The Pittsburgh Pirates invested heavily in improve their defense from a year ago, acquiring one of the best defensive catchers in the game in Austin Hedges.
Ji-Man Choi and Carlos Santana were brought in to split first base, both of which having a history posting strong metrics at the position.
They also banked that the strong small sample size Jack Suwinski had in center field was legit, having him make the shift over for the most part full-time this season.
So it appeared that they were hoping to master the basics and not beat themselves this season, which hasn’t been the case slightly more than quarter into the season.
Pittsburgh has been rated towards the bottom in most defensive metrics this year, including defensive runs saved (DRS) on Fangraphs (20th), 18th in Outs Above Average (OAA) and dead last in DEF (Fangraphs).
DEF uses fielding runs and positional adjustment metrics to find a value a player has based on the position they play.
As expected, Hedges is one of the best in the league, owning a 5.7 mark, fifth among catchers. Jason Delay, also known for his defense, is ranked 15th.
Suwinski has been a collective 1.1 in center field, good for 19th at the position, but when compared to the rest of the team, it’s one of the better marks.
Rodolfo Castro graded out as the worst shortstop in baseball, and you had to go all the way down to 88 to find the first Pirates second baseman (Ji-Hwan Bae). Looking at his overall performance, Bae is actually a negative player at three different positions (2B, SS, CF).
The Pirates decided to try to sell out some hitting in exchange for better defense, hoping that in the long run, more runs would be saved by adding help behind the pitching staff.
The Oneil Cruz injury obviously put people out of position, or exposed them certain places more than what was planned. Even so, there are positions all over the place bringing everything down.
If the Pirates were one of the better hitting teams in the league, it’s easier to overlook a lot of the defensive issues. They aren’t.
Factor in that the pitching staff is in the bottom half in strikeouts, meaning they put the ball in play more often, it’s no wonder the current crash has been so hard after their hot start.
Prospect Notes
— Jared Jones pitched four innings on Sunday, striking out six while not walking a batter in the process.
He allowed a lead-off single in the first, which was followed up with a two-run home run by Coby Mayo. That’s not an ideal start, but he bounced right back by blowing a fastball by Heston Kjerstad.
Three strikeouts through two innings for @jared_jones_17! We trail 2-0 entering the third inning. pic.twitter.com/h0ZdA2EvwW
— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) May 21, 2023
Since walking four batters in his second start, he has just one over his last four outings (15.1 innings). Control was one of his biggest concerns throughout his career. If he’s starting to harness everything and throw more strikes, he’s a very scary pitcher to face.
— Quinn Priester threw five shutout innings on Sunday, and it was almost a complete 180 over how his game on Tuesday went. After going breaking ball heavy the first time around this week, his fastball and sinker were his two most used pitches.
So, that makes sense he only got two strikeouts, as those two pitches don’t create a lot of swing and miss. Part of the reason I like Priester so much as a pitcher is his ability to get through a start in so many ways.
He has five different pitches, and is using them multiple ways to get hitters out. Priester is Rule 5 eligible this season, so there’s no rush to get him up in Pittsburgh this year. If he keeps pitching like this, along with the dent in the depth through injuries, we will see how things play out.
Daily Video Rundown
Here’s a look at Owen Kellington‘s start from two weeks ago against Lakeland. His curveball is fantastic, maybe one of the best in the system, but he has some other interesting pitches as well.
The seventh home run of the season for @masonmartin7 was a no-doubter! Its a 2-1 game in the bottom of the fourth inning.
LISTEN: https://t.co/aioWvW3Svf
WATCH: https://t.co/6GP894jPtF pic.twitter.com/RluhArDwow— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) May 21, 2023
Mason Martin has a batting average under .200 right now, but he has an OPS of over .900. The power is part of the reason his OPS is so high.
Malcom MASH: 108.4 EV 🚀 pic.twitter.com/04iDJJfZ5j
— Indianapolis Indians (@indyindians) May 21, 2023
Malcom Nunez continues to make serious contact, and launched this one out at 108.4 mph.
