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Interview with 4th Round Pick Nick Kingham

WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES

2010
R:  0-0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 3 IP, 0.0 BB/9, 6.0 K/9

Made a couple brief appearances in the GCL in 2010.

2011
A-:  6-2-0, 2.15 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 71 IP, 1.9 BB/9, 6.0 K/9 

Pitched in the State College rotation and had a very encouraging season.  Opponents hit .238 against him and he walked very few.  His K rate was on the low side.  It says something that he won six games; the Pirates monitor workloads for high school pitchers closely at the lower levels and they often don’t last five innings.  In his last ten starts he pitched at least five innings each time and never allowed more than one run.  His fastball ranged from 89-94.  BA ranked him the league’s 9th best prospect.

2012
A:  6-8-0, 4.39 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 127.0 IP, 2.6 BB/9, 8.3 K/9

Kingham pitched well in training camp, with his velocity sitting around 92-93, and seemed to be a breakout candidate going into 2012.  Instead, he had a difficult season in the West Virginia rotation.  He maintained his velocity well, often hitting 95, but he tended to have blowups where he couldn’t get out of an inning.  He was up and down much of the season.  He started off with an 8.59 ERA in April, then pitched well in May, with an ERA of 2.84.  He slumped again in June to 6.28.  Overall, though, he improved during the season.  His ERA was 5.22 in the first half and 3.69 in the second half.  It was 1.68 in his last nine starts.  His peripheral numbers for the season–WHIP, walk rate and K rate–were actually good, although he had some trouble with gopher balls, allowing 15.  A lot of his trouble may simply have been the need to learn to pitch out of trouble, possibly by mixing up his pitches more.

Kingham remains one of the better pitching prospects in the system and will go to Bradenton in 2013.  He’ll once again be a good candidate for a breakout season.