Today was a camp day at Pirate City. They held intra-squad games, with Indianapolis taking on Bradenton and West Virginia taking on the extended Spring Training group. The matchups were more even than it seems. The pitchers from each level threw for the other team, taking on their level. For example, rather than having Andy Oliver throwing for Indianapolis against an A-ball team, Oliver pitched for Bradenton and threw against the Triple-A hitters. Some notes from today’s action below.
**Clay Holmes went five innings, giving up three runs but none earned. He allowed six hits, walked one, and struck out three. Holmes was 93-94 MPH in the first inning, and touched 95. He was 92-94 in the middle innings, and 91-92 in the fifth. He flashed a nice curveball throughout the outing, but left a few up in the zone early in the outing.
**Nick Kingham went five innings, giving up three runs on six hits, with a walk and four strikeouts. The three runs all came on a three run homer by Lucas May, who stepped in as a pinch hitter. Kingham left a fastball up in the zone, which May turned on.
**Andy Oliver saw his usual control problems, working around the strike zone. He threw 82 pitches, with 49 strikes. Oliver went four innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits. He struck out six and walked three.
**Jake Burnette was the one pitcher I didn’t see a lot of. He went five innings, giving up a run on four hits. Burnette was efficient, throwing 62 pitches, and 41 strikes. He was 89-91 throughout the game, touching 92 and 93 a few times.
**I did happen to see Harold Ramirez get two stolen bases off Burnette. The first was a straight steal. Later in the game Burnette tried to keep Ramirez on first, and eventually threw wild, allowing Ramirez to take second.
**Jerry Sands had a double off the wall in center field, which is a little over 400 feet away.
**Elvis Escobar crushed a home run to right off Quinton Miller. It was the third homer for Escobar in the last two days. I could see him making some noise in the NYPL this year.
**Stetson Allie had a single up the middle. He’s been hitting better in the second half of camp, but I haven’t seen a lot of the power.
**Elias Diaz showed off his strong arm, gunning down a runner at second base.
**Jimy Hernandez flashed a really nice curveball, getting a swinging strikeout on the pitch in the final at-bat of his inning.
**More velocities: Pat Ludwig was 89-91 MPH. Joan Montero was 93-94 MPH, throwing on a downward plane. Quinton Miller was 87-89.
