Last night the Pirates promoted 2015 first round pick Kevin Newman to West Virginia, despite not so strong numbers from the shortstop in Morgantown. On the season, Newman had a .226/.281/.340 line in 159 at-bats. However, he showed some improvement recently, after struggling for most of the first month of the season.
Newman had just a .158/.238/.193 line in 57 at-bats through July 11th. Since that point, he has put up a .265/.306/.422 line in 102 at-bats, and the live play has looked even better than the stat line.
"Coming off the draft I had three weeks off between college and professional [baseball]," Newman said about his early struggles.