Kyle McPherson is enjoying his brief time off from playing baseball. He was recently named Pitcher of the Year for the State College Spikes, the Short Season A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, after going 13 starts with a 2.99ERA, 75IP, 57K, and 11BB. He also had 13 starts with the Class A West Virginia Power before changing squads in 2009.
And now, McPherson is taking a short break before he heads down to my neck of the woods and plays some Fall Instructional League ball with the Pirates. Kyle believes that the time in Florida will allow him to pick up his velocity. If he follows suit, he will be one guy you never want to see on the mound as a batter on the opposing team.
McPherson recently talked again with a website that has become a big fan of the black belt baseball player. Rum Bunter’s interview posits why McPherson was sent down last year (their assumption is correct), talks to Kyle about his 2009 season, asks some questions about next year, and compares McPherson’s numbers with Rudy Owens’ numbers (another great Pirates prospect).
Here is my favorite Q&A of the piece:
KYLE WHERE DO YOU WANT TO BE NEXT YEAR?
“My overall goal is make it to the big leagues. Of course, the organization will place me where they see fit for me to reach that goal. My goal is to have a healthy spring training and offseason. I’m going to go down to the Instructional League and I will be all ears. I will pick many things up for the betterment…to take with me for next year.”
“Wherever they decide that they want me to end up is up to them, I cant control that, so I will give myself every opportunity I can and let the chips fall where they may.”
McPherson also had an interview with George Von Benko of Scout.com and PiratesDugout.com. A lot of the same topics were discussed in the article on Rum Bunter. I particularly liked the very end of the interview:
GVB — Are you pleased with your progress through the minor leagues, do you have any sort of timetable?
KM — Age has been very beneficial for me since I was drafted at 19. This is my third professional season and I’m 21 now. I’m just as old as the new draft guys are and looking at it from that standpoint it’s progressing just fine.
