Khristian Curtis Features Big Stuff From a Six Pitch Mix
In the 12th round of the 2023 draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Arizona State right-hander Khristian Curtis. The 126th ranked prospect in the draft fell to the third day, but the Pirates landed him with a $500,000 signing bonus, which ranked as the sixth-highest total in their 2023 draft class.
Curtis is coming off a year with Arizona State where he put up a 7.03 ERA in 64 innings. Those aren’t typically the level of results you see from an over-slot pick. He also hasn’t seen a lot of time on the mound in his baseball career.
In high school, Curtis was a two-sport player. The 6′ 5″, 210 pound pitcher doubled as a basketball player. He didn’t pitch for Texas A&M in 2021, and only started five games in 2022, before going down with a season-ending injury. The 64 innings last season represented the most significant playing time total for Curtis in his career.
Despite the lack of experience, Curtis stands out for a six-pitch arsenal, led by a fastball that sits 95-96, touching as high as 97.5 in his first three pro starts.
West Virginia Pitcher Carlson Reed is Off to a Great Start With the Pirates
Carlson Reed was drafted by the Pirates in the fourth round out of West Virginia University last year. He was taken with the 104th overall pick, after being ranked the 180th best prospect in the draft by Baseball America. The Pirates paid him slightly under-slot, allowing them to get a few extra over-slot options in the later rounds. Still, Reed had the fifth-highest bonus in the Pirates’ draft, and early in the 2023 season he is looking like one of the more intriguing players from that middle rounds of that class.
In three starts this year with Bradenton, Reed has a combined 2.45 ERA in 11 innings, with 18 strikeouts and eight walks. In his most recent outing last week, he allowed one earned run in four innings, with two walks and eight strikeouts.
Reed was drafted with the chance for three pitches that grade above-average or better. In his most recent start, the fastball sat 93.1 MPH, touching 94.8.
THIS WEEK ON PIRATES PROSPECTS
This week’s premium article drop for Patreon subscribers looks at players in Single-A with the Bradenton Marauders. Like every other level, this group is highlighted by interesting pitchers. There are also some hitters to follow on the position player side, which I broke down in my premium column. **Williams: Pirates Prospects Sleepers to Follow in Single-A Michael Kennedy was an over-slot prep pick in the fourth round of the 2022 draft. The lefty is in his first full-season league in pro ball, and showed promise this past weekend with an eight strikeout performance. **Michael Kennedy Shows Path to Big Leagues With Eight Strikeout Performance Khristian Curtis has a six pitch mix, despite not having a lot of time on the mound in his pitching career. The Pirates gave him an over-slot bonus as a 12th rounder last year, giving them the chance to develop his arsenal. **Khristian Curtis Features Big Stuff From a Six Pitch Mix Carlson Reed is showing promise in his early results with Bradenton. The West Virginia draftee has a 2.45 ERA in his first three starts this year, after being taken in the fourth round last year. **West Virginia Pitcher Carlson Reed is Off to a Great Start With the Pirates – REEDING Relievers aren’t usually prospects in the lower levels, but Magdiel Cotto is a lefty who can get his fastball up to 95. The Pirates went over-slot on him in the 11th round last year, and he’s showing good results as a reliever in the 2024 season. **Magdiel Cotto is an Over-Slot Lefty With a Fastball That Gets Up to 95 The Pirates traded for Connor Oliver at the start of the season, getting something in return for Colin Selby. This marks his sixth different organization since the start of 2020, with hopes that the Pirates can develop the lefty into an MLB option. **Connor Oliver Remains on the Move With Trade to PiratesMagdiel Cotto is an Over-Slot Lefty With a Fastball That Gets Up to 95
The Pittsburgh Pirates have a tendency to go over-slot with their 11th round picks. The MLB draft bonus structure calls for strict bonus totals in the top ten rounds. If a team spends below the bonus total on any individual pick, they can use the savings to go above-slot on another pick. Any pick after the tenth round can receive $150,000 before extra bonus money is needed.
Last year, the Pirates drafted left-handed pitcher Magdiel Cotto in the 11th round. He did receive an over-slot bonus, getting $200,000 to sign. That’s not one of the biggest 11th round bonuses in team history, and it wasn’t even half of what 12th round pick Khristian Curtis received. Cotto gave the Pirates reason to get the lefty into the organization.
