The 2011 season has been kind of a crazy one for right-hander Mike Colla. It all started when the 24-year-old jumped into the Altoona Curve\u2019s starting rotation. It marked the first time in his professional career that he was a starter. Not since being drafted out of Arizona State University in 2008 by Pittsburgh had Colla been used as anything other than a reliever.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kinda been just crazy,\u201d Colla said. \u201cI jumped back in the starting rotation and I\u2019m pretty pleased with how I handled it. I had a lot of help from guys that had previously been starting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colla acknowledged lefty Jeff Locke, who made his Major League debut with the Pirates in September, and\u00a0 Curve teammate Aaron Pribanic as players who helped him this year. Curve\u2019s pitching coach Wally Whitehurst also helped him a lot this season as well. Whitehurst was both a starter and reliever in the big leagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talked a lot to those guys and they helped me out a lot with the adjustment and how to handle it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Handled it he did.<\/p>\n
Colla sported a 5-11 record with a 3.70 ERA with Double-A Altoona this season. Colla\u2019s 3.70 ERA ranked ninth in the Eastern League. He finished fifth in the league with a 1.17 WHIP and third in batting average against among starters (.226). Colla also ranked fourth in the Pirates minor league system in strikeouts with 109.<\/p>\n
But Colla\u2019s season, in which he was named the Curve\u2019s unsung hero, didn\u2019t end there. He was one of seven prospects that represented the Pirates in the Arizona Fall League this off-season. The league features the best prospects in the minors from all 30 Major League clubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe talent is pretty incredible,\u201d Colla said of the experience. \u201cYou\u2019re talking about, not only first-round rounder\u2019s, but top prospects in each organization that are out here. It\u2019s actually, not to say overwhelming, but it\u2019s an honor to be chosen by the Pirates, to be able to come out here and do this and compete against guys you\u2019ll hopefully face in the big leagues from years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over 11 outings, Colla has allowed seven earned runs on 10 hits over 15.0 innings in relief (4.20 ERA). He walked 10 and struck out 10 while picking up two saves for the Mesa Solar Sox.<\/p>\n
Overall, Colla said he was happy with his performance in Arizona.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe statistics in terms of the ERA and the walks [are] not obviously up to what I\u2019d like to do,\u201c Colla said. \u201cIf you look back, I had 11 outings and all of them were pretty good except for two. But other than that, I\u2019ve felt pretty good with what I\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n
In those two appearances that Colla noted, he allowed six earned runs on four hits with five walks over 2.0 innings. However, Colla did make seven scoreless appearances in relief for Mesa, including four of them hitless frames.<\/p>\n
The AFL season may end on Thursday, but Colla\u2019s fate in the Pirates organization could be in jeopardy. Colla is first-time Rule 5 eligible this year. In order to be protected from another Major League organization from drafting him, Colla must be added to the Bucs 40-man roster by Friday. The decision, however, is not in his control but it is something that he said he is on his mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore so now than it had been the entire year,\u201d Colla said. \u201cObviously you\u2019re conscious of it. It\u2019s kind of like the ‘wonder if’. But it\u2019s out of my control. Hopefully I\u2019ve done enough to put myself on that list. [I\u2019ve looked] at that list of guys that are first-year eligible and also second year eligible. It\u2019s a good group of guys. Anything can happen. As of right now, I\u2019m trying not to concern myself too, too much with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colla\u2019s long season finally comes to a close after the Solar Sox play their final game tomorrow. After leaving Arizona, Colla will head back to his hometown of Fresno, California where he will enjoy some much deserved time off before getting ready for the 2012 season. Richie White, who is the Curve\u2019s strengthening coach, and Colla are from the same hometown and they plan on starting off-season workouts together in December. From there, Colla will start throwing before the end of the year to gear up for spring training, where hopefully his 2011\u00a0season\u00a0earned an\u00a0invite to big league camp.<\/p>\n
Photo credit: Brendan Baseball Blog<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The 2011 season has been kind of a crazy one for right-hander Mike Colla. It all started when the 24-year-old jumped into the Altoona Curve\u2019s starting rotation. It marked the first time in his professional career that he was a starter. Not since being drafted out of Arizona State University in 2008 by Pittsburgh had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[1576,1415,1224,425,619],"class_list":["post-8719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional","tag-afl","tag-double-a-altoona-curve","tag-mike-colla","tag-pirates","tag-pittsburgh"],"yoast_head":"\n