Pittsburgh Pirates' Tyler Glasnow pitching solely from stretch, dominating Triple-A

After committing to pitching from the stretch, Pittsburgh Pirates' starter Tyler Glasnow is shutting down Triple-A hitters.

Pittsburgh Pirates' starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow may not be in the Major Leagues, but he is pitching like a big leaguer.

In his third start with Triple-A Indianapolis, Glasnow struck out 12 while allowing two hits and two walks over seven shutout innings versus Durham. The appearance was his first start of no earned runs, at any level, since August 27, 2016.

"It was splendid. That's pretty close to the best I've seen him," said Indianapolis pitching coach Stan Kyles. "He was very aggressive. He was very balanced on the mound. He had great awareness in what he was doing and his execution was outstanding.

"That was a big league pitcher tonight."

The flame-throwing right-hander was extremely efficient and threw his best strike-to-ball percentage of the 2017 season at 69.3 percent (61 strikes in 88 pitches). He had no issue blazing through seven frames with under 90 pitches, which was a feat he had only accomplished once prior to Monday (August 17, 2015, with High-A Bradenton).

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"I made some changes when I got sent down. I looked at old video of my Bradenton days and Double-A days and went back to doing that," said Glasnow. "I'm quicker, just moving everything much faster. I'm only in the stretch now."

Glasnow has shown improvement in his Minor League stint. Pittsburgh's former top prospect has proven his ability to control talented hitters; he held Tampa Bay's prospect trio of Willy Adames, Jake Bauers and Casey Gillaspie hitless in nine at bats with five strikeouts.

"When he pitches with confidence — he's not thinking about balls and strikes — he's just thinking about making pitches," Kyles said. "The strikes take care of themselves and that's what happened tonight.

"He understands a lot better now what he has to do and needs to work on. He has to control his emotions and can't get too wrapped up. He has to understand he has got to go one pitch at a time. I think he is evolving into that."

Glasnow made his Major League debut last July. He is 2-6 with a 7.45 ERA in 12 starts with Pittsburgh this season, which led to his demotion on June 10.

Thanks to his past experience, Glasnow knows exactly what to focus on moving forward.

"Get my stuff back [and] get my [arm] angle back," said the 23-year old of his focal points. "I wasn't the same guy up there that I was in the Minor Leagues.

"They saw some differences and [told me] to go back down and figure it out. I'm trying to do that."