Good morning from Pirate City.
–Right-hander Charlie Morton will throw his first live batting practice today at 11:30. He’s also scheduled to throw his second live BP on Saturday.
Here is a short video on Morton’s BP. He was facing infielder Nick Evans.
— Today’s scheduled sides: James McDonald, Brad Lincoln, Jo-Jo Reyes (touch and feel), Chris Resop, Chris Leroux, Ryota Igarashi, Daniel Cabrera, Juan Cruz and Jason Grilli (TF).
— The Pirates also had the schedule up for the sides up until Saturday. Thursday, A.J. Burnett, Erik Bedard, Joel Hanrahan, Evan Meek, Tony Watson, Daniel McCutchen, Doug Slaten and Shairon Martis will throw sides. Friday Justin Wilson will throw a side, Jason Grilli will be a touch and feel session. Saturday, as I mentioned, will be Morton’s second live BP.
— Everyday covering baseball is enjoyable, but today in particular will be a fun day to watch. The Pirates will continue with their bunt game as the sweet 16 will move on to the elite 8, bunt finals tomorrow.
A lot of fans on twitter were asking of the results, so here is the 2012 Pittsburgh Pirates Bunting Championship:
Brad Lincoln vs Daniel Cabrera –> Lincoln
James McDonald vs Juan Cruz –> Cruz
Jo-Jo Reyes vs Erik Bedard –> Bedard
Evan Meek vs Daniel McCutchen –> Meek
Joel Hanrahan vs Shairon Martis –> Hanrahan
Doug Slaten vs Chris Leroux –> Slaten
Jason Grilli vs Tony Watson –> Grilli
Chris Resop vs Ryota Igarashi –> Resop
Kevin Correia vs Tim Wood –> Correia
Kyle McPherson vs Charlie Morton –> Morton
Rudy Owens vs Jared Hughes –> Owens
Jeff Karstens vs Duke Welker –> Karstens
Mike Crotta vs Justin Wilson –> Crotta
Logan Kensing vs Jeff Locke –> Locke
A.J. Burnett vs Daniel Moskos –> Burnett
Bryan Morris vs Gerrit Cole –> Morris
— Here are the results from today’s bunting competion:
Owens over Karstens; Morton over Correia; Crotta over Locke; Meek over Bedard; Hanrahan over Slaten; Grilli over Resop; Morris vs Burnett on hold because of Burnett taking a foul ball of his face.
Moving onto the second round today: Owens over Morton; Lincoln over Meek; Grilli over Hanrahan
The bunt finals are scheduled for tomorrow.
— Also scheduled today for the position players is sliding on Fields 1 and 4 at 12:20.
— After today’s workouts, the Pirates announced the breakdown of who will pitch for Friday’s inter-squad game.
Black Team: Jeff Karstens, Jeff Locke, Rudy Owens, Jared Hughes, Bryan Morris, Mike Crotta
Gold Team: Kevin Correia, Jo-Jo Reyes, Kyle McPherson, Gerrit Cole, Daniel Moskos, Duke Welker, Tim Wood
— Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle who will be pushed into the bullpen:
There’s a lot that will play into it. There’s no set standard of things we got to have in a certain order for a certain check list.
Spring training game’s kick off in just a few days. Hurdle said everything is right on schedule.
There comes a time when these guys want to play a game as well. I think everything’s right on schedule. The games are coming at the right time. A week into it, you’ll be able to reevaluate, recalibrate and obviously have a different set of things you’re looking at and trying to identify in areas that may need more instruction, or more attention.