David Buchanan Named Final International League Pitcher of the Week

Following one of the best outings of his professional career in the season finale, Louisville Bats pitcher David Buchanan has been named the International League Player of the Week for the period from September 16-22, the final week of the regular season.

The weekly honor is the second for a Bats player during the 2024 season and first since Carson Spiers was named Pitcher of the Week on May 13. For Buchanan, this is his second IL Pitcher of the Week award after earning the honor on July 24, 2016 for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. The award is Buchanan’s third career weekly honor, the first came on June 4, 2012 for the Double-A Reading Phillies of the Eastern League.

Buchanan was originally scheduled to start Sunday’s season finale against the Omaha Storm Chasers. However, he was bumped back to allow rehabbing Cincinnati Reds reliever Ian Gibaut the opportunity to get his work in early.

Gibaut began the game with a scoreless first, and the Bats offense quickly took the lead in the bottom half. Entering the game with a lead in the top of the second, Buchanan took it home from there, with the help of his defense.

In the second, third baseman P.J. Higgins made a leaping snag on Austin Nola’s 105.7 mile per hour line drive to end the inning, stranding a runner on base and preventing an extra-base hit. Buchanan continued to work around runners in both the third and fourth before settling down with a one, two, three fifth.

An inning-ending double play erased a hit batter in the sixth, giving Gibaut and Buchanan a combined no-hitter for six frames. A fly ball and a ground out got two quick outs in the seventh. But a two-out single from Tyler Tolbert would bring an end to the no-hit bid. Buchanan ended the inning with a strikeout of Nola.

Buchanan proceeded to retire all six hitters he faced in the eighth and ninth, ending the game on a sliding play Davis Wendzel at shortstop to complete the one-hitter, the first and only one-hitter for Bats pitching in 2024.

For the game, Buchanan earned his first win as a Bat with eight scoreless innings in the longest relief outing by a Bats pitcher all season, giving up just the one hit and two walks while striking out three. The one-hitter is the 10^th nine-inning one-hitter in Louisville franchise history and the first since September 23, 2023 vs. Iowa.

Sunday’s outing was just Buchanan’s third with Louisville after being acquired by the Reds in a trade from Philadelphia on August 27. He was originally assigned to Louisville but was promoted to the Reds on August 31 before he could make his Bats debut. That day, he made his Reds debut in his first MLB appearance since October 4, 2015, and fired 3.1 relief innings against the Brewers, striking out one and giving up a single run.

Following his Reds debut, he was designated for assignment and later sent to Louisville. Buchanan eventually made his Bats debut on September 8 and struggled in his first two starts with the club, combining to allow 21 hits and 12 runs over 6.1 innings.

His strong game on Sunday wrapped up an otherwise strong season for the veteran. In 25 Triple-A games (18 starts) between Louisville and Lehigh Valley, Buchanan went 10-3 with a 5.15 ERA in 117.0 innings, striking out 88 over 117.0 innings in his first stateside season since 2016. He previously spent the 2017-19 seasons with the Tokyo Yukalt Swallows in Japan and pitched for the Samsung Lions in South Korea’s KBO from 2020-23.

Buchanan, 35, was originally selected by the Phillies in the seventh round of the 2010 draft out of Georgia State. He made his MLB debut for the Phillies in 2014 and appeared in 35 Major League games for them from 2014-15.

Bats baseball returns in 2025, with Opening Day at Louisville Slugger Field scheduled for Friday, March 28 against the Memphis Redbirds.