Joshua Loeschorn Putting Strong Season Together In Bradenton Bullpen

After being the last pick for the Pirates in the 2022 draft, Joshua Loeschorn has put together one of the best seasons in the system when it comes to relievers.

In a draft class filled with college pitchers, Joshua Loeschorn was the last one taken, all the way in the 20th round in 2022.

Now, as we are heading into the final stretch of the 2023 season, few are having as strong a campaign as the former Long Island University pitcher.

Throwing out of the bullpen for the Bradenton Marauders, the righty is putting together one of the best seasons by a reliever in the entire Pirates organization.

Among pitchers in the system with at least 30 innings pitched (going after his game Friday night), Loeschorn is first in K% (36.6%), xFIP (2.63), and K-BB% (28.6%), while trailing just Hunter Stratton in SwStr% (16.4%).

Things weren’t always running so smoothly for Loeschorn, who had an ERA of over five after the first month of the season, and a 4.34 mark through May, although he did have some strong underlying metrics that played to his favor.

Since the start of June, Loeschorn has posted a 3.43 ERA and a 40.2 K% across 21 innings pitched. In his latest outing on Friday, he put up three perfect innings, striking out six, while Bradenton pushed a no-hitter into the ninth inning.

His slider has been the go-to pitch, generating a whiff rate of 50.6%, and a Called Strike plus Whiff rate (CSW%) of 40.1%. The pitch has great movement, in his July 3rd outing against Clearwater, five of the six sliders he threw had a horizontal break reading over 20 inches.

The fastball isn’t overpowering, averaging around 90 mph, but he’s thrown it for strikes consistently, with a 36.2 CSW%.

College draft picks, especially one that is 23-years-old right now, should be succeeding in Single-A, but not all of them do. The Pirates are asking Loeschorn to be a reliever in Bradenton right now, and that’s what he’s doing, and doing it well.