JOHN VAN BENSCHOTEN

4/14/80; '01 1st; Kent State U.
R/R; 6-4, 215

Level
W-L-Sv
G
GS
IP
H
 HR
BB
K
 BB/9 K/9 WHIP OAVG
ERA
2001 A-
0-2-0
9
9
25.2
23
 0
10
19
 3.51 6.66 1.29 .247
3.51
2002 A
11-4-0
27
27
148.0
119
 6
62
145
 3.77 8.82 1.22 .219
2.80
2003 AA
7-6-0
17
17
90.1
95
 5
34
78
 3.39 7.77 1.43 .268
3.69
2003 A+
6-0-0
9
9
48.2
33
 1
18
49
 3.33 9.06 1.05 .192
2.22
2004 NL
1-3-0
6
5
28.2
33
 3
19
18
 5.97 5.65 1.81 .300
6.91
2004 AAA
4-11-0
23
23
131.2
135
 16
49
101
 3.35 6.90 1.40 .264
4.72
2005 INJURED
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
2006 AAA
1-1-0
3
3
11.2
10
 2
7
13
 5.40
10.03
1.46
.233
5.40
2006 AA
1-0-0
1
1
5.0
3
 0
3
3
 1.20
5.40
5.40
.176
3.60
2006 R
0-1-0
1
1
6.0
1
 1
2
4
 0.50
3.00
6.00
.053
4.50
2007 NL
0-7-0
11
9
39.0
55
 4
29
26
 6.69
6.00
2.15
.335
10.15
2007 AAA
10-7-0
19
19
109.0
98
 8
51
79
 4.21
6.52
1.37
.244
2.56
2008 NL
1-3-0
9
5
22.1
37
7
20
21
8.06
8.46
2.55
.366
10.48
2008 AAA
7-4-0
22
13
80.1
70
3
32
62
3.59
6.95
1.27
.242
3.92

Van Benschoten was once regarded as the organization's top prospect, but has seen his performance drop off as he's moved up through the minors, and has struggled to recover from labrum surgery, to which he lost nearly two full years. More recently the struggle has shifted to his control.

Van Benschoten led the NCAA in HRs his last year in college, but the Pirates surprised everybody by drafting him as a pitcher. By the end of his first full season on the mound he had established himself as the organization's top prospect. He was regarded as the most advanced pitcher in the SAL in 2002 and was chosen the league's #2 prospect; some managers thought he should have been at a higher level in the second half. He continued to dominate at Lynchburg in 2003, where he was named the league's 4th best prospect. He was promoted before mid-season. He did well initially in AA, but began to struggle the last month.

Van Benschoten throws a fastball in the low 90s, with very good movement and also has a good curve. Scouts have been less impressed by his slider and change. During his first three years, he drew rave reviews that invariably focused on his effortless delivery and "mound presence" rather than on his stuff or command, which struck me as a warning sign. Van Benschoten had a strong spring training performance in 2004, pitching well enough that the Pirates decided to send him to Nashville rather than return him to Altoona, which had been their original plan. He struggled badly at first there, but put together a long string of outstanding outings in the middle part of the season. The Pirates called him up in August, due to injuries. Baseball America reported that his fastball in AAA was down in the 80s and that his stuff wasn't impressing some scouts. In the majors, he had two strong starts, but his other four starts were poor. In three of them he had serious problems finding the strike zone. In his final outing, he recorded only one out against an anemic Mets' offense.

After the start against the Mets, Van Benschoten was shut down for the season's final two weeks with a sore shoulder. The Pirates, as they always did under Dave Littlefield, insisted that it was a minor problem. Instead, it was revealed in January that Van Benschoten was found in September to have a partial labrum tear. He tried to recover without surgery, but experienced problems when he began throwing again and ultimately had surgery. He ended up needing two labrum surgeries on his left shoulder as well. After he missed all of 2005, the Pirates stated that he'd be ready for spring training in 2006, but once again they were wrong. He suffered repeated setbacks due to shoulder soreness in his rehab and wasn't able to take the mound until August. His first few outings seemed to go well, but in his last one, at the end of the AAA season, he had to come out after one inning with still more shoulder soreness.

Van Benschoten did make it back for 2007 and put in a full season. He opened in AAA and had a low ERA there, but his other numbers weren't as impressive. His K rate was low and he walked a lot of hitters as he struggled with the strike zone in a number of starts. The control problems had a much greater impact in the majors. The Pirates called him up in mid-June and he pitched fairly well in his first two starts. After that, however, he had more and more trouble finding the strike zone. In his last three July starts he allowed 19 hits, nine walks and 21 runs in just seven innings. The Pirates sent him back to AAA, then recalled him in September. They were plainly reluctant to use him, but after new CEO Frank Coonelly took over, Jim Tracy was directed to put Van Benschoten in the rotation in place of Tony Armas. The obvious reason was that Van Benschoten was out of options and the Pirates had to determine whether he had a future with them. Van Benschoten managed to allow only three runs in five innings, but he threw barely half his pitches for strikes. Given one more start, he got knocked out after two innings.

The Pirates were able to acquire an extra option for Van Benschoten due to all the time he missed, so they sent him to Indianapolis to open 2008. He put up better numbers, especially with his control, although he had a very large platoon split, allowing a .275 average to LH hitters compared to .207 to RH hitters. He walked LH hitters at nearly three times the rate of RH hitters. He was called up twice when the team ran short of pitchers and, unfortunately, continued to struggle mightily in the majors, with control again being the main culprit. He has good stuff by all accounts, but for some reason his command is just good enough for him to get AAA hitters out most of the time, but not good enough to allow him to be successful at all against major leaguers. When the Pirates sent him back down they moved him to the bullpen. He did not pitch as well there as he had as a starter in AAA and he was not called up in September.  The Pirates removed him from the roster after the season and he cleared waivers, but he opted for free agency.

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