow.

The Pirates have already promoted their other top pitching prospect, Jameson Taillon, who has held his own during his first three big league starts, so why isn’t Glasnow up as well? Before the season, it seemed like Glasnow would have been called up before Taillon. After all, Glasnow had eight strong outings in Triple-A at the end of 2015, while Taillon didn’t pitch at all in the minors in either 2014 or 2015. Yet, the Pirates have allowed themselves to put together a starting rotation in which three pitchers have an ERA over five without promoting Glasnow.

When Juan Nicasio went on the restricted list last week, it presented the Pirates with the perfect opportunity to put Glasnow in the rotation. Glasnow could have moved into the rotation and been an immediate upgrade, with Nicasio going into the bullpen, where he’s likely to be more effective, when he returns. Instead, Wilfredo Boscan was given a start, allowing seven runs in three innings of work.

The Pirates need to rectify that mistake and promote Glasnow right away. At this point, Pittsburgh has nothing to lose, as an upgrade to the starting rotation is needed if the Pirates are going to climb back into playoff contention. Even if it’s too late for the Pirates in 2016, there’s no reason for Pittsburgh’s young pitchers like Glasnow and Taillon not to pitch in the big leagues the rest of the season. If they need to continue their development, they can do so at the major league level and be ready to lead the rotation alongside Gerrit Cole at the start of next season.