Up and down year for Brackman

Former N.C. State right-hander Andrew Brackman is struggling with inconsistency in his first professional season.

Brackman, a first-round pick of the Yankees in the 2007 draft, is coming back from Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. And the results have been mixed this season with the Charleston (S.C.) RiverDogs of the low Class A South Atlantic League.

Brackman is 1-5 with a 4.55 ERA, and has struggled with his command in his past our starts.

Since his first victory, on May 21, when he gave up one run in eight strong innings, Brackman's walk total has soared.

He walked 10 batters in 3 1/3 innings on May 26, his first start after the win. In his past three starts, Brackman has walked 12 batters in a total of 10 1/3 innings.

A RiverDogs spokesman said Thursday that Brackman has been very good in stretches, with his knuckle curveball looking unhittable and his fastball crisp. At other times, the curveball hangs and gets hit hard and his fastball doesn't have as much life.

For the season, he has walked 40 batters and struck out 63 in 65 1/3 innings.

There are no apparent physical problems. That's the good news.

The bad news is that there are very high expectations placed on the 6-foot-10 right-hander with the 95-mph fastball.

Brackman will simply have to battle through it until he regains his command.