Lefty Picks Up Where He Left Off
Fast-forward to 2041, and we see this: Four starts, four wins. His ERA is at 1.33, and that BABIP sits at .217. “It’s not rocket science,” he said the other day. “I just ask the hitter to put it on the ground to the left side of the infield, and then Luis (Pena) and Dong-po (Thum) go to work.”
His last outing in Madison, wherein he went seven innings and gave up only a single run, was a case in point, with Pena handling five of Pineda’s eight ground outs. One should note, however, that the hard-throwing lefty also struck out six wolves, including striking out the side in one inning.
“The sky is the limit with him,” said Melissa Lester, the voice of the Nine. “You can see his confidence as soon as he goes to the mound. I mean, he’s only 21, and you just have to wonder what could happen for him as long as he doesn’t get hurt.” She went on to talk about his repertoire of five solid big-league pitches, and the fact that he throws 100, something that has caused insiders to compare him with ex-Nine ace Jose Chavez. “He’s a different pitcher, really,” Lester said. “Pineda isn’t as ‘in your face’ with the heater as Dogface was. He gets by more on the changeup and slider, and he doesn’t have that vicious knuckle-curve that Chavez could bring. But, yeah, they have the same feel when they’re pitching. You don’t want to look away.”
Pineda, from Argentina, is still taking it in.
“I’ve been preparing for this for a long time,” he said. “I know I still have a lot to learn.”