During the Winter Leagues articles over the last ten days, we have had updates for the three Pittsburgh Pirates in the U23 World Cup tournament being held in Mexico. I was able to watch both starts from Nick Hutchings and some of the at-bats from Sam Kennelly. Those two players will play in the Australian Baseball League, so I’ll get a chance to watch them over the winter. The ABL streams games live, which means I’ll be watching them afterwards, because I’m not on Australian time.
The other player in the tournament was Victor Ngoepe, the younger brother of Gift Ngoepe. He played for South Africa, a team that had a tough time in the tournament against the countries that are better known for baseball. Due to the age limit, some of the best players from the country who were in the WBC qualifier this year, weren’t eligible for this tournament. Vince Deyzel, who is also with the Pirates, would have been once of the better pitching options, but he was shutdown in August with an elbow strain and hasn’t thrown since. He has recovered from the injury, but the Pirates have told him not to throw this winter. So the South African team was outmatched in this tournament, but watching Victor Ngoepe play was still a nice highlight during the last week.
I talked to Ngoepe after Sunday’s game about the tournament, his off-season plans and getting ready for next year. He let me know that he’s been playing straight through since March, staying down in Florida during the short break between the GCL season and Instructs, then going to his team in South Africa for this tournament. That’s basically eight months straight of baseball before his first break. He ended it on a couple high notes, reaching base three times on Saturday, then collecting three hits on Sunday, including a two-run double seen here.
“It was an unbelievable experience, personally this was the most fans I’ve played in front of,” Ngoepe said. “It was good to see my old teammates again too.”
Ngoepe spent most of his time in the tournament at second base during the eight games, getting a little bit of time at shortstop. During the regular season in the GCL this year, he played 42 games at shortstop and two at second base. He had also played a little bit of second base before signing with the Pirates.
“Playing second base wasn’t that much of a difference from shortstop, just a few adjustments here and there but nothing I couldn’t handle,” Ngoepe said of the tournament. “I’ve played there before so I was good”
It’s always good to have some versatility with positions, but Ngoepe appears to be the type of player who can stick at shortstop. He showed off some of those skills on Sunday while at second base. He ranged far to keep two balls in the infield, one of which went under the first baseman’s glove. He also cut down a runner at the plate with a strong, accurate throw. Tim Williams got to talk to Ngoepe about his defense near the end of the season and how his brother helped him out. That help continued into the instructional league, which he called a great experience.
Playing eight months straight was a learning experience for Victor Ngoepe, not just on the playing field, but also his conditioning. He said he was a little tired at the end of the regular season. Wearing down could be expected playing in the GCL with noon start times throughout July and August in the Florida heat. Ngoepe still finished strong, which now seems to be a pattern for him after this weekend. He had a seven-game hit streak and a nine-game on-base streak during his last two weeks of the GCL.
It’s good to see his hitting coming along late in the regular season and continuing into this tournament. When he signed with the Pirates, we heard about his advanced approach at the plate and it was on full display over the last week in Mexico. In that article from Tim Williams linked above, Ngoepe mentioned his adjustments to the pitching in the United States. He told me on Sunday that the increase in velocity was the biggest adjustment he had to make this year. That being said, the U23 World Cup turned out to be the opposite of his regular season experience.
One of the things I noticed in this tournament was the high volume of off-speed pitches he was seeing. One at-bat in particular stood out. After getting a strike called on him on a big breaking ball that looked high and inside, Ngoepe saw the same pitch and waited back on it, lining a single into center field (shown below). He told me he was guessing that pitch and told himself to wait back on it, but that isn’t his normal approach.
“I got taught at a young age to expect fastball and react off-speed.” Ngoepe said, before noting his philosophy change on Sunday. ” I was expecting the curveball, so I told myself to wait back and try my best to drive it up the middle.”
While he was getting fed breaking ball after breaking ball in this tournament because the pitchers didn’t have great velocity, the pitchers in the GCL this year usually worked off their fastball. Ngoepe mentioned that while adjusting to the fastball velocity in the GCL, he was also seeing breaking pitches that were faster than some fastballs he saw while playing in South Africa.
Ngoepe finished the GCL season with a .219/.302/.272 slash line, posting a 14:39 BB/SO ratio in 170 plate appearances. The fact that at age 18, he was able to make the adjustment to the faster pitches, without being completely over-matched at the plate, is a good sign for his future. In fact, his stats looked a lot like the stats his brother put up as a 19-year-old in the GCL in 2009 during his first season. In the World Cup tournament, Victor displayed great patience at the plate, and adjusted to the high volume of off-speed pitches, which led to him reaching base six times over the final two games, including this infield single in which you can see his above average speed.
His biggest area of concern right now seems to be his ability to drive the ball. He did a nice job of that on Sunday, but most of the other at-bats I saw throughout the week were ground balls. He’s probably not going to be much of a power hitter in the future. Listed at 5’8″, 150 pounds, he has a wiry frame with room to add muscle. In fact, he said that his main off-season goal is looking to gain weight and get stronger for next season. That will also help him get through the grind of a full season, which shouldn’t be any different next year.
Ngoepe is done with baseball for the off-season, at least as far as games. He could serve as a coach during the MLB Elite Camp in December in South Africa, where he was a player last year. Vince Deyzel attended the Elite Camp in December of 2014, then signed with the Pirates shortly afterwards. Deyzel was a coach for the camp last year along with Gift Ngoepe.
He will report to Florida in March and spend Spring Training and Extended Spring Training down in Bradenton, and then could go to the GCL or Bristol, depending on his progress. That will likely be followed by another trip to the Fall Instructional League. It’s going to be another long season, but he now knows what he is in store for next year.
He ended our conversation by summing up what the 2016 experience taught him, simply saying “I’ll be ready for next season.”
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**Pirates Signed a Total of 18 International Players on July 2nd The Pirates were very busy on July 2nd despite the fact only a handful of signings were announced the following day. Usually we don’t hear about these names until the following year, sometimes as late as Opening Day of the DSL season. We were able to get the list early this year and have begun to collect info on the players. Back on July 3rd, I wrote about why you shouldn’t worry that no signings were announced on July 2nd, but I was still surprised the other day to find out they signed 18 players right away.
**2016-17 Pirates Off-Season Primer Everything you need to know for the off-season.
