Piranha Bites: 46.06 - Two Up, Two Down

[tylertoo]

Tripoli, May 26, 2046 - Shaking up a starting rotation in May may seem like a sign of panic. But after the Piranha's first losing week of the season, after being swept by the defending champion Mumbai Metro Stars, after slipping out of first place in the Bancroft division, and after eating a rancid ballpark hot dog, Piranhas GM Mike Dunn decided to do exactly that by demoting two struggling young starters, and promoting two who've excelled at AAA.

Dunn announced that 20-year old starter Shea Valance and 19-year old Cedric Bolitho would both move down to the AAA Ndali Barons to work out their recent woes. Valance had been rocked his previous two starts, lasting only about four innings in each game. Bolitho had an ERA approaching 6 after 12 appearances, six of which were starts. "We want Shea to calm down, and we want Cedric to get back into a rotation. For both of them, moving down to AAA for a spell is a great way to do that," said pitching coach Emílio Rivera.

The move was made possible by the presence of two other young starters who have been lights out in AAA: the alliterative Larry Leeder and the multisyllabic Gavrilovich Mastinsky.

"It's a testament to these guys that have proven, in less than two months, that they are ready for the bigs," said one scout. "The team is fortunate to have this sort of depth, because the way Mumbai is playing, as well as a resurgent Bucharest squad, they could not afford to wait."

Both Leeder and Mastinsky have had 10 starts in AAA, with nearly identical, and impressive, results:

Leeder: 2.89 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 9.5 K/9.  
Mastinsky: 2.77 ERA , 1.09 WHIP, 9.2 K/9.

Mastinsky will start tonight against Bucharest and 38-year old Freddy Delgado.

Here's a bit of fun trivia: Delgado was a first round draft pick of the New Orleans Crawdads on April 21, 2026. Mastinksy at the time was five months old!

Leeder will start on May 31 against Cairo, with 30-year old former Las Vegas Hustlers farmhand Sandro Plumey expected to go for the Pharoahs. The Piranhas have a 30-19 record, one game behind Mumbai.