Stephen Tarpley wins South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Week

The South Atlantic League has named the West Virginia Power's Stephen Tarpley its Pitcher of the Week. Tarpley pitched eight scoreless innings against Hickory on Saturday, striking out two, walking none and getting an amazing 16 outs on the ground.

The award continues what's been an outstanding first season in the Pirates organization for Tarpley. He's maintained a solid strikeout rate while cutting his walk rate almost in half compared to last season, and he would lead the league in ERA if he weren't a few innings short of qualifying. And, of course, he threw a six-inning no-hitter (an outing that didn't win him a Pitcher of the Week award, incidentally).

At this point I think I'm supposed to mention that Travis Snider recently got released, but continuing to harp on the trade in which the Pirates acquired Tarpley perhaps puts too fine a point on the situation. Tarpley and Steven Brault both are having strong seasons, but Tarpley will probably have to get promoted to learn much more about how good a prospect he actually is.

I spoke to Tarpley last month. You can read that interview here.