THIS WEEK ON PIRATES PROSPECTS
This week’s premium article drop for Patreon subscribers looks at players in Single-A with the Bradenton Marauders. Like every other level, this group is highlighted by interesting pitchers. There are also some hitters to follow on the position player side, which I broke down in my premium column. **Williams: Pirates Prospects Sleepers to Follow in Single-A Michael Kennedy was an over-slot prep pick in the fourth round of the 2022 draft. The lefty is in his first full-season league in pro ball, and showed promise this past weekend with an eight strikeout performance. **Michael Kennedy Shows Path to Big Leagues With Eight Strikeout Performance Khristian Curtis has a six pitch mix, despite not having a lot of time on the mound in his pitching career. The Pirates gave him an over-slot bonus as a 12th rounder last year, giving them the chance to develop his arsenal. **Khristian Curtis Features Big Stuff From a Six Pitch Mix Carlson Reed is showing promise in his early results with Bradenton. The West Virginia draftee has a 2.45 ERA in his first three starts this year, after being taken in the fourth round last year. **West Virginia Pitcher Carlson Reed is Off to a Great Start With the Pirates Relievers aren’t usually prospects in the lower levels, but Magdiel Cotto is a lefty who can get his fastball up to 95. The Pirates went over-slot on him in the 11th round last year, and he’s showing good results as a reliever in the 2024 season. **Magdiel Cotto is an Over-Slot Lefty With a Fastball That Gets Up to 95 – READING The Pirates traded for Connor Oliver at the start of the season, getting something in return for Colin Selby. This marks his sixth different organization since the start of 2020, with hopes that the Pirates can develop the lefty into an MLB option. **Connor Oliver Remains on the Move With Trade to PiratesConnor Oliver Remains on the Move With Trade to Pirates
At the outset of the 2024 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates designated right-handed reliever Colin Selby for assignment. Selby, a 16th round pick in the 2018 draft out of Randolph-Macon College, spent time in Pittsburgh as bullpen depth last season. In 24 innings, he had a 9.00 ERA and a 30:15 K/BB ratio, with a 96.6 MPH fastball.
The Pirates were short of a roster spot, forcing them to give up on the velocity and strikeout potential from Selby as bullpen depth. A few days after removing him from the roster, they traded him to the Kansas City Royals for left-handed pitcher Connor Oliver.
Oliver was drafted last year in the 17th round by the Royals, given a $100,000 signing bonus out of Miami of Ohio. The quick transfer from Kansas City to Pittsburgh continues an inconsistent theme to his development.
THIS WEEK ON PIRATES PROSPECTS
This week’s premium article drop for Patreon subscribers looks at players in Single-A with the Bradenton Marauders. Like every other level, this group is highlighted by interesting pitchers. There are also some hitters to follow on the position player side, which I broke down in my premium column. **Williams: Pirates Prospects Sleepers to Follow in Single-A Michael Kennedy was an over-slot prep pick in the fourth round of the 2022 draft. The lefty is in his first full-season league in pro ball, and showed promise this past weekend with an eight strikeout performance. **Michael Kennedy Shows Path to Big Leagues With Eight Strikeout Performance Khristian Curtis has a six pitch mix, despite not having a lot of time on the mound in his pitching career. The Pirates gave him an over-slot bonus as a 12th rounder last year, giving them the chance to develop his arsenal. **Khristian Curtis Features Big Stuff From a Six Pitch Mix Carlson Reed is showing promise in his early results with Bradenton. The West Virginia draftee has a 2.45 ERA in his first three starts this year, after being taken in the fourth round last year. **West Virginia Pitcher Carlson Reed is Off to a Great Start With the Pirates Relievers aren’t usually prospects in the lower levels, but Magdiel Cotto is a lefty who can get his fastball up to 95. The Pirates went over-slot on him in the 11th round last year, and he’s showing good results as a reliever in the 2024 season. **Magdiel Cotto is an Over-Slot Lefty With a Fastball That Gets Up to 95 The Pirates traded for Connor Oliver at the start of the season, getting something in return for Colin Selby. This marks his sixth different organization since the start of 2020, with hopes that the Pirates can develop the lefty into an MLB option. **Connor Oliver Remains on the Move With Trade to Pirates – READINGJared Jones is Appointment Viewing
During the 2004 season, Oliver Perez had one of the best pitching seasons I can recall from a Pittsburgh Pirates starter in the last few decades. The Pirates don’t have a lot of great pitching performances to choose from since the days of Doug Drabek, and that’s been mostly true since Perez.
