Adam Dian fancies himself as a pitching Picasso. Instead of painting works of art, he's happy painting corners.

“It's the best thing in the world to throw a strike on the outside corner on an 0-2 count,” Dian said, smiling. “I figure if I'm out there throwing pitches, I'm going to make them all effective. I'm not going to throw my arm out wasting pitches.”

Dian and the Butler BlueSox pitching staff have simply been laying waste to opposing batters instead.

Butler is piling up Ks at a prodigious rate this season, leading the Prospect League with 174 punchouts in 179 innings.

The hardest working BlueSox employee this season has been the intern in charge of putting the “Ks” on the left-field fence.

In some games, the intern has simply run out because the whiffs have come so frequently.

“We're getting ahead of hitters,” said left-hander Kyle Thomas, who struck out nine Chillicothe batters in seven innings Thursday. “We've been able to throw all of our pitches for strikes.”

The club has two of the top three strikeout artists in the league — Jared Locke and Dian.

Locke set the single-game record for the BlueSox May 30 with 11 strikeouts. It didn't last long. A week later, Adam Elliott fanned 12 in six innings against Slippery Rock.

Butler had a franchise-record 19 strikeouts in that game.

“It's just evolved,” said Butler manager Anthony Rebyanski, who said he and the decision makers in the organization didn't set out to build a strikeout staff. “They're recognizing the weaknesses of the hitters they are facing.”

Thomas doesn't have an overpowering fastball, yet he has 21 strikeouts in 23 innings.

He's done it with location and a change-up that drops off the table.

On the other hand, Dian is doing it with a precision 90-mph fastball — out of the bullpen.

Dian, a Gibsonia native and a freshman at Temple University, has 26 strikeouts in just 15 innings of work and a league-high six saves.

He had a stretch earlier this month in which he fanned 10 of the 11 batters he faced over two outings.

“A lot of the guys on our staff have great stuff,” Dian said. “They change speeds and they throw strikes. And we know how to pitch. That's a big key.”

Dian has turned into the hurler teams would least like to face in the late innings.

It's a mentality he nurtured at Temple this spring and brought with him to Butler this summer.

“He's throwing very, very well,” Rebyanski said of Dian. “Hopefully things continue to roll in his favor. As long as he comes in and throws strikes, he's been up there with the best of them.”

Dian has just four walks this season and none in his last 10 innings. Opponents are batting a mere .130 against him.

“I don't know if it is necessarily a surprise. I know I have good enough stuff to do that,” Dian said. “When you get ahead, it's a fun game to play. Pitching only an inning or two, you're able to go out there and blow it out.”

Pullman Park also has aided the pitching staff.

With deep dimensions, particularly to center and left-center, pitchers feel a bit more at ease when they are aggressive in the strike zone.

Most of Butler's big strikeout games have come at the historic park.

“It definitely helps the pitcher's confidence knowing that almost any pitch that is hit is going to stay in the park,” Thomas said. “So, we're able to keep going at people instead of having to chip away on the corners.”

With 21 games already under the staff's belt, it appears the Ks will keep coming.

“I just try to do my job,” Dian said. “And then you have guys like Thomas going out there and doing his job for seven innings. You feel pretty bad if you go out there and blow it for him, so, we try even harder not to.”