INDIANAPOLIS – This week, I might have been the envy of every Pirates fan. Rather than watching Jeff Locke, Jon Niese, and Juan Nicasio, I was watching Tyler Glasnow, Jameson Taillon, and Chad Kuhl. And yes, that last guy belongs in the group of starters who could help in Pittsburgh, as I wrote today. Indianapolis Manager Dean Treanor agrees, offering up Kuhl today as a guy who is emerging in the picture.
“I think you can throw Kuhl in this mix, too,” Treanor said, while talking about Glasnow and Taillon. “There’s talk about Glasnow and Taillon, but Kuhl is stepping forward, stepping up.”
At this time of year, Pirates fans want these starters up immediately. There are Super Two concerns involved with each player, but there is legitimate developmental work going on with these guys in the minors. The perception is that they’re ready, and the only thing holding them back is Super Two, which is mostly about money. In some cases, that’s mostly correct. In other cases, it’s not accurate at all.
“Are these guys that are going to be in Pittsburgh at some point? Of course,” Treanor said. “And the thing that Neal and Clint try to do is make the timing right, no matter what everyone is saying.”
A big focus for the Pirates is making sure that these guys are absolutely ready to be called up. Neal Huntington has mentioned to me in the past that they’d rather call a guy up when he’s further developed, rather than the instant he might look ready for the big leagues. This way, they can try to avoid situations like what happened with Gregory Polanco, where the player struggles for a long period of time. Or, there are the more extreme cases like Pedro Alvarez and Jose Tabata, where the player struggled, and had to be sent back down. That last part is what the Pirates try to avoid the most.
“When these guys go up, they’ve got to be ready,” Treanor said. “You don’t want guys to come back.”
From my perspective, it seems the divide here is the value people place on developmental time in Triple-A. People were calling for Glasnow and Taillon to come up in April, after very little time at the level. It’s almost like Triple-A is seen as meaningless. Meanwhile, the Pirates see a lot of value in developing players at the top level.
“Everyone looks at why is Glasnow not up here,” Treanor said. “With Polanco, the same thing. When Marte was here. I don’t know if it was so much when McCutchen was here, but when these guys come through here, there’s a lot of clamoring for them to get up there, and there’s a lot to be said for having experience at this level.
“You have to learn how to pitch here. You’ve got a higher level. You’ve got guys who have played in the big leagues here. They’re going to let you know that you need to pitch, and that’s what we’re trying to get them all to do. Obviously, everybody’s stuff is very good, but how it plays at the next level is knowing how to use your stuff, what works for you, what doesn’t. Those types of things.”
So what do these pitchers need to learn at their current level, before being ready for a call-up?
Tyler Glasnow
I’m going to start out by saying that I don’t think Glasnow is ready, and I don’t think the Super Two deadline passing will change that. The common joke is that players magically figure everything out right after the Super Two deadline, but I’d be surprised if Glasnow gets it figured out by then.
The biggest thing he needs to work on is his changeup. The Pirates mandated recently that he use the pitch more often. When I saw him on Tuesday, the pitch didn’t look good. He still has the fastball and curveball to dominate Triple-A. But the fastball command can be shaky at times, and the overall package won’t be effective in the majors, especially if the changeup isn’t there.
“He’s got to use it,” Indianapolis Pitching Coach Stan Kyles said. “He’s been reluctant to use it in the past, but now he’s getting to the point where he understands the importance of it. It’s just a matter of using the pitch now, and understanding when to use it. He’s doing those things. He’s gotten better at it. He’s not that far off with it. He’s just going to get better.”
One issue with the changeup on Tuesday was that the velocity was high, in the upper 80s and touching 90. That didn’t give much separation from the fastball, which was down on that day. But Kyles feels the bigger issue is the command of the pitch.
“I don’t think [the velocity] is really a huge factor for me,” Kyles said. “It’s just a matter of being able to command the pitch. If he commands the pitch at 88-90, then that’s fine. If he commands it at 85-86, that’s fine. The biggest thing is to command the pitch, and not the velocity at this point.”
