The Pirates have plenty of projects on the pitching staff, enough to keep Joe Kerrigan on his toes. This is particularly true about the bullpen. There are several relievers with live arms and suspect control who could appear in Pittsburgh this season. Let’s take a quick look at how they have performed thus far in spring training.
| Name | IP | H | R | HR | BB | K |
| Craig Hansen | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Evan Meek | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Donald Veal | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Tyler Yates | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Denny Bautista | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 16 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 14 |
Keeping in mind that spring stats are mostly meaningless, those are some decent looking numbers. I’m particularly interested in Hansen, Meek and Veal, as they probably have the most upside. Those three have combined to throw 11 innings, striking out ten and walking just three. They have not allowed a run, while giving up just two hits. It is still extremely early, but Kerrigan’s initial results with these pitchers have been positive.
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If the bullpen is a ray of light this year, that would be a nice surprise. Hopefully Kerrigan can work to improve the rotation.
Matt,
Veal is surprising me, it would be great if he doesn’t implode. No doubt it is all about his confidence, which is riding high right now. I guess the key will be how he reacts after the inevitable bad outing.
You know how much I like Meek, and hopefully Hansen continues to roll along as well. The chances of Yates either getting traded or cut before the full $ commitment date has to be increasing.
I noticed that DK (I believe it was he) is downplaying Meek’s performance because he has pitched against scrubs. Based on what I saw, his stuff is more impressive than Capps’.