Pittsburgh Pirates place Gerrit Cole on DL, recall Jeff Locke
The Pittsburgh Pirates made an announcement today…
The @Pirates today placed RHP Gerrit Cole on the 15-day DL (retro to 6/4) with right shoulder fatigue. @Jeff_Locke has been recalled.
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 8, 2014
As play begins today, the Pittsburgh Pirates find themselves 7 games behind the NL Central leading Milwaukee Brewers. Having Gerrit Cole on the shelf doesn’t help in catching the Brew Crew.
In his last outing, Cole went 5.2 innings, allowing only one run on four hits. According to his Game Score as posted on Baseball Reference, it was Cole’s 4th best outing of the season. Jenn Menendez of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette informs us that manager Clint Hurdle said there were indications that fatigue could be setting in.
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Cole owns a 6-3 record, with a 3.64 ERA, 3.81 FIP, and 1.304 WHIP. He is off some from the numbers he established last season when his ERA was 3.22, the FIP was 2.91, and his WHIP was 1.168. He finished the 2013 season with a 10-7 record and was instrumental in the Buccos making the postseason.
Jeff Locke was an All-Star last season, but seemingly fell off the baseball map during the second half of the season.
At the All-Star break, Locke was 8-2 in 18 starts with a 2.15 ERA and 1.128 WHIP. He definitely deserved the ASG nod.
The wheels completely fell off in the season’s second half where Locke was 2-5 in 12 starts. The ERA ballooned to 6.12 ans did his WHIP of 1.866. One difference was that opposing hitters were hitting him to the tune of a .308 BAA as compared to .202 for the first half.
Locke led the entire NL in walks with 84. His BB/9 for the first half was 3.9. That became a rather ghastly 5.8 during the season’s second half. And he hasn’t been faring that well for Triple-A Columbus (3-1 in 9 starts, 4.19 ERA, 1.460 WHIP, 4.0 BB/9).
Locke gets the starting nod today against those first place Brewers.