Roansy Contreras Continues Hot Start With Pitcher of the Week Award

In all of Minor League Baseball, there have been few pitchers who have been more dominant than Roansy Contreras. Through his first three starts, he has a 0.00 ERA and is Named the Double-A Northern League Pitcher of the Week.

During the off-season, General Manager Ben Cherington pulled off a trade that sent Jameson Taillon to the Need York Yankees for a package of four prospects. The prospects have had varying degrees of impact in the organization, including Miguel Yajure making two starts with the Big League club so far. However, the highlight of this trade has been down in Double-A Altoona, where he has been absolutely dominating the Northern League. Pirates fans got a glimpse of Roansy Contreras this spring when he appeared in two games and struck out five batters, while walking two, over two innings of work. However, he has done that and a lot more over in Altoona, as he leads the Double-A starting rotation.

Over his first three starts of the season, Contreras has yet to allow a run, earned or unearned, and has given up just seven hits in 17.1 innings of work. Even better than that, he has only walked three while striking out 28 and having an opponent's batting average of .119 to this point. While we know his ERA is not going to sit at 0.00 for the rest of the year, it will be exciting to see how long he can keep it going. He gets the start again tonight for the Curve as they open a series with the red-hot Erie Seawolves, and it will be a test for him to see if he can keep it going against a Seawolves team that has started the year 13-5. Today, we look at Contreras's hot start to the season and project his progression through the rest of the Minor League Season.

Red Hot in 2021

He may not be ranked as the team's highest pitching prospect right now, but there is no doubt that Roansy Contreras is out to the hottest start of any Minor League pitcher. Not only has he not allowed an earned run, or any type of run for that matter, to this point, but of the 62 batters he has faced this season, only 10 of them have reached base. Contreras came out of the gates firing tossing five shutout innings while striking out 11 batters in his season opener against the Bowie Baysox. He might have picked up a no-decision, but he definitely turned the heads of Pirates management. Everyone was anxious to see how he would build off that first start, and the truth is he has only gone up from there.

His second start of the year was his best yet when he went on the road to face the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. He ended up throwing six no-hit innings while walking two and striking out 11. It was the second straight game that Contreras struck out 11 batters and he only allowed two total batters to reach against him. Despite striking out 11 batters, Contreras was efficient needing just 70 pitches to get through the outing. He was around the strike zone for most of the night, with a strike percentage of 70%, and his fastball continued to hit in the upper 90s, blowing by hitters. Contreras had a breakout season in 2019, going 12-5 in Low-A Ball, and those numbers were starting to look like no fluke.

Then came his third outing of the year and the one that ultimately won him the award. Contreras was on the road again and lasted the longest he has in a game in his career, going 6.2 innings of work. Despite the length, the success was the same as he allowed just two hits while walking one and striking out a season-low six batters. His fastball wasn't as crisp as it has been, but he was once again able to keep opponents off the board and held them to under five hits as a team. He got up to the 90 pitch mark before being pulled from the game and was the first Altoona pitcher to work into the seventh inning this year. His opponent batting average dropped to a minuscule .119, and Contreras is showing that he doesn't only belong in Double-A, but he is dominating Double-A.

Contreras Fast Progression

Making the jump to Double-A is supposed to be one of the hardest moves a Minor Leaguer has to make as they separate themselves from the pack of pretenders. However, Contreras has made it look easy, and now he is getting recognized for it. It was his last start in Harrisburg that got him his first Double-A Northeast League Pitcher of the Week Award. He is getting it done with a fastball, slider combo that offers great movement and a huge change of speeds. While his fastball comes in the upper 90s, his slider has batters way out in front coming in at around 88 mph. He changes speeds effectively throughout his starts and uses his speed as a tool rather than a crutch.

As it sits now, Contreras is ranked as the Pirate's 20th overall prospect, but with a performance like he has had, he is sure to climb the ladder quickly. However, the one thing we haven't yet seen from Contreras is how he deals with adversity. Because his scoreless innings streak is up to 23.2 innings dating back to last season, he hasn't yet had to deal with much traffic on the base paths. One thing you would like to see is Contreras work his way out of a jam or even see how he reacts when giving up a run. Not that I want him to get pounded out there, but I would like to see how Contreras does with adversity. With the poise he has shown on the mound so far this season, there should be no problem when he has bases full of the opposition and he has to work his way out of a jam.

As for how Contreras will progress the rest of the season, I feel like it will be slower than some people think. Remember, he has already jumped two levels of the Minor Leagues to get to Double-A, and you don't want to rush his development. However, if he continues his dominance of Double-A, the Pirates will have no choice but to promote Contreras to Triple-A before the season's end. Currently, MLB Pipeline projects the 22-year-old to be ready by the 2022 season, but I feel that means we won't see him in the Big Leagues until late 2022. This will give him plenty of time to get things right in the Minors before he comes up and starts to show his value to the Big League roster.

The Pittsburgh Pirates (18-28) start a three-game series with the Chicago Cubs (24-22) tonight at 6:35 pm at PNC Park. Cody Ponce (0-0, -.--) is scheduled to make his first start of the season for the Pirates as he goes against Jake Arietta (4-4, 4.46) for the Cubs. You can watch the game live on AT&T Sportsnet, listen on 93.7 The Fan, or follow along with us on Twitter by following @Buccos_Cove.