PITTSBURGH — It was only a month ago that left-hander Jeff Locke was pitching in the starting rotation for the Double-A Altoona Curve. But after getting promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis where he posted a 2.22 ERA in five starts, Locke got the call that he’s dreamt of since he was a little kid.
“It’s very exciting,” Locke said. “Anytime you get a promotion, it’s never been a bad thing. To start off in Double-A and be able to come here at some point in the year is really a dream come true. It’s everything you’ve been working for since you were knee-high and this is where you want to be. Now it’s trying to find a way to stay. It’s very exciting obviously. I’ve had a long season, coming from Double-A, a stop in Triple-A, then here. It’s very exciting and I’ll try to make the best of it.”
Triple-A Manager Dean Treanor told Locke, the Pirates 8th best prospect in the system prior to the 2011 season, that he was heading to Pittsburgh on Monday.
“He told me to have fun and represent the organization proudly and to keep a smile on my face,” Locke said.
The first person the 23-year-old lefty called was his mother.
“I called home and talked to my Mom and my Dad and they were very excited,“ Locke said. “I don’t even know if they believe me yet.”
And from there, the word spread.
“The phone’s been ringing off the hook the last day or so,” Locke said. “Heck, I’ll take all the phone calls when it’s something like this. It’s been very exciting.”
Locke said all his teammates from Altoona, especially former roommate and right-hander Michael Coll,a were very supportive of his callup.
“I heard from everybody that I played with in Altoona,” Locke said. “I’ve only been in Triple-A for three, four weeks. I still have a lot of ties to the guys there in Altoona. It’s such an exciting feeling to be going up to the next level. Regardless if it’s April, May, June, September, it doesn’t matter. It’s always exciting up here. There’s so much good talent and we’d just like to put it all together for years to come.”
In his final start for Triple-A Indy on Monday, Locke allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out six.
After posting a 4.03 ERA in 22 starts with Double-A Altoona, Locke excelled at Triple-A, allowing three earned runs or less in all five of his starts.
“Sometimes the challenges of moving up can peak performance,” Manager Clint Hurdle said. “For whatever reasons. Not that guys get stale but they get comfortable in a situation and maybe they’re not as sharp or their focus isn’t as acute. Now you get called up and say, ‘Oh. Now I’m getting called up a higher level. These guys are a little bit better. I got to nail it down a little bit more.’ I’ve seen that happen. I know that the games that he pitched up there, they said his command was exceptionally good, exceptionally good.”
Although Locke’s role with the club has yet to be determined, the Pirates don’t rule out using him in the rotation for the rest of the season.
“We’re having that conversation right now,” Hurdle said. “I had [pitching coach] Ray [Searage] and [General Manager] Neal [Huntington] in here earlier today. I think we’ll have some better definition of how we plan this thing out going forward by tomorrow. We want to see Locke. We’ve seen Aaron [Thompson] one time. We anticipate seeing more of him. We’ve got to continue to monitor our starters…I think there’s probably going to be the opportunity for both of them to start up here before the seasons over.”
Along with being a rookie, Locke will have the honor of sporting a bright pink backpack to the bullpen every game. He’s not alone. All five rookies in the ‘pen will carry pink backpacks. Tony Watson carries a princess bag, Aaron Thompson and Daniel Moskos have Hello Kitty, Jared Hughes has a Barbie backpack, and Locke?
“I’m told this is the Dora Explorer edition,” Locke said. “I’ll wear that with pride today and for the rest of the time I’m here probably.”
Whatever it takes to stay in Pittsburgh.
VIDEO — Jeff Locke
Photo credit: MILB
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