Pirates Prospects Daily
By John Dreker
The Texas Rangers are coming to town for three games, starting tonight. We will have a draft article later this morning, followed by our weekly Top Performers article around noon.
**Pirates lost an ugly one on Sunday, giving the series to Arizona
**Here’s more on everyone in those highlights above, led by Quinn Priester’s performance.
**Anthony Murphy takes a closer look at Liover Peguero.
**Ethan Hullihen has a payroll update for the Pirates.
Song of the Day
Anthony began writing over 10 years ago, starting a personal blog to cover the 2011 MLB draft, where the Pirates selected first overall. After bouncing around many websites covering hockey, he refocused his attention to baseball, his first love when it comes to sports. He eventually found himself here at Pirates Prospects in late 2021, where he covers the team’s four full season minor league affiliates.
That’s too bad. Felt like we could pull that one out.
Bases loaded and one out was a very nice opportunity to get it done
Z is not my ideal choice here
Shows what i know lol
Great start from solo today! Double digits for altoona and GBO so the sticks are here!
Hard to believe Altoona doesn’t have an XBH yet.
Looks like we get shaky oviedo today so far, gonna have to hit some
Why is Owings on the roster?
Hedges is teaching him how to bunt. Trying to become a sacrifice specialist.
Per pipeline, Langford now leading crews in OPS. Langford OPS in May well over 1.000 and Crews under .700, not sure it changes the calculus at all or not but an interesting development
I can’t find the minor league game recap for Tuesday. Most of the posts seem outdated. Help!
There isn’t one. Tim shut down all the writers without explanation. Unknown when this will change.
when things clear up, please let us know where you will be writing
I don’t think things are going to change fundamentally, but I don’t know.
So is this site not to be anymore???
I read all of the twitter feed, and I just wanted to start by saying thank you to Tim. The site and community that you have built here is incredible and one that makes every single one of my days better. Additionally, Tim, I want to thank you for your willingness to be open and share your mental health battles. Within the last 18 months, I have discovered how beneficial therapy is, but I dont think I could be nearly as warm and welcoming in normalizing it as part of the process. So, for all of that, thank you.
That said, I hope you can reflect on how amazing the site that you built up truly is, and my only regret is that I didnt hop on sooner. I hope the P2 community can continue to live on and any role Tim would like to take on would be more than welcome in my opinion.
Lets Go Bucs!
It is not clear to me what the future of this site is, but I want to thank Tim, John, Wilbur, and the many others who have contributed to my enjoyment of the Pirates for so long. Tim you are in my prayers. You built and sustained something that is really impressive. Your health and life come first, but I would like you to know my gratitude for this site.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY
I’ve been reading this site since the beginning and have become accustomed to how the highly intelligent baseball for junkies is presented. Through the years it’s changed the money support but the style and depth has never wavered nor compromised. With that said, I hope this is just another turn in the road and Tim is just partying with one of the multitude of great players he’s reported on for a few days and is nursing a hangover.
See the link below–I think it’s more than that, though who knows what a few days of rest might do?
Any update on Tim’s return? Hope everything is ok!
Just read his tweet stream from Monday as I was wondering why there have been no new articles for two days. Looks like this may be the end of the road for this website. Which sucks. Perhaps someone else will pick up where Tim appears to be leaving off?
I just did the same thing and here is the link for others:
https://twitter.com/TimWilliamsP2
It explains a lot. I get the sense that the site will continue, but there will be major changes. Perhaps it will become a sub-site under Dejan’s site.
In any case, Tim if you see this, I really appreciate all you.
Why? John can take it over!
I have been watching baseball for over 4 decades and I can’t remember a team making this many outs on the bases over such a long period of time. It is crazy.
Shelton has never let fundamentals get in the way of him being the players bestie.
Or balking two runs home in one game……lol.
Walkie got this one wrong……Bae should have gone to third. That one was on Rabelo who must have held him up. The fastest guy in MLB can’t go from first to third on a single to RF? Even with Garcia’s arm, there’s no play made on him at third.