Perez had a 2.98 ERA in 196 innings, striking out 239 batters on the season. His K/9 mark is the highest in team history by any starter. His strikeout totals are still the highest mark since the 1960s, and fifth-highest in team history.
What stood out to me, as someone who started following the Pirates more often in 2004 specifically due to Perez, was the excitement when he got to two strikes. There was a point where a strikeout became expected, and there were so many points like that per game that a 2004 Oliver Perez start became appointment viewing.
So far, we’re seeing better from Jared Jones this year.
Jones currently has a 12.1 K/9, which is over a strikeout more per nine innings than Perez had in 2004. Perez had a 29% strikeout rate. Jones is at 36%. We probably won’t see Jones pitch more than 160 innings this year, but even in that amount, with his current strikeout pace, he could break Mitch Keller’s high mark set last year for most strikeouts in a season by a right-handed Pirates pitcher.
The success from Jones so far isn’t just contained to the Pirates. It’s also not even contained to rookies. He has the highest whiff rate in baseball at 39%. His strikeout percentage ranks second, just behind Freddy Peralta. Jones has half the walks allowed, by comparison.
In the Statcast era, the current strikeout rate from Jones would rank tenth. His whiff rate would rank third, behind only Jacob deGrom and Shane Bieber, both in 2020. Ahead of him on the strikeout rate list are 2019 Gerrit Cole and 2020 Tyler Glasnow. Both came up through the Pirates system, but both pitchers found elite success elsewhere.
That’s what makes Jones such a great story to watch. The Pirates are finally seeing these types of performances from one of their own home-grown pitchers from the day he arrived in the Majors — rather than after he went to the AL East. And Jones isn’t even the best rookie pitcher who is expected to make his debut this year.
In Monday night’s 4-2 victory over the Brewers, Jones threw six innings, allowing one run on four hits and two walks. He struck out seven, picking up 25 whiffs on the night. Jones threw 91 pitches, extending well beyond his limited 59 pitches last time out.
STATCAST HEROES
Jared Jones had 13 whiffs on 28 swings from the fastball, and 11 whiffs on 19 swings from the slider. He also had 12 called strikes between the two pitches. His total called and swinging strike rate for the day was 43%. STATSDAILY VIDEO RUNDOWN
Andrew McCutchen got the Pirates on the board with his 301st home run.I don’t think I’ve ever seen a swing and miss just completely overwhelm a human being. This was nasty by Jones.Cutch starts it off! pic.twitter.com/qZhmeBLVco
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) April 22, 2024
Jones has quickly become appointment viewing, in the same way Perez was in 2004. Jones might be in the early stages of one of the best Pirates pitching seasons of all time. He also hit 100 MPH eight times tonight, so, like Perez, there’s lots of heat.Jared Jones just threw one of nastiest pitches you will see all season. 😮 pic.twitter.com/mDYibaevZe
— MLB (@MLB) April 22, 2024
TODAY: PIRATES (12-11) VS BREWERS (14-7)
Game Time: 6:40 PM EDT Watch: SportsNet-PIT Listen: KDKA-FM 93.7 Pirates Starter: Bailey Falter, LHP (1-1, 4.05) Brewers Starter: TBD In the Minors…- Indianapolis will send LHP Cam Alldred to the mound at 7:05 PM EST.
- Altoona has no announced starter for their 6:00 PM home game.
- Greensboro has no announced starter for their 7:05 PM game in Greenville. It’s likely to be RHP Alessandro Ercolani, who was slated to start on Sunday, before the game was postponed.
- Bradenton has no announced starter for their 6:30 PM game in Clearwater.
PIRATES PROSPECTS DAILY
The Pirates had several hitting prospects stepping up last week in Indianapolis, which is good, as they need hitting at the big league level. This week’s Pirates Prospect Watch looks at those top performers in Triple-A.Pirates Prospect Watch: The Pirates Have Hitting in Triple-ASubscribe to Pirates Prospects Daily below for free, and get these Pittsburgh Pirates updates delivered to your inbox.
