The first week of Spring Training was mostly the same stuff over and over. Throwing programs, bullpen sessions, fielding practice, and batting practice. Today offered a change of pace, as it was the first full-squad workout. The position players in camp also allowed for plenty of live batting practice. I included some videos below that I posted to the site’s Instagram account today. I upload content all throughout the day on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and of course the video features on YouTube. Be sure that you’re subscribed to all of those sites to follow everything we upload (there is different content for each social media site).
Here are the updates from this afternoon.
Jameson Taillon’s Bullpen Session
Most of the pitchers today were throwing live batting practice. Jameson Taillon was limited to just a bullpen session. He is still only throwing bullpens on Tuesday and Friday, as the Pirates take a conservative approach with him this Spring. One good sign was that he was using all of his pitches today in the pen, including his curveball. The quick video below shows a nice curve on the second pitch.
When Taillon first started throwing bullpens a month ago, he was only throwing the curve off flat ground, from 60 feet away. He was also just starting to mix in his changeup at the end of his sessions. The fact that he was throwing all three today shows his progression, although don’t expect the Pirates to speed him up. Taillon will most likely spend the entire Spring at Pirate City, with the extent of his work being live batting practice, minor league games, and anything else where the Pirates will have absolute control over his pitch count.
Tyler Glasnow and Nick Kingham
Here are some quick videos of Tyler Glasnow and Nick Kingham throwing in the bullpen (a little dark, since it was overcast at this point). Glasnow is throwing to Reese McGuire, and Kingham is throwing to Jin-De Jhang.
Most of the pitchers today threw live batting practice, getting two innings of work each. That’s a progression from the last week, where pitchers would only throw a bullpen session that consistent of up to 35 pitches. Today each pitcher warmed up with a bullpen session, followed by the two innings of work, with a break in between.
Chris Stewart was one of the guys who went up against Glasnow. Afterwards, he commented about how after facing the right-hander, everyone else was easy.
As I mentioned yesterday, the Pirates will get everyone to three innings and 50 pitches, at which point they will determine which players will move forward as starters, and which will fall back to being relievers.
Video of Glasnow and McGuire #Pirates
A video posted by Pirates Prospects (@piratesprospects) on
Jung-ho Kang Batting Practice
The Korean media was out in full force today, and were very interested in Jung-ho Kang’s time in the cage, especially during his live batting practice. Below is a video of Kang getting a hit off a Casey Sadler sinkerball.
