To be fair, if there was only going to be one game to show the majority of Pirates fans what the potential impact Vince Velasquez could make in 2023, Saturday night was it.
The free agent pickup had eluded any sort of television broadcast up to what was his last spring training outing, and then he made it count.
Velasquez pitched five strong innings, allowing three hits, one run, and three walks, while striking out seven.
His fastball was lights out, generating eight swings and misses, while posting a 36% Called Strike Plus Whiff Rate (CSW%).
Vince Velasquez carving up MVPs. pic.twitter.com/NOoOGH6PFL
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 30, 2022
The success he saw on Saturday could be possibly based off of familiarity, as the Baltimore Orioles are the only team he faced during Grapefruit League outings, four in all total.
It was really just his start on March 19 that has really inflated his ERA, as in his other three starts he combined to allow just two earned runs across ten innings, while striking out 11.
Velasquez is kind of the ultimate test for the Pirates coaching staff. They’ve had success putting Tyler Anderson and Jose Quintana back on the right path, where they each would eventually cash in at some point after leaving the team.
While he had some hype coming up the Philadelphia Phillies system, the success never really translated to the extent it had for Anderson and Quintana, so he may not exactly qualify as a ‘reclamation project’ like the others did.
The Pirates enter 2023 trying to avoid a third straight 100-loss season. That fact tells you that much has gone right recently, but if there is one thing going for them, it’s been their ability to tinker with pitchers at the Major League level to get the most out of them.
Pirates Prospects Daily
By John Dreker
The Pirates lost 6-4 to the Orioles last night. The Velasquez outing was the only real highlight. Here’s the boxscore. They take on the Atlanta Braves this afternoon on the road. It’s a 1:05 PM start. MLB.com lists it as one of the free games of the day. We will post the lineup below once it becomes available.
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Song of the Day
I picked today’s song by Willie Mae Ford Smith because she’s from Rolling Fork, Mississippi, which was devastated by a tornado on Friday night. She’s a famous gospel singer. I don’t listen to gospel, so I don’t know any of her songs, but this seemed like the best one of a few I tried out.
Today’s Lineup
Rich Hill scratched due to illness
Our squad vs. the Braves.