Two TOOTBLAN’s in consecutive games on Rabelo…….
Agree with you on this one. You can’t throw up the stop sign there. It had to be a late stop sign or Bea failed to pick him up sooner. Either way, should have walked into 3rd.
https://twitter.com/justdelossantos/status/1661170075884199936?t=HJOmiTilbH5yRdkQcwTjTw&s=19
Okay what the hell is this play?
That was terrible, likely doesnt change the outcome of this game but we cant afford to give up this many outs on the bases
Ooooh is that a swaggerty sighting i see…!
Nice to see his name in a box score again. Probably a “get into shape” week of games at Pirate City/BRD.
I am hoping his illness and anything else that was going on is all good in his life!
I guess if the site wasnt mysteriously down we mightve known this lol
Wtf
393ft out!! And that was such a meatball too. Tough luck..
Was Castro batting RH? Longest ball hit by the Pirates last night, 100+ EV.
So close!
Underdog is back with a vengeance!
We got Shelton’ed again. Pull our ace after 84 pitches on 5 days rest, but send our 43 year old junk thrower out there for one more inning for the heart of the order with over 90 pitches in a one-run game.
And Hill has been a five inning pitcher for at least three years now!
Shelton didn’t get that memo: Jeff Passan/ESPN: Hill, who turns 43 in March, carved out a role in recent years as a five-inning specialist. With the Boston Red Sox last season, he started 26 games and threw 124⅓ innings.
You are forgetting that Shelton knows more than everyone.
Gotta take the good with the bad with old man Dick Mountain.
When’s the last time a team gave up more than a run via balk?
they need to trim…the hedges
Let’s get the old man some runs.
Need to wait for an inning when Hedges doesn’t bat. He’s a black hole with such powerful gravity that he sucks in all the offense and it can’t escape.
Dick Mountain!!!!
Eovaldi looks good & has a really quick pace of play. Only if Hill wasn’t called for a balk… 🙁
…or Jack could field the ball or get Cutch in from third, lol
Yeah but I trust Hill more than the bats AND I never understand balk rules 😂
I agree with you on both
Hitting against Hill has to be so aggravating if he’s hitting his spots. I totally get why these hitters are outwardly frustrated. I’m sure they think they should be crushing him.
Hill gives up two in the first to MLB’s highest-scoring team and you figure today is gonna be a bad one. Then it’s the fifth and it’s still just two. Is it magic dust?
He reminds me of a young Jamie Moyer.
No matter what others say, I’m happy Reynolds is with the Pirates long term. He’s a little streaky but is a good, solid player.
He’s only going to get better over the length of the contract. He is a very good player and the Pirates made a great deal in securing his services.
If he wasn’t “streaky” the Pirates wouldn’t have been able to afford him.
I’ve been very much in favor of Bae playing because he’s a type of player who could be very productive for the Bucs, but this TOOTBLAN crap is off the charts. I don’t what you do except send him to AAA.
Could you summarize what he did? Not going to watch the game.
Got on twice. Got picked off one time. The other he could have gone first to third on a single by Cutch, but he inexplicably went back to second and got thrown out there.
I can’t recall a player making as many bad decisions in such a short time as Bae has. I like him too, but when any other player has made even one of the 6-7 bone-headed plays he’s made, they sit or even get sent down. There’s a different standard for him than for some other young players. Maybe Shelton just loves his smile.
It’s the hair. I’d hoped by now he’d made it clear to Connor Joe that Connor has to change that haircut
Brock is such a good coach over there too.
Un-bae-lievable
Dear Bae, if you stop being a base stealer you will lose any value you have left.
He looked out. Not sure why they challenged. And I may be totally wrong but despite the elite speed, Bae seems to be caught/picked off many times than he should be
I would’ve had him steal before allowing Hedges to swing.
Anytime Bae reaches the bases, he should steal then let Hedges move him over by sac bunt. Him getting picked off and Hedges not doing anything seemed like one of the worst case scenarios available. 🙃
Come on bats! I miss the days they were productive
Hill looks very good right now despite the first inning. Or perhaps IN spite of that first inning balk call.
