Eric Surkamp Gets The Call To The Show
8/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Aug. 26, 2011
Former NC State lefthander Eric Surkamp (2006-08) got the call on Friday and will make his major league debut for the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night against the Houston Astros at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
The parent club, the San Francisco Giants, probably won’t make the official announcement until after Friday’s game, but Surkamp has been told that he will be the starting pitcher when the Giants face the Astros at 9:05 p.m. on Saturday.
Given the season Surkamp has had in Double-A Richmond, his promotion to the big leagues can’t be a huge surprise. The Cincinnati native, who began the season as the Giants’ No. 8 prospect according to Baseball America, has a 10-4 record and a sterling 2.02 ERA for the Flying Squirrels in 23 appearances, 22 of them starts.
Surkamp has pitched 142 1/3 innings this season and has allowed just 110 hits. He has struck out 165 while walking just 44. That’s a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.75:1. He’s averaging 10.43 strikeouts per nine innings, and just 2.78 walks. His WHIP (walks plus hits per inning) is a ridiculous 1.08.
A sixth-round draft pick by the Giants in 2008, Surkamp was a three-year starter for the Wolfpack, posting an 11-11 record with a 4.35 ERA in 50 career appearances, 44 of them starts. He went 4-5 with a 3.47 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 96 innings as a sophomore in 2007, then went 5-3 with a 4.89 ERA and 86 strikeouts in 73 2/3 innings as a junior in 2008.
Surkamp has been on the fast track with the Giants since his first full professional season. He went 11-5 with a 3.30 ERA for Augusta in 2009. He began the 2010 season recovering from hip surgery, then finished 2010 with the Advanced Class A San Jose Giants, going 4-2 with a 3.11 ERA and then was the pitcher of record in the deciding game when the SJ Giants won the ‘09 California League championship.