Zach Duke

Clay writes to tell us all to check his K/BB ratio down at Lynchburg. Good eye, Clay. His pro career stats here. His career record as a pro is now at 25-10. Paul Meyer answers a question about the 6'2" 200-pound lefthander in today's Q&A. A little Google finds this gem that we missed in early May. Here's what Graham said about him then:

"He's throwing a lot of pitches for srikes, and more improtantly, he's commanding his fastball and throwing his curve for strikes at all counts," Pirates farm director Brian Graham said. "He's definitely pitching the way we hoped he would. It's still early in the season. You certainly don't want to get too happy in April and you definitely don't want to be sad in August. You want to teach a pitcher to perform through 24-25 starts in a season. He keeps doing things we hoped he would, and he's certainly doing it very well."

Winston-Salem Manager Ken Dominguez had this review after Duke beat his Warthogs earlier this month:

Zach Duke started for the Hillcats. Duke, a left-hander who improved to 7-2, entered with a league-leading 1.15 earned-run average. Duke has struck out 68 and walked 11 in 602/3 innings this season, and is 3-0 against the Warthogs.

"He commands both sides of the plate with his fastball and he gets his breaking ball and changeup over effectively and in situations," Dominguez said. "He didn't have his best stuff tonight but you have to give him credit. He battled. I've seen him pitch a lot better against us but he kept his team in the game."

They will move this guy once this year and maybe next year he can come to Spring Training and compete for a job at Nashville.

...Dayn Perry at Baseball Prospectus adds that Duke pitches in what might be "the best hitter's park in the Carolina League." He continues: Duke "rarely reaches 90 with his fastball, but it has good movement and has been more than enough to complement one of the best curveballs in the minors." There's more in his report, check it out if you have a subscription.