How many times has Cutch led the game off in scoring position and been left there?
I feel the Baz, Meadows, Glasgow debacle along with wiffs on Craig and Swaggerty are really killing our ability to be consistent.
Baz, Glasnow and Meadows have barely played the last 2 seasons. They would not be helping with any consistency in the least
That trade had a chance to be a debacle, but it turned out to be a manageable bad. This would be Glasnow’s final season before free agency if he didn’t add a crazy one-year extension that would have never happened in Pittsburgh. Meadows would have next year, but who knows if he will play. Baz is losing two full years minimum to injury. It could have been much worse.
In my opinion, it’s now similar to the Arky Vaughan trade, sort of. Pirates gave up a star in his prime, but they lucked out when he quit for three years. The problem is that his quitting was related to being on the Dodgers specifically. The guys they got back for him were warm bodies.
The comparison works well in that both trades had a good reason. The Pirates didn’t just get Archer, they got Kela too to help with a playoff push, so you can understand why they made the deal.
The Pirates gave up Vaughan because they knew they would lose players to the war, so they got four MLB players they wouldn’t lose to the war effort.
Both were bad on paper, but could have turned out much worse, so they don’t rate as/near the worst.
Do you remember that leading up to the trade for Archer, many of the experts thought the Pirates would go for Gausman, who was with the Orioles. Hindsight is 20-20!
i was not debating whether the trade was good, bad, or indifferent.
cabbo80 said that the trade was helping to kill the Pirates ability to be consistent. I was countering that with all of the missed time by all 3 players, none would be helping the Bucs be consistent in the least.
Interesting history point there. I never knew that was why they gave up him. It looks like they were starting to phase him out in 1941 before the war kicked in. Was that because Frankie Frisch was an idiot?
The other part that made this trade look even worse 6 months after the actual trade was the demise of Archer. When the trade was made he was still considered a very dependable starter who took the ball every 5th day with decent results. Not a star but certainly a legitimate major league pitcher. As soon as he was hurt whatever value he had was lost even if Ben wanted to trade him when he took over.
It will never be worse than the Doc Medich trade, there isn’t enough time before free agency to make that difference. They were getting a guy who talked about retiring from baseball to become a doctor, while giving up a prospect who everyone was calling about, plus they added in two quality pitchers who both outperformed Medich. Willie Randolph is massively underrated. He’s tied with Duke Snider for career WAR.They gave him up before free agency existed.
You wonder how the 76-78 seasons would have played out if those players (assets) would have been used for better returns or as a part of the team. Phillies were REAL good in ’76 but were catchable in ’77 and ’78.
Swaggerty is going to make it.
? Where are the results and does he ever stay healthy?
His health is not the reason he is out now. People forget he is a person and has a loved one going through some real shit. He’s played well given the circumstances over these past 2 seasons when he’s been with the club.
Despite Castro’s good game against a RHP on Sunday (2 of the 8 hardest hit balls, plus an outstanding play at 2B) and being one of only two baserunners the Pirates had in the last five innings on Saturday, it will now be at least another two games against a RHP that he sits.
If we’re committed to sticking with Shelton, we need to trade Castro if there is a team wanting to give him an everyday opportunity. He’s too young to be handled the way Shelton has been handling him and if this goes on much longer, his career could be undermined.
This guy isn’t being used correctly so…trade him? First off, isn’t that a definition of selling low? There are a bunch of young guys to sort through. Which is mostly what they’re doing with guys like Bae/Castro, etc.
We also want Shelton to put guys in the best position to succeed. So that means that since Castro has been mostly crappy against righties, he’s not gonna play against them. One good game doesn’t change that. It may give him more leeway to prove he can be a full time player, but it doesn’t mean he gets to play against them full time, especially with other options.
This feels an awful lot like people clamoring for Garrett Jones to play everyday.
