NOTEBOOK

Starter gaining command of career

Guy Cipriano

UNIVERSITY PARK — The highest drafted player on the State College Spikes already grasps the long-term thinking associated with beginning a professional career.

Black

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Instead of dissecting New York-Penn League numbers, Victor Black, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ supplemental first-round draft pick, analyzes broad objectives.

“I can’t expect to go 0,0 and 0 with a 0.00 ERA and 100 Ks,” he said before Sunday’s game against

Jamestown. “I’m here to develop. The big thing for me is to command the fastball down. You throw down, the contact is weak.”

In his most recent start, Black struggled locating a fastball that convinced the Pirates to select him 49th overall. Black left many pitches high Saturday against Auburn, walking three in 21/ 3 innings.

Zach Foster helped Black escape a third-inning jam unscathed by inducing a double play on his first pitch. Black will enter his next start Thursday against Aberdeen 1-0 with a 5.27 ERA and 15 strikeouts through 132/ 3 innings. He has walked seven in his past 62/ 3 innings.

“He’s a guy that has great stuff,” manager Gary Robinson said. “He’s struggling with his command. He’s finding out pro hitters don’t chase. He’s going to have to be down in the zone more. But, boy, he has some talent. He has a chance to have three above-average major-league pitches.”

The 6-foot-4 Black has one of the strongest right arms in team history. His fastball is between 92-94 mph, and Robinson called Black’s breaking ball, which has slider tendencies, “a nail-bitter.”

Black has thrown the breaking ball sparingly this summer as he focuses on improving his changeup.

Black worked as a starter and reliever during his career at Dallas Baptist. The Pirates are trying to develop Black as a starter who can command three pitches.

“I would much rather now go fastball because that’s their goal and that’s what they want,” said Black, who has not pitched more than three innings in a start. “I’m more focused when I throw offspeed on my changeup. I need the changeup to be a starter, so that’s the big pitch right now.”

Black, 21, is one of the most inexperienced pitchers on the Spikes’ staff. He didn’t move to the mound until his senior year of high school and he struck out 246 in 2461/3 innings during three college seasons. He said the past two outings suggest he’s beginning to return to the form he displayed at Dallas Baptist.

“It’s a progression,” he said. “It’s like starting over. It’s just a new place, like college coming out of high school. You weren’t expecting to come in and blow it up. I’m definitely making steps. Each outing I feel like it’s getting better and that’s the main goal of each outing, to get better and better. Except for the walks, other than that, it has been good.”

Moving around

Center fielder Evan Chambers ended a long RBI drought by going 2-for-5 with two RBIs on Saturday.

Chambers, the Pirates’ third-round draft pick from Hillsborough (Fla.) Community College, went 20 straight games without an RBI after recording five in his first six games.

Chambers ended the drought on a night when Robinson moved him from third to second in the batting order. Chambers returned to third spot Sunday.

“I think he’s a natural three hitter,” Robinson said. “We have to do something. I’m not going to move him down. He will hit two or three.”

Chambers hit second, third and fourth in college. He said differences exist between batting second and third. Chambers entered Sunday hitting .189 with seven RBIs. His on-base percentage was .351, which led Spikes with more than 40 at-bats.

“I think if you’re hitting second you want to look a little more to the opposite field, try to focus on moving the guy and getting them in,” he said. “When you’re hitting third, it’s all about driving in runs.”

Familiar foes

Facing former teammates is part of life in the NY-PL, something Black learned in an odd way this past week.

Black pitched against Auburn’s Ryan Goins in his past two starts. Goins, the Toronto Blue Jays’ fourth-round pick, played shortstop for Dallas Baptist. The Black-Goins encounters included a strange twist.

“It’s definitely weird because he’s actually dating my sister,” Black said.

Black wasn’t the only pitcher to face a former teammate. Auburn first baseman Sean Ochinko played on the same Douglas (Fla.) High School as Spikes reliever Brandon Holden. Ochinko, who singled in the seventh, was responsible for Holden allowing his first NY-PL earned run.

The Jamestown series reunited Spikes outfielders Pat Irvine and David Rubinstein with former college teammates. Irvine played at Elon University with outfielder Chase Austin while Rubinstein played at Appalachian State with outfielder Rand Smith.