ALTOONA, Pa. -- A brief look at the top-prospect charts, and Cam Vieaux is nowhere to be found.
A brief look at the pitching statistics for the Altoona Curve, and the result is much different as this 25-year-old lefty, the Pirates' sixth-round pick in the 2016 MLB Draft, has been dominant in both starts this season: Zero runs. Three hits. Six strikeouts against five walks.
"I've just kept doing my thing and I think I've done a better job keeping the ball down than years past at the start of the year, just getting back into the swing of things," Vieaux said following his most recent outing Thursday. "Everything is just feeling pretty good and I'm keeping the ball down."
The start against Akron on April 11 was his second in as many starts and that tends to lead to some familiarity between both the pitcher and the opponent, but it was not an issue for Vieaux as he found his breaking pitch and was able to command the zone with authority in his second outing.
"I saw a better breaking ball from him. You know, his first game out he threw the ball well, but he also didn't have his best breaking ball, I think they had a lot of foul balls," Altoona pitching coach and former Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan said. "You come and face the same team again for your next start, you can see the breaking ball was better, he got a couple swing and misses on it and he located his fastball pretty well, too."
One of two strikeouts for Cam Vieaux through three perfect frames.
Scoreless game, middle third pic.twitter.com/a1CzrY92nO
— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) April 11, 2019
Hanrahan wasn't the only coach to rave about Vieaux on the mound against the RubberDucks as Curve manager Michael Ryan was also impressed by the Michigan State product's outing. According to Ryan there were a lot of things that worked well for Vieaux and it all started with his ability to get ahead in the count.
"Getting ahead in the count, able to get his off-speed for chase late in the count and just being that competitive bulldog he is on the mound," Ryan said. "He's a great presence and keeps us in the game. I love watching him compete, he rubs off on the rest of the rotation."
Pitchers are creatures of habit and each has their own personal routine and mentality when they toe their on the mound and as noted before, Vieaux has flourished this year while doing 'his thing' this year. So, what really is Vieaux's thing?
Well he summed it up rather succinctly.
"Just good pace, good rhythm, getting quick outs. My start in Akron (April 6) I had some long at bats, it wasn't really my typical style, I was going really deep and wasn't able to put guys away," Vieaux said. "I cleaned a couple things up and had some better bite on the ball, better action and better results."
One would think throwing six innings of shut out baseball would be an acceptable outing for most pitchers and for the most part it was for Vieaux, but there was still much to be desired for the lefty hurler.
"I had four walks so we can eliminate those and as the season starts going, we start to get stretched out longer throughout games, can't have those four walks because that's going to rack up the pitch count," Vieaux said. "That'll be something we clean up, with two-strike, two-ball counts, how can we make an effective pitch that they'll get themselves out on instead of spitting on it."
Perfection is the hardest to strive for both in the game of baseball and in life but it's something Vieaux strives for each time he gets the nod and is able to take the mound.
"I expect to be perfect every time I go out there, obviously that's not going to happen but if I can get as close to that at the end of this year and without any regrets I'll be pretty proud of myself," Vieaux said.
If he's able to do just that it won't just be the Curve stat sheets and rotation he'll be on top of it, he could very well find his way to Triple-A and onto some of the top-prospect reports.
CURVE'S TOP HITTERS
Here are three bats that have had success through the first 11 games:
Hunter Owen, 3B - 11-for-36 (.306) with three doubles, four homers and 12 RBIs.
Bligh Madris, OF - 15-for-46 (.326) with four doubles, a homer and three RBIs.
Jerrick Suiter, 1B - 11-for-35 (.314) with one double, two stolen bases and four RBIs.
CURVE'S TOP PITCHERS
Top starting performance: James Marvel at Akron on April 4: 6.0 innings pitched, one hit allowed, no walks and nine strikeouts. Marvel is 1-1 with a 2.87 ERA on the season allowing five earned runs, and striking out a total of 18 hitters thus far and walking only one.
Top reliever: Matt Eckelman. Eckelman has appeared in four games on the season, recording two saves and has yet to allow a run to cross the plate. He's pitched four innings in relief and has recorded two strikeouts.
THE ROSTER MOVES/INJURY UPDATE
Here are the roster moves from Opening Day to now:
4/5: OF Jared Oliva placed on the seven-day injured list (concussion). OF Ryan Peurifoy assigned to Altoona.
4/6: RHP Eduardo Vera promoted from Altoona to Triple-A Indianapolis. RHP Beau Sulser assigned to Altoona.
4/7: RHP Gage Hinsz placed on the seven day injured list (right forearm strain), retroactive to 4/4.
4/8: LHP Sean Keselica transferred to Altoona from Triple-A Indianapolis.
4/11: INF Stephen Alemais assigned to Altoona. INF Alfredo Reyes transferred to Triple-A Indianapolis from Altoona.
4/15: OF Jared Oliva activated from the seven-day injured list. OF Ryan Peurifoy assigned to extended spring training.
THE RESULTS/SCHEDULE
Altoona started the season on a tear winning their first five games of the season before hitting an early season skid going 1-5 over the course of their next six games as they returned home from beginning the season on the road.
The Curve returned to the friendly surroundings of Peoples Natural Gas Field to win their home opener in dramatic fashion with a Bligh Madris walkoff single to take down Akron in the 12th inning last Thursday. Following that victory, Altoona has faced an uphill battle with Mother Nature with two of their games being postponed as well as losing both ends of a double header against Akron on Saturday.
Games Tuesday and Wednesday separate the Curve from a six-game road trip as they take on Harrisburg and Richmond.
ALTOONA FUN THING
Monday's game marked the 20th anniversary of the first home game in Altoona Curve history, a 6-1 victory over the Bowie Baysox. Bronson Arroyo got the starting nod for the Curve and threw six shutout innings with seven strikeouts for his second win of the 1999 season. The first home run hit at Blair County Ballpark was courtesy of Craig Wilson.