But don’t we want Shelton using players in their best suited roles? Isn’t putting players in the best position to succeed the goal? Batting Castro against RHP isn’t “trying to win”, just as batting Marcano and Suwinski against LHP isn’t “trying to win”.
MOAR PAHR
I think we’re still at the point in the rebuild where we need to balance trying to win with developing our young players. I don’t feel like the balance is right with how they’re using Castro.
You know what organization never worries about such a thing?
The Tampa Rays
This dogmatic view that you’re not developing a player unless you develop them to be everything all the time is such a weird relic of the Huntington Era.
But what do the Rays know, right?
That’s why I’m now getting a kick out of people wanting to go 6-man rotation after Ortiz’s start, with VV’s impending return. Like, the Cards with Liberatore last year and the Rays with Bradley originally this year had NOOOOOO issue doing a spot start and back to Triple-A.
Spot starts are different, though, in that they’re not keeping a young player on the bench, they’re just varying where he’s playing. I have a problem when an organization would sit a 23-year-old position player for six days straight, regardless of pitching matchups.
If you want to talk about the Rays, though, look at how they handled Taylor Walls in 2021-2022. Despite serious offensive struggles and a negative fWAR overall, he played everyday. This year he’s already been worth 1.4 WAR and is putting up an wRC+ of 152. I don’t think Castro needs to play everyday because Bae and Marcano need their opportunities, but he needs to be playing more than he is. It’s way too soon in his career to pigeonhole him to being the weak-side of a platoon.
If anything, Walls is an example of why I wanted someone like Swaggerty on the roster from day 1.
Well, Walls was also an excellent defensive SS, while also being used more as a stopgap to Franco. So, Walls had positive value defensively, even if he wasn’t hitting. And again, he was their Austin Hedges before the Endy/Davis arrived.
With Castro, he needs the hit. His one positive contribution, is hitting. If he isn’t hitting, he isn’t contributing. And he isn’t hitting RHP.
Yes, they’re not the same type of player. But my point is Walls wasn’t hitting and now he is and that’s likely due to getting regular ABs in his age 24-25 seasons. I’d expect the same growth from Castro, if he’s given regular ABs. They’re treating him as a finished product but he’s probably still several years from his prime.
Fully agree with this, im on the #FreeCastro train
Imagine if you will a site for rabid Pirates fans…
Tim has been sucked into another dimension…
Seeing things out of my 2nd floor office window right now and hearing Napoleon XIV in my head……..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xRCbdFrSSc
Should we be concerned about the P2 staff? Are they on strike?
Hope everyone is alright!
Was just about to ask about this.
As soon as he’s done, articles will be going back up like normal. Hopefully any moment now, but not sure exactly when.
Any update?
Tim will have an update for the readers…or we will just start back up sometime soon (not today) without it
Tim cut us all off without explanation.
Maybe you were rude.
All of us?
Well, I know am. I just assumed you were, too.
I heard that Anthony Murphy guys is a real dick.
Kidding of course.
Tim going all “where’s waldo” on us. Hopefully one of you have at least heard from him
Tim is doing something and we are waiting. I was here all day yesterday and today ready to write articles, so no strike.
Yeah, I remember how that goes. We’d just eat one and two days later we’d still be trying to understand or believe that was really a bird and not a coo-coo clock. Strange times. Fun times.
It was a bad joke, I figured it was technical difficulties!
Vacation time. I think I’ll go to Belgium.
You know that they sell waffles at IHOP!
In a tank, driving towards Paris.
Feels like a bad joke to me…
I got charged for the old yearly subscription rate a few days ago, sent an email to him to let him know that I don’t care about the charged, but I do want to change the card used and currently there’s no option for me to do so on the site. No response yet.
There was no doubt in my mind we’d get charged the auto-renewal charge lol.
Sorry about that. That’s all on Tim’s side of things though, so you might just have to wait for him to see this and/or the email.
John, on that topic ‘things on Tim’s side of things’. I have been looking forward to your book for a long time and purchased it when the announcement first came out. Do you know of any outlook for publication? Can somebody else (certainly not me) edit it?
