Given that Chattanooga Lookouts pitcher Kohl Stewart didn’t last three innings during his last start in Jacksonville, his four-inning performance in Monday night’s 5-0 rain-shortened loss to visiting Biloxi at AT&T Field was an improvement.
Not that anyone expected this kind of beginning for one of the top pitching prospects in the Minnesota Twins organization.
“It’s been challenging for him up to this point, and the nice thing about baseball is that there is always another one coming and another opportunity,” Lookouts manager Jake Mauer said. “With any pitcher at any level, it’s all built off fastball command and throwing it wherever you want. It’s only a failure if you don’t learn from it.”
There have been plenty of learning opportunities already this season for the 6-foot-3, 210-pound Stewart, who through three starts is 0-3 with a 5.11 earned run average.
Stewart entered this year as the No. 7 organizational prospect according to Baseball America after a solid 2016 season that included a 3-2 record and a 2.61 ERA in nine starts at high-A Fort Myers and a 9-6 mark with a 3.03 ERA in 16 starts with the Lookouts.