CHARLESTON, W.Va. — One of Luis Escobar's greatest strengths on the mound can quickly turn into his greatest weakness.
The hard-throwing 21-year-old right-hander has an unusual intensity that often leads to him rushing his delivery. He becomes too rotational. He then releases the ball before he's squared to the plate, and that makes his pitching erratic, causing him to fall behind in the count. Yet his fastball is electric, often touching 98 mph. The spin on his changeup can be difficult to track. His curveball is equally deadly, dropping to fool hitters who think it's coming in high and down the middle.
That's what made him the Pirates' choice as their representative in the Futures Game as part of All-Star festivities in Miami on July 9, and what has him overpowering hitters for the West Virginia Power of the South Atlantic League, full-season Class A.
"I need to be more relaxed on the mound," Escobar told DKPittsburghSports.com last week at Allegheny Power Park, through interpreter Eduardo Vera, a fellow pitcher. "If I do that, I'll be able to control all three pitches much better."
Escobar is able to overcome that problem against Class A competition. Facing the Augusta Greenjackets last Wednesday, Escobar threw a first-pitch ball to four of the six batters in the first inning. A poor defensive play led to an earned run, but showed why he's still raw. He kept speeding up his delivery, leading his fastball to tail outside and his breaking pitches into the dirt. He was able to fight back using his four-seam fastball, which has unusual late movement for a pitcher at his level.
It was his first start after his appearance in the Futures Game, when he pitched a scoreless fifth inning, walking one batter and not allowing a hit for the World team in a loss to the U.S.
Over the past several weeks, West Virginia pitching coach Drew Benes has spent extensive time trying to get Escobar to calm down on the mound without losing the competitive edge that makes him so effective at times.
He's used simple buzz words such as "front side," or "directional," to show Escobar what he's doing incorrectly. That has led to more effective bullpen sessions between outings, but it has yet to translate to games.
"I talked to him about attacking with his head and with his heart," Benes said. "Having the good mentality, but also a suave body. Attack, attack. For him, if everything synchs up and works together, he doesn’t have to work to throw 100. It’s going to be firm and it will come out of his hand beautifully."
Escobar's journey to the minor leagues is similar to many Latin American prospects. A native of Cartagena, Columbia, he signed as a non-drafted free agent on July 8, 2013, when he barely knew how to pitch and he weighed only 155 pounds.
Escobar was a third baseman for much of his youth, but it soon became clear that he was a much better pitcher than hitter. His electric fastball caught the eye of Rene Gayo, the Pirates' Latin America scouting director, but he did not have much of a delivery.
"My coaches decided I was a pitcher and not much of a position player," Escobar said. "It wasn't easy learning how to pitch. It took time. I had some knowledge about it, but not a lot."
Escobar played in the Dominican Summer League in 2014, walking 31 batters and striking out 34 in 13 starts, before beginning his rise through the organization in 2015. He also had to gain a significant amount of weight, requiring a heavy diet of brown rice, and he now weighs over 200 pounds.
His breakthrough came last summer with a dominant year for the short-season West Virginia Black Bears, registering a 2.93 ERA with 61 strikeouts in 67 2/3 innings.
That has carried over into his next stop in the organization. Escobar is 6-5 with a league-best 104 strikeouts and a 4.46 ERA in 16 starts. He has walked 36 and has a 1.26 WHIP.
When Major League Baseball sent the Pirates' front office a list of potential prospects they could send to the Futures Game, Neal Huntington thought Escobar could benefit greatly from pitching on that stage.
The game features the best prospects in the minor leagues, so it was an opportunity to test the organization's No. 12-ranked prospect. The hope is that if Escobar can learn how to repeat his delivery, his potential will truly begin to show.
"The delivery repeatability (is an issue), but there’s a lot of things to like with this young man," Huntington said last month. "We’ll continue to develop the changeup, continue to develop the fastball command and repeatability, and that’s a young man who can find himself as a major league starting pitcher for years.”
INDIANAPOLIS
• Right-handed pitcher Tyler Eppler had an exceptional start to the season, but has struggled since. He has a 6.50 ERA over his last 10 starts, and is 6-4 in 16 starts this season with a 1.42 WHIP. Eppler continues to develop a slider, which has led to bouts of inconsistency. He walked six batters in a start on June 11, and has been tagged for at least eight hits in four of his last six starts.
• Dovydas Neverauskas, a right-handed reliever who made his major league debut on April 24, has been Indianapolis' most consistent reliever over the past two weeks. A native of Lithuania, Neverauskas has a scoreless innings streak of five innings and has a 2.89 ERA over his last 10 appearances. He's struck out 36 and walked 14 in 38 innings.
ALTOONA
• Perhaps the most consistent pitcher at Class AA Altoona has been a long reliever: Tate Scioneaux, a 39th-round draft pick in 2015, is 6-3 with a 1.95 ERA in 60 innings during 30 appearances. The 24-year-old right-hander has struck out 48 with 11 walks and has a 0.92 WHIP. Opponents are batting .202. It seems Scioneaux is building on somewhat of a breakout last season. Scioneaux had a 1.06 WHIP in 32 appearances for High-A Bradenton in 2016, throwing 67 2/3 innings.
• Shortstop Kevin Newman, a first-round draft pick in 2015, continues to struggle at the plate. Though he is on a four-game hitting streak, Newman is batting .244 this season with a .665 OPS, four home runs and 28 RBI. He has only 23 extra-base hits and has committed seven errors.
BRADENTON
• Taylor Hearn continues to overpower the Florida State League. Pitching for the High-A Bradenton Marauders, Hearn's 10 strikeouts in his last start give him 106 this season, which leads the league. Acquired in a trade with the Nationals last July, the left-handed starter has a 4.12 ERA and 1.17 WHIP this season. Hearn throws 100 mph and is already regarded as one of the Pirates' top pitching prospects.
• Mitch Keller had one of the worst starts of his young professional career on Saturday against Dunedin. The former second-round pick allowed seven runs on eight hits with five walks in 3 1/3 innings before being pulled. Keller, who is the Pirates' top-ranked pitching prospect, has now made four starts for Bradenton since returning from the disabled list and has a 3.47 ERA with 57 strikeouts and 19 walks in 62 1/3 innings.
• Shortstop Cole Tucker is batting .375 over his last 10 games and now has 35 stolen bases in 66 games with a .287 batting average.