You need to send Tim an email asking for a refund and he will take care of that. The book is currently (as of last night) being formatted by David Finoli, who has self-published his own Pirates books, then it will be available on Amazon. I will share the link once it becomes available.
John, thank you for the update. Any estimated release date on Amazon? Also, was this information shared and I missed it? That is very possible and all will be ok but it is still a little frustrating.
Same happened to me. Don’t mind at all, consider it my yearly donation. Actually makes the annual donation easier for me so I don’t actually have to think about it :p
What will happen with the rotation when VV is ready? Depending on if he needs another start at Indy or not, that might be now. Ortiz going back down I guess makes the most sense, but tough timing after the outing he just had. Could also give Ro a phantom IL stint to regroup and work on some things.
Ortiz has earned another start. I’d give VV one more rehab start (he only went 4 innings last time, right?), and then replace either Ro or Ortiz depending on how they look in their next outing. If both perform well, then it’s really tough. If neither pitch particularly well, then I might try a piggy-back approach with those two (I don’t think they will, though, as they seem very traditional in how they manage the pitching staff, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing).
Maybe move Ro to the bullpen for a spell and see if the magic can happen twice, like Keller last year. Underwood needs a trip to the IL or DFA.
Should’ve been DFA’d the year before last. I’ve never trusted him. Never.
Or maybe Ro’s stuff ticks up in the pen and he can be a monster in 2-3 inning spurts a few times a week.
Underwood is IL bad, not DFA bad in my opinion, just think how quickly our starter depth was depleted, same could happen to the pen. Down the farm Selby is hurt, Yerry is still not impressive and Mlod hasn’t really taken off….
True
Lets at least split the last two and leave with a .500 homestand against two very solid teams. Can continue our ace hunt today against eovaldi
That would be impressive and wash the bad taste away from Shelton giving Saturday’s game away and then seeing their worst performance of the season on Sunday.
Remember that day in 2021 at the trade deadline when Adam Frazier was traded to SD for a return of Jack Suwinski, Tucupita Marcano, and Michell Miliano? Turning into a huge steal for the Pirates.
Marcano has good Genes, and has always had promise, but never as a power hitter or a Shortstop. Ask 9 of 10 experts and they would have answered that he was a good contact hitter, 2B/OF, with very little power. At Altoona last year he never was used at SS, but at AAA after Cruz and Castro left, he played 10 games at SS and probably shocked all by doing very well.
Prior to 2022, Fangraphs had Cruz #1 , Gonzales #6 , Bae #1 1 , Castro #35 , and Marcano #55 ! Go Figure – that’s Baseball and the next men up for the Pirates have become Luis Ortiz and Tucupita Marcano!
I also remember all the angst about Marcano being nothing more than a slap-hitter when he debuted with us…you need to be patient with young players. Fortunately, Marcano forced his way back into their plans by tearing up AAA.
And if you read Justice’s recent article on Marcano, they tweaked his swing/mechanics. Therefore, he was nothing more than a slap-hitter who needed a swing tweak, and seems they managed to so far successfully achieve that.
I haven’t read Justice’s article but heard Walk and Brown discussing it last night, and he does look different. One thing worth noting, as alluded to below, is that his max EV hasn’t changed much but the average EV has increased substantially, which is why I think evaluators often focus on max or 90th percentile EV–if a player is capable of hitting the ball hard, then they think the results can improve by tweaking the swing mechanics.
Much, no, but he has reached a new max EV a couple times this season. More importantly his entire batted ball profile has completely changed. Drastically. Barrel% way up. Hard hit% is way up. He isn’t swinging to make contact for contacts sake, but swinging to actually impact the ball now.
Nobody in baseball maintains such an absurd max:avg spread and Tucu won’t either, but my god do I love player development successes.
Even when he settles back to earth in the 87-88 mph avg range he’s still a viable big league bat now.
Marcano is really boosting his stock this year by hitting the ball much harder imo. With max EV and hard hit rate both up, thats what will ultimately make him a regular or not
Marcano is showing he can at least be a very good super utility player on a good team and maybe a regular.
