Faedo takes home Pitcher of the Week honor

Alex Faedo has had five days to think about his role in Double-A Erie's no-hitter last Wednesday. Turns out the feeling doesn't get much different over time.

"It was a really cool experience," he said. "Looking back at it, it was a really special moment for myself, [reliever Drew Carlton], [catcher Chace Numata] and everyone on the Erie SeaWolves. Those don't happen very often, so it's going to be a special feeling any time they do."

Now Faedo has even more to show for his special outing.

The Tigers' No. 10 prospect has been named the Eastern League Pitcher of the Week after throwing seven innings in Erie's first no-hitter since 2009. He struck out five, walked one and hit a batter in what was the longest of his four outings this season with the SeaWolves.

• View the Offensive Players of the Week winners »

This is Faedo's second career Pitcher of the Week award; he claimed the title in the Florida State League on May 21, 2018.

"I tried not to think about it too much while it's happening, other than continuing to execute my pitches," he said of the no-no. "It takes a lot of concentration already to pitch well, and it can all turn around on a few pitches anyway. But when I was done, I was glad it all came together so well."

The 23-year-old right-hander learned that lesson all too well in his start prior to Wednesday's stellar performance. Faedo allowed seven earned runs in just four innings at home against Binghamton on April 18. Four of the nine hits he allowed were home runs, tying a career high for long balls surrendered in a single start. After opening with two quality starts, the letdown served as a teachable moment for Faedo in his second go-round in the Eastern League.

"After that, I watched a lot of video with our pitching coach [Mark Johnson] and worked with Numata and [Jake Rogers] in bullpens, just trying to throw more quality strikes," he said. "It took a little bit of extra work, but I appreciate those guys for what they did. ... We felt like I threw a lot of belt-high pitches over the plate, and that's what led to some hard contact. This time, the majority of my misses were down at least. My breaking ball was a little better, and I keep working on my changeup. But really, the slider had a little more depth, and I was able to use it to get swings and misses and some of those early outs I needed to work deep into the game."

Faedo owns a 3.52 ERA and 0.78 WHIP through his first four starts with Erie in 2019. He's struck out 26 and walked only two over 23 innings, and his 13.0 K/BB ratio ranks third among 98 qualified Double-A pitchers. That's a major improvement for the 2017 first-rounder, who posted a 4.95 ERA with 59 K's and 22 walks in 60 innings with Erie last season. Much was made at the time that the 6-foot-5 hurler had seen a drop in velocity in his first full pro season, but his fastball is reportedly back in the low-to-mid-90s following his second offseason of preparation.

"I feel good right now," he said. "I'm getting behind the ball better, and that means I'm getting a better finish on my pitches, instead of finishing standing up, like I used to do. That's all helping my extension and my execution, and I think it's all coming together with everything we've been working on so far."

Faedo will have his work cut out for him to keep standing out in the SeaWolves rotation. Teammate and No. 49 overall prospect Matt Manning was named EL Pitcher of the Week prior to Faedo and sports a 1.59 ERA with 32 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings for the Double-A club. Fellow prospects Casey Mize (two-time FSL Pitcher of the Week in 2019) and Gregory Soto were promoted to Erie last week, and 2016 second-rounder Logan Shore rounds out the talented group.

"It doesn't feel like a competition," Faedo said of Erie's staff. "We all root for each other. We all want each other to have clean games. Having Casey and Soto join our rotation is only going to make us really special as a whole group. I'm anxious to see how we all come together."

Below is the complete list of Minor League Pitchers of the Week for April 22-28:

League	Player	Team	MLB	Stats
International	Lewis Thorpe	Rochester	MIN	1-0, 1.13 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 8 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 12 K
Pacific Coast	Zac Gallen	New Orleans	MIA	2-0, 1.23 ERA, 2 G, 2 GS, 14 2/3 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 13 K
Eastern	Alex Faedo	Erie	DET	1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 7 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 HBP, 1 BB, 5 K
Southern	Jeremy Beasley	Mobile	LAA	1-0, 0.90 ERA, 2 G, 1 GS, 10 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 13 K
Texas	Parker Dunshee	Midland	OAK	2-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 G, 2 GS, 15 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 HBP, 3 BB, 14 K
California	Kyle Bradish	Indland Empire	LAA	1-0, 0.96 ERA, 2 G, 1 GS, 9 1/3 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 13 K
Carolina	Dylan File	Carolina	MIL	1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 HBP, 0 BB, 5 K
Florida State	Casey Mize	Lakeland	DET	1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 8 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
Midwest	Tommy Parsons	Peoria	STL	1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 1 SHO, 9 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K
South Atlantic	Clay Chandler	West Virginia	SEA	2-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 G, 2 GS, 12 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 HBP, 0 BB, 15 K