James McDonald: Is It Time for Pittsburgh Pirates to Panic About J-Mac?
By Matt Shetler
One of the main reasons the Pittsburgh Pirates entered Thursday with a share of the National League Central Division lead has been the performance of starter James McDonald.
McDonald entered the second half of the season with a 9-3 record and a 2.37 ERA. His ERA ranked him among the top five pitchers in the league and he should have been an All-Star.
Since then however, it hasn’t been the J-Mac of the first half.
To say his two starts after the All-Star break have been ugly would be kind. J-Mac has lasted only a combined 9.2 innings in his two starts, with an ERA of 9.31.
He’s allowed 17 hits, 11 runs (10 earned) and three homers. But the alarming part is that McDonald has walked nine batters and only struck out four in that span. In addition, opposing hitters a raking at a .386 clip against him, compared to the .196 they hit in the first half of the season.
Is it time to panic about J-Mac?
Not quite yet.
I am concerned that he hasn’t thrown strikes and his curveball doesn’t have the same bite, but I’m chalking this up to a pair of bad starts. If we are having this same conversation two starts from now, then maybe it’s time to push the panic button. But certainly it’s too soon to panic after two rocky starts, one that he and the Pirates won.
His first start came the game after the All-Star break against the Milwaukee Brewers. Sure he was shaky, but it’s not uncommon for pitchers to struggle out of the gate to open the second half. Their rhythm is broken and it takes a week or so to get back into daily routine.
The second start came in a day game in Coors Field where the ball was flying out of the yard. It wasn’t pretty but he battled through and got a win out of the deal.
Those weren’t two ideal situations to judge if McDonald is really struggling or not.
It is very possible that McDonald has reverted back to the inconsistent, puzzling pitcher Pittsburgh fans have watched for two years, as 19 starts does not translate into tangible evidence either way. But it is more likely that McDonald is just going through the maturation process that every young pitcher goes through.
But judging by what we’ve seen so far, J-Mac will battle through this recent tough stretch. Having A.J. Burnett as a mentor really will come in handy in the next couple of weeks.
Take the fingers off the panic buttons for now.
Talk to me in two weeks and that feeling may be different, but I tend to think that McDonald will be just fine.