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OK so it was actually four years plus 11 days ago, but I was reminded of it today when Pirate pitcher Nick Kingham carried a perfect game into the 7th inning in his ML debut!
I knew I had heard that name before but I couldn't figure out where until it occurred to me that he was one of the names we talked about as the possible PtbNL in the Ike deal.
Kingham was the guy we wanted (or one of them anyway) but he was a top-100 prospect at the time so Pitt was understandably balking on including him.
The other guy we were hot for back then was OF Austin Meadows who had been Pitt's 1st round (9th overall) pick nine months earlier. Not surprising that the Pirates weren't anxious to include him either.
Meadows has still yet to appear in the majors although was named a top-50 prospect over the winter and is currently hitting well in AAA
Infielder Alen Hanson was the other guy we were talking about, but he's since racked up 250 nondescript ML ABs spread over 3 seasons and 3 organizations, and virtually none as the SS he once was.
And of course the idea of waiting for any of these guys until the far-off 2017 or 2018 seasons was more patience than we had at the time.
Zack Thornton was the guy immediately named in the deal but he was last seen racking up a 7+ ERA in Vegas in 2016 then toiling in the Atlantic League last year, having never made the majors.
LHP Blake Taylor turned out to be the eventual PtbNL, having been the Pirates' 2nd round (51st overall) draft pick the year before, but he was a 17 y/o HS pick so he was a long way from the majors at
the time, and then pitched just 20 innings total in 2015-16, all in short-season ball.
To his credit he's still plugging away having apparently gotten over whatever it was that was keeping him out of the lineup. Not that the numbers have been pretty in either low-A Columbia in 2017
or so far in 3 PSL starts this year, but at least he's gotten a full 100 innings under his belt and he still just turned 22.
On the other hand, we never really missed Ike, did we?
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