Scouting Report James McDonald

The 26-year old Righty was traded to the Pirates from the Dodgers at the deadline last year, and started 11 games down the stretch for the Pirates, showing some promise, and leaving people scratching their head on why the Dodgers traded him. He's 12-14 in his brief major league career (194 innings, 74 games, 26 starts), with a 4.22 ERA and 1.44 WHIP.

McDonald is a 3-pitch pitcher, with a fastball that tops out at 96 (92 mph average), a 12-6 curve (76 mph), and a change (81 mph). He uses his curve if he's ahead in the count with 2 strikes, and if he gets to 3-2, he's thrown his fastball 98% of the time this year. He throws 1st pitch fastball 79% of the time. He's a fly-ball pitcher, and he has already let up 9 home runs (53 innings). His K/9 is average (7.6 K/9) and he's walking too many hitters (4 BB/9).

This year he's 3-3 (10 starts, 53 1/3 innings), 5.23 ERA, and 1.50 WHIP. He's had 4 games this year he's let up 5+ runs, and hasn't let up more than 2 runs in the other 6 games. He has not thrown 7 innings once this year, and has only thrown 100+ pitches twice.

He's faced the Mets 6 times (2 starts, both in 2010), and has a 4.41 ERA and 1.53 WHIP. Both of those starts game in August and September; in August he struggled, allowing 5 runs in 5 innings (including a D Wright HR), while walking 5, but his September start at Citi Field was a different story. He threw 8 scoreless innings, 5 hits, 2 walks, but got the no-decision as the Mets scored the lone run of the game in the 10th inning.