This is where the subject of calling up prospects gets confusing. If we’re talking about the guy who could be the best pitcher from this group over the long-term, Glasnow would be that guy. But if we’re talking about the guy from this group who is the best option right now, Glasnow isn’t that guy. Maybe that will change by the end of the season, but I don’t see a guy who is just two or three weeks away from being ready for a call-up.
The best comparison I can give for Glasnow right now is Juan Nicasio. Nicasio has a plus fastball, but struggles with command of the pitch at times. He has a plus slider as well. But he has no changeup, which means that he has no pitch to fall back on when one of the other two isn’t working. You could send Nicasio down and he’d post amazing numbers in Triple-A with the stuff he has now, just like Glasnow is doing. But in the majors, the lack of a changeup really hurts.
That’s the situation Glasnow is in right now. He’s got two plus pitches, with some command issues on his fastball. He doesn’t have a changeup, and this has been his first real effort at developing the pitch. You hope that he’s ready at some point this year, but until that pitch comes around, I’d ignore the stats, because they aren’t reflective of what we’d see from Glasnow in the majors right now.
Jameson Taillon
I’ve been saying since Spring Training that Taillon looks ahead of Glasnow in terms of stuff, and the only thing holding him back was the lack of playing time the last two years. What I saw out of Taillon today was a pitcher who looks ready, and an example of a guy who will “magically be ready right after Super Two passes”. I talked to an NL scout in attendance who also said he looked like he was ready for the big leagues. But that time off with his injuries makes this situation complicated.
“Taillon with the two years off, that’s a factor for me,” Treanor said.
It would be a completely separate article to explain the impact of Taillon’s workload limits this year (and that article is coming tomorrow morning). He does have some things to work on, but it’s mostly getting everything sharp for his eventual promotion, while saving pitches and innings for the end of the season.
“He’s just continuing to refine a lot of the things that he’s been working on,” Kyles said. “He understands that he needs to get more consistent with his pitch execution. He needs to work on holding runners better, and being able to make pitches while he’s doing it, and continue to incorporate the changeup into his repertoire. He’s doing all of those things, but now is just a matter of sharpening it up, and being able to consistently do it.”
I talked about the changeup with Glasnow, and that’s a key reason why Taillon looks ready. Today, Taillon struggled with his curve. He was throwing them for strikes at times, but it wasn’t consistent, and he couldn’t battle back with the pitch. He then turned to the changeup, and had some good results, thanks to a pitch that has actually been developed. Kyles felt that he showed a good mentality as well, on a day where he didn’t have his best off-speed pitch.
“I think he threw some good curveballs, but consistently it wasn’t there for him,” Kyles said. “What I liked best about him today was he was able to will some things. A lot of times, we just look at the pitches and the results of the game, but often in a game there’s one or two defining moments that those guys show some real growth. I thought he had a couple of those. He had them first and second, and nobody out. I thought he willed the inning to a close. Those are the types of things we look at, as well. Sometimes it’s not about the technical stuff. A lot of it is tactical, and a lot of it is being able to go out there and exhort yourself over guys. I thought that was good for him today.”
Of this group, Taillon looks to be the guy who is not only ready right now, but who could provide the biggest impact. But don’t expect that to happen until after the Super Two deadline passes. The one consolation here is that Taillon will get less stressful innings the next few weeks, making it more likely that he’s able to pitch through September, and hopefully into October.
Chad Kuhl
Dean Treanor’s praise of Chad Kuhl didn’t stop at the above comment. He went on today about what makes Kuhl so good, and why he’s in the conversation with the other two guys.
“Hitters don’t get very comfortable against him in the box,” Treanor said. “He’s the one guy on our staff who will pitch inside and knock you off the plate and tell you whose plate it is. That’s worked very well for him. His slider has gotten better. I think at times it’s a wipeout slider. And he’s developing his changeup. When he gets all three of those pitches going, that’s why I put him in the conversation with those other two. He deserves to be there.”
That mentality for Kuhl, where he just attacks hitters, is one of his biggest strengths. He’s a sinkerball guy, and his sinker has a lot of movement and good velocity, making it a very tough pitch to square up on. But Treanor feels that mentality only adds to the effectiveness.
