Despite the fact that their starting pitching depth is incredibly thin right now, the Pirates decided to go ahead with their plans on moving Roansy Contreras to the bullpen, at least for now.
There weren’t many options they could turn to in order to fill the now open rotation spot. As John Dreker first reported, Osvaldo Bido will be joining the team, likely taking the spot in the rotation, at least for one time through.
At 27-years-old, Bido isn’t likely the player that the Pirates were hoping to turn to this season, at least as a starting pitcher — even if he has seen a significant increase in strikeouts coming out the 2020 canceled season.
Osvaldo Bido struck out 10 batters in 5 2/3 innings on Tuesday. Struggled in the sixth, walking the bases loaded, but struck out the second to last batter he faced. #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/wTqmRrR7rA
— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) September 21, 2022
If anything else, he’s a pitcher who has proven he can eat innings, and that might work if they are planning some sort of piggy pack situation with Contreras to help him work on things.
It seems even less ideal for a team that is fighting to stay in first place.
They could have promoted Quinn Priester, one of the system’s top pitching prospects, as his numbers in Triple-A aren’t all that dissimilar from Bido’s.
There are two trains of thought when it comes to deciding between Bido and Priester.
Obviously they get to use the ‘he’s one of our top prospects, so we aren’t going to rush his development’ storyline, and to an extent, they are right. There are plenty of boxes that Priester needs to check off before he becomes a major league regular.
On the other hand, one of the biggest concerns on Priester is his fastball, which averaged 93 MPH in his last start, and isn’t exactly drawing the most favorable Whiff% and CSW% marks. Opponents are also batting near or over .300 against both his four-seam and sinker.
Priester has two breaking pitches that he has been able to get hitters out with, but as we’ve seen with Contreras, Johan Oviedo, and to an extent, Luis Ortiz, it does kind of limit his upside when it comes to success at the major league level.
That’s where the argument really kicks in. Do you wait until Priester figures something out with the fastball, knowing that it has been trending this way for some time? Or, do you recognize that at this point the only thing left to do is see if he can figure out how to get major league hitters out with what he has?
The Pirates are obviously going with the former, giving Priester more time in the minors, and giving Bido a look.
Prospect Notes
— There aren’t many better ways to celebrate your 19th birthday than to hit a big three-run home run in professional baseball, which is what Termarr Johnson did on Sunday. The team’s first round pick in last year’s draft has struggled a bit to start the year, but is slowly coming around.
He’s hitting the ball hard, and walking a lot, but there is still some swing and miss in his game at times. The adjustments are starting to come, so we will have to wait and see if the league begins to pitch him different because of it.
— Anthony Solometo pitched four shutout innings, striking out seven and allowing five hits on Sunday. The biggest question about the lefty coming into the season was where his velocity was going to land.
I talked to someone at the Greensboro game and was told he topped out at 95, while sitting 92-94 the majority of the game, which is in line with what other reports have been saying.
That velocity, along with the natural deception from his delivery, is perfect going forward. Now, Solometo needs to show he can maintain that over the entire season, as he is already past what he threw in Bradenton last year.
Daily Video Rundown
Abrahan Gutierrez with a huge 2 run game tying home run in the top of the 9th. His first in Double A #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/4WAgyx20VA
— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) June 11, 2023
Talk about a big moment to come through with your first Double-A home run. Down 4-2 in the ninth inning, Abrahan Gutierrez hit a two-run shot to tie the game.
Termarr Johnson hits this one 111.6 mph off the bat for his third home run of the season. Bradenton was down 8-0 going into the 6th. It is now 8-8 in the 8th inning #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/qhDNp2QrZf
— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) June 11, 2023
This was the hardest hit tracked ball of the day in Single-A. Bradenton came back from 8-0 to tie the game, only to lose at the end.
The fifth strikeout in relief for @travismac_15 has sent us to extra innings!
LISTEN: https://t.co/aioWvW3Svf
WATCH: https://t.co/6GP894jPtF pic.twitter.com/ynaW6U2XfJ— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) June 11, 2023
Travis MacGregor came up big in relief for the Curve, pitching three shutout innings, striking out five while earning his fourth win of the season.
PIRATES PROSPECTS DAILY
By Tim Williams
Andrew McCutchen is one of the most talented players I’ve had the privilege of covering while running this site. I started covering the Pirates farm system in 2009, when McCutchen made his MLB debut. I didn’t really start covering the MLB team until McCutchen had his breakout season in 2013. As the guy who specialized in the farm system, and who never covered McCutchen as a prospect, I don’t think I did many solo interviews with him.
I had a chance to talk with him one-on-one last month in Tampa, walking back through his career and getting his perspective on what it took to produce the output we all saw. I decided to publish the interview transcript, rather than try to editorialize things. Aside from being one of the most talented players I’ve ever seen on the field, McCutchen’s insight makes him the perfect choice for the veteran leader in Pittsburgh. After talking with him about that role, I felt any words that I added to his would only detract from his perspective. Check out the article below:
**Andrew McCutchen: “That’s something that I chase, still to this day”
McCutchen picked up his 2000th hit on Sunday at PNC Park. Here’s the moment, captured by David Hague.
Looking for the Pirates recap, the nightly minor league results, or the daily discussion? You’ll find it all in Pirates Prospects Live.
**P2Live: Andrew McCutchen Picks Up 2,000th Hit, Pirates Take Series From Mets
Missed yesterday? Anthony wrote about the debut of Jun-Seok Shim over the weekend.
**Pitching Depth Continues To Grow With Jun-Seok Shim Debut
Final Note: The daily Prospect Watch returns today with a new format. It will run daily at noon, starting today. I’m excited by the results of the first article, and I’m looking forward to this new format — now that the old format is part of P2Live.
