BRADENTON, Fla. — Technically, the Pirates still have two open spots in their rotation. In actuality, that number is one, as Chad Kuhl has all but locked down the No. 4 spot in the rotation. Manager Clint Hurdle admitted as much on Friday, when he said that there were four players battling for the No. 5 spot, but made no mention of Kuhl for the fourth.
No. 5, on the other hand, is still way up for grabs and the events of the last two days have done nothing to change that.
Thursday in Fort Myers, Drew Hutchison got shellacked by the Boston Red Sox, giving up five runs and even more hard-hit balls over 4.2 innings. Friday in Bradenton, Trevor Williams tossed a gem, going five scoreless while striking out four and facing just one batter over the minimum. Then there’s Steven Brault — the only lefty and the one of the team’s most consistent pitchers this spring — and the elephant in the room, top pitching prospect Tyler Glasnow.
Hutchison seemed nonplussed by the ongoing competition and the potential effects of his poor outing on it after the loss to the Red Sox, and said that his experience having both won and lost spring competitions for starting spots during his time in Toronto has him simply focused on his own game.
“Obviously, I would have liked to pitch better the last two outings,” he said. “It is what it is. You just go out there and compete and do what you know you’re capable of doing. … I’ve done this before. I know this is part of it, so you just go about your business.”
On the other hand, Brault and the younger pitchers have taken more to the competitive nature of the spring.
“We don’t shy away from it,” he said. “It’s competition, but it’s healthy, though. We don’t hate each other. We don’t wish each other poorly.”
The fact that Brault and Glasnow came up together and Williams pitched with them last year in Triple-A makes things a little bit different for that group, Brault said.
“You try to make them better and make yourself better,” he said. “You want to make everybody better together and the goal is to all be [in the majors] together at some point. That’s what we want.”
That competitive spirit is what Williams said he brought to the mound on Friday. So much of the spring is dominated by pitchers working on things. Whether it’s delivery adjustments, new grips, new pitches or getting a specific pitch to a specific place, much of the spring is spent tinkering. But when a player is in a battle for a roster spot, sometimes, it’s best to just show your best stuff, Williams said.
“There’s so much to think about early on in Spring Training,” he said. “It’s just a weird position when you don’t have a guaranteed spot. I have to work on my changeup but I also have to compete. I have to get first pitch strikes, but I also have to earn a spot on the team. When you do all the little things right, and then you go ahead and compete on top of that, everything just falls into place. I simplified it today.”
That’s one of the hurdles for Glasnow, who was re-worked so many things this spring that getting to a point where he can just go out on the mound and pitch may not happen before opening day.
“Sometimes, we encourage that a lot earlier in camp — just going out there and pitching and just going out and playing is pretty good advice,” Hurdle said. “Now, if we have a specific thing we want to accomplish, for their overall betterment moving forward … those are specific tasks that need to be put into play.”
If the results of the last two days matter, Williams’ stock is up and Hutchison’s down. Saturday, Glasnow and Brault will piggyback against the Detroit Tigers at LECOM.
McCUTCHEN, HARRISON RETURN
Right fielder Andrew McCutchen and second baseman Josh Harrison both returned from the World Baseball Classic and showed off the gold medals they won gold medals as champions.
Left fielder Gregory Polanco was named to the all-Classic team for his performance with the Dominican Republic.
INJURY UPDATES
Catcher Chris Stewart left the game in the eighth inning after pulling up short while running down the first base line. Stewart was diagnosed with left groin discomfort and the team says he is day-to-day.
