Zach Duke

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Zach Duke

Pittsburgh Pirates — No. 57
Pitcher
Bats: Left Throws: Left
Major League Baseball debut
July 2, 2005 for the Pittsburgh Pirates
Selected MLB statistics
(through 2006)
Record     18-17
Strikeouts     175
ERA     3.72
Innings pitched     300.0

Zachary Thomas (Zach) Duke (born April 19, 1983 in Clifton, Texas) is a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who currently plays for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Duke bats and throws left handed. He is considered one of the best pitching prospects in major league baseball.

Contents

[edit] Minor League Career

Duke was drafted directly out of Midway High School in Waco, Texas, in the 20th round of the 2001 draft, and began his career the following year with the Pirates' rookie leve Gulf Coast League team. He spent 2003 with the low-A Hickory Crawdads.

In 2004, Duke led all of minor league pitchers with a 1.46 ERA (24 earned runs in 148.1 innings pitched). He posted a 15-6 record in 26 combined starts between Class-A Lynchburg and Double-A Altoona, and his 15 wins tied for third-most among all minor league pitchers.

Following the 2004 season, Duke was named Pittsburgh's Minor League Pitcher-of-the-Year and earned Carolina League Pitcher-of-the-Year honors. He was selected by Baseball America as the sixth-best prospect in the Eastern League and the best pitching prospect (fourth-best prospect overall) in the Carolina League. He was also recognized by the publication as having the best breaking pitch in the league.

[edit] Major League Career

Duke started 2005 at Triple-A Indianapolis and was promoted to the Pirates in July 1 after going 12-3. After he was called up, Duke won three games and led all major league starters with a 0.87 ERA. Beside this, he did not allow an earned run to score in a span of 26.0 consecutive innings, which spanned his last four starts of the month. He was selected the National League rookie pitcher of the month for July.

On August 18, became the first rookie in Pirates history to win his first six decisions as a starter, as his six straight wins is the longest streak by a Pirates rookie since Don Robinson won seven straight decisions in 1978. He garnered his second straight NL Rookie of the Month recognition, after going 3-0 with a 2.83 ERA in five starts, including seven shutout innings of two-hit ball on his August 18 victory. He had his month cut short when he sprained his ankle in an August 23 outing against St. Louis, and was put on the 15-day disabled list. He was reactivated on September 16.

In September, he won 2 games and lost 2, though he posted a 1.80 ERA for the month. In his first Major League season, Duke finished with an 8-2 record, 1.81 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 14 games and 84⅔ innings.

Duke's first full season with the Pirates was as the new team ace, anchoring a very young rotation with Ian Snell. Duke had a number of good starts in the first half of the season, but many of them were undone by the Pirates' weak bullpen and lack of run support for Duke. The second half of 2006 was a re-emergence of the Duke that had dazzled Pittsburgh with his stuff from the previous year, and, on a side note, it was the first time the Pirates had compiled a winning record for a half of a season since 1992. Duke recorded 2 complete game efforts, the only 2 that Pittsburgh had all season. His first was a shutout of the Chicago Cubs on May 2, but he only had 2 strikeouts and a walk. His better effort was on August 11 against the St. Louis Cardinals. While he scattered 8 hits, Duke only allowed 1 run (it was earned), recorded no walks and 7 strikeouts. Duke also threw 11 fewer pitches than his previous complete game effort, and recorded 14 ground-ball outs. Duke's final line for the 2006 season was 10-15 with a 4.47 ERA and 117 strikeouts against 68 walks. Duke also became the first Pirates starter since Kris Benson in 2000 to throw more than 200 innings with 215 and 1/3 innings pitched.

Duke currently lives in Pittsburgh year-round.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kovacevic, Dejan. "Hot Stove: LaRoche remains hot topic with Pirates' ... including players", Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 2007-01-07. Retrieved on 2007-01-07.

[edit] External links

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