“When a hitter feels that this guy is attacking, and will come in off the plate, nobody digs in, nobody has big swings,” Treanor said. “You can tell the difference when he pitches and somebody else pitches. Taillon is getting there. We’ve had that conversation with him. He was throwing so many strikes, not walking anybody. All that tells a hitter is that I can get in a box and get comfortable.”
Kuhl is another guy who looks close to being ready. He’s just now getting to the point where he’s stretched out, with the ability to go six innings and beyond, and approach 100 pitches. The key here is the effectiveness of his slider.
On Monday, I saw a great slider from Kuhl. He used it early in counts for strikes, and he used it as a strikeout pitch. If that outing is what Kuhl can show consistently, then he’s a guy who is ready for the majors right now.
“The last outing was one of his better ones,” Kyles said. “I thought he used his whole pitch selection together well. Not just every time he went to a certain count he’ll throw a slider. He’s going to throw it early and late in counts. He’s going to have to throw it in middle counts as well. When you put it all together, it was one of his best outings. He pitched in nice sequences.”
Kuhl is going to need to show this ability in more starts going forward. When I asked Treanor today for the biggest thing that Kuhl needs to work on, it was the consistency of that slider.
“If he’s going to be in the picture as a starter, he’s got to develop that third pitch,” Treanor said. “What we talk about is you really need three sliders. It can’t just be a slider. You’ve got to know how to locate it, locate it early in the count, be able to have a wipeout slider with two strikes. It’s just not throwing a slider over the plate early. It’s being able to locate that pitch down and away.
“He’s got a wipeout slider. And when he’s able to command the different sliders that he needs… I like this guy. I like him a lot. That’s why he belongs in the conversation.”
Unlike Taillon and Glasnow, Kuhl isn’t really a guy who would be impacted by Super Two. He’s got the upside of a number four starter in the majors, and maybe higher than that. So if he does start putting together more starts like the last one, showing good command of his slider, then it will be interesting to see if the Pirates make him the first guy called up. Of course, the flip side to this is that after a few more starts, the Super Two time frame might have already passed.
Just a Few More Weeks
A few weeks from now, teams across baseball (not just the Pirates) will start calling up their top prospects after the Super Two time frame passes. Without Super Two, I think Taillon could be up now, although I’m not sure how much the innings/pitches limitations would impact that. The benefit here is that he gets a few extra weeks to sharpen his stuff, while having easier innings in the minors to reduce his overall workload. I don’t think Kuhl is really impacted by Super Two, but is impacted by the consistency of his slider, which looked great on Monday.
I don’t see Tyler Glasnow as a guy who is ready, and don’t expect that to change in just a few weeks. I could see it changing at some point this year, but he definitely falls behind the other two pitchers in terms of being ready now. I’d expect Taillon to get the call in a few weeks, and wouldn’t be surprised if Kuhl was the guy joining him.
**If you’re not a subscriber of the site, you’re missing a lot this week. We’ve got a lot of coverage from Indianapolis, and I have features on Taillon and Glasnow coming up, along with a few other interesting looks at the Triple-A squad. Subscribe today to get all of our content, at a very low cost.
**Chad Kuhl: The Rotation Help From Indianapolis That You’re Overlooking. My article on Chad Kuhl today, and why you shouldn’t overlook him as a rotation option for the Pirates this year.
**Prospect Watch: Jameson Taillon Takes a Step Forward. Brian Peloza with a live report on Taillon’s outing today.
**Pirates Activate Starling Marte, Recall Boscan, Send Down Hanson and Luebke. Wilfredo Boscan got called up, and he actually pitched this time. Nice debut. I’m not sure if he can be a guy who can pitch meaningful innings, but if he can pitch in this role tonight, and avoid the need to use Mark Melancon for a one out save in a situation where you didn’t expect to see Melancon at all, then I’m all for it.
**Morning Report: Could the Pirates Stray From Their Recent Draft Strategy? John Dreker looks at Keith Law’s recent mock draft, which has the Pirates interested in a reliever who could be in the majors this year.