I always thought Bae would be the better of the two as Super U’s, but he has hit a wall lately. Castro I do not count as a Super U because he does not play the OF. But, Castro, Bae, and now Marcano have all stepped up this year to offset the loss of Oneil Cruz and cover the MI.
Yep, Castro can pass at 2nd and 3rd, SS only as an emergency. Bae just needs the game to slow down for him but his arm strength really limits his position flexibility.
The pirates really have a bunch of primarily 2nd basemen in their system.
Today’s fun fact
Tucupita Marcano has a higher Ave EV that 2 projected 1st round picks (likely both top 10)
https://twitter.com/mason_mcrae/status/1660396542472204288?s=46&t=Tw7lr07zbamlQTZenwSrFg
Marcano’s average EV has risen from 85.1 (when he was the age of a college junior) to 90.5 in three years. His max EV has been relatively steady, from 104.4 to 103.8 to 105.5 this year. Two big changes for him are the barrel percentage going from 0 to about 8% and average launch angle going from the negatives to 14.1. His max EV is still just in the 22nd percentile, but his improved performance seems to come from a better swing path, as Brown and Walk were discussing last night.
And yet they can’t get Key to improve his launch angle?? I did like how he turned on a ball last night to LF…….my gosh it’s such a tease with him and what he “could” be. EDIT: I think his launch angle has improved but it’s due to lazy fly balls to medium depth OF!
Truly would love someone smarter than me to explain this one; it’s remarkable how rarely he lifts the ball with authority relative to how frequently he smokes ’em on the ground.
For those wondering why Ortiz was efficient, maybe hedges catching him was the factor. Delay caught his first two outings.
Or he’s hearing Arm-steps
Priester 4 starts in May
4-0
3 ER
1.13 ERA
Competition is a wonderful thing
Was thinking about my first look at Ortiz was just 18 months ago
Pitched Bradenton to a Class A Champ.
Dominated Game 2, 6 INN, 9 k’S
Skip a level
Pitch well in Altoona, get promoted to AAA
then BIGS
Could be.
So. Anthony. Terrible Article. Where is the analysis, where’s the angle? I don’t even see a point to this at all………well Duh, Cruz being out has forced Castro to play a position he’s not good at……..how about Reynolds in left, good or not? How much of an uptick has Santana been at 1st base from what we had last year? I mean right now the struggles are quite literally due to Cruz causing Bae and Castro out of position. Is Castro negative at 2nd? I mean for real, finish the damn article.
So, Y2JGQ2. Terrible comment. Where is the analysisi, where’s the angle? Blah blah blah. Cruz and bae and Castro blah blah. He points to Suwinski. That’s not Cruz related. Bae was supposed to be 2nd and CF and is below average at both. That’s not Cruz related. Delay and hedges combine for barely top ten catching. That’s not Cruz related. Finish the damn comment. More importantly, grow the fuck up. That’s not how you discuss things like an adult.
I’d say it’s poetic justice for the guy with Sewer in his name to call out someone for unnecessarily talking shit.
Great job by Luis, love the change and the movement of the sinker.
Gotta love the Change. A young guy throwing 98 in the 8th with a changeup like that has a chance to pitch in some important games in his career.
Just need this consistently out of Ortiz, then we have a #2 SP. He’s young so we can’t expect it right away. Maybe mid-June
Maybe mid-June ’24. Give’em all 30 starts before we start demanding that they head up the rotation.
I was joking, hope a touch faster than Mitch though.
Bucs win, Brewers are losing. I smell first place.
Astros could sweep. We need to take this series and then take on the Mariners and Giants. Mariners have some pitching but they don’t hit much. The Giants are starting to play better ball and could be tough.
Plus, I’m afraid Sabol is going to beat us by himself a game or two. Bad karma to not have protected him. He can hit.
Raise it!
Hope they don’t need Bednar tomorrow.
They will have Holderman ready to go!
Garcia has an arm out there.
Yes, he does!