Ever hear of him? Probably not, unless you’re a reader of the Baseball America Prospect Handbook or a fierce Nationals fan. Tommy Milone is a left-handed pitcher, in the Nationals’ system, currently with the Syracuse Chiefs. Baseball America rated him the #17 prospect in the Nationals’ system. He’s been a classic left-handed, college-trained control-type pitcher; in 2009 he went 12-5 with High-A Potomac, with a 2.91 ERA and a 106/36 K/BB ratio. In 2010 he went 12-5 with AA Harrisburg, with a 2.85 ERA and a 155/23 K/BB ratio. He’s not a top prospect because his fastball tops out at 90 MPH.

And he was the Syracuse starter last night against Norfolk. It was impressive to see him work; throwing strikes, moving the ball around, retiring batters without throwing a lot of pitches — all but but three plate appearances were five-pitch or fewer (and the others were six-pitch). Milone needed only 84 pitches to work through 7 2/3 innings. He walked no one and struck out seven.

While he was fun to watch, his weaknesses were apparent as well. He gave up five hits, but three of them were extra-base hits. That’s why he gave up three earned runs. And he seemed to tire quickly; he retired 18 of the 19 batters he faced in the first six innings and 24 of his 84 pitches were to the eight batters he faced in the seventh and eighth innings. But even though he (probably) won’t be a major league star, he was fun to watch and I’ll remember his outing for a long time.