THIS WEEK ON PIRATES PROSPECTS
The premium article drop each week features the best articles on the site. These are the ones that take the most time and work, but also the topics which occupy the most head space in my brain. In most weeks, there is a reporting aspect. This week’s articles featured more scouting, stats, and a bit of speculation. In my premium column for Patreon subscribers, I looked at the cautious approach the Pirates are taking with Paul Skenes. I agree with the approach, but broke down how it could have limits that would call for him being up before the Super Two dates pass. **Williams: The Pirates Should Be Taking a Cautious Approach With Paul Skenes I wrote two articles this week looking at depth options who stand out to me in Triple-A. Nick Gonzales was taken seventh overall in the 2020 draft. He’s dealt with swing and miss issues, which have kept him in Triple-A. In the early part of the season, he’s showing positive overall improvements with his strikeout rates, while still having some underlying concerns about swing and miss. **Examining the Swing and Miss of Nick Gonzales Malcom Nunez is a stocky corner infield prospect who can play third, but has the power for first base. After hitting three home runs to start the season, I looked deeper at the power bat of Nunez, and his brief history in Triple-A already as a 23-year-old prospect. **Malcom Nunez Brings Plus Power Bat to Indianapolis This week I also highlighted three lower level pitchers who have stood out to me in early looks as potential MLB starters. The Pirates drafted Hunter Barco in the second round of the 2022 draft, while the lefty from Florida was out with Tommy John. Now fully recovered, Barco is pitching in Greensboro, and has thrown seven shutout frames in his first two starts of the season, with an advanced mix of pitches. **Hunter Barco is Showing Why the Pirates Invested in Him Alessandro Ercolani is a 19-year-old pitcher from the small country of San Marino, with a mix of six pitches that all show promise. The Pirates gave him the assignment of pitching in High-A Greensboro, which he embraced with four shutout innings in his debut. **Alessandro Ercolani is a Big Talent From a Small Country Patrick Reilly was drafted as a reliever out of Vanderbilt last season, but with a mid-90s fastball that gets up to 98, and a plus slider, it’s easy to see why the Pirates are giving him a shot in the rotation. He’s showing promising control results in the early games, reversing the issue that has held him back the most. **Patrick Reilly Features An Elite Fastball, With Early Positive Results in ControlSONG OF THE DAY
After Dropping to .500, Pirates Could Turn To Help in Triple-A
After losing 6-1 to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, the Pittsburgh Pirates dropped to .500 on the season, finishing their week by getting swept twice.
The Pirates have only played 22 games, which is 13.6% of the MLB season. That’s not an insignificant amount, but it’s also not a big enough amount to draw significant conclusions over. There are some players right now who are under-performing, who could pick up the pace over the next month. Others are performing well, and might cool off. Overall, it’s still early in the season.
There are a few situations where the Pirates might be forced to make an earlier move. Here are the big three.
The Catching Jam
Yasmani Grandal is currently rehabbing in Indianapolis, after being added this offseason not as the starting catcher, but as a catcher who could fill a lot of time. The assumption was this time would come next to Henry Davis, who would work into the starting mix. Davis is batting .182/.288/.236 this season in 67 plate appearances. The plus power hitting catcher has no home runs, and a 29.9% strikeout rate. Drafted first overall in 2021 as a catcher, there have been some concerns about his skills behind the plate leading into this season. At the moment, his offense is the biggest concern. Complicating matters is the addition of Joey Bart, who the Pirates traded for earlier this month. Bart is hitting .313/.450/.750 in his first 20 plate appearances with the Pirates. He’s also out of options. That means when Grandal returns, the Pirates could either send Davis down or designate Bart for assignment. The Pirates could get creative and move Davis to another position, but his bat hasn’t shown it belongs in the big leagues right now. A combo of Grandal and Bart, with Davis getting his first regular workload behind the plate in the minors wouldn’t be a bad approach for a few months, until Davis can turn things around.Middle Infield Madness
This spring featured a competition between several middle infield options for the starting second base job. The position eventually went to Jared Triolo, a 26-year-old with impressive defense all over the field, coming off a good rookie season at the plate that was fueled by a .440 BABIP. Triolo had another high BABIP performance this spring, beating his competition. Nick Gonzales and Liover Peguero were the main competition for Triolo. They also represented keys to the Pirates’ current build. Peguero was acquired for Starling Marte as one of the first prospects brought in during the rebuilding of the MLB roster. Gonzales was the first draft pick under General Manager Ben Cherington, taken seventh overall in 2020. Triolo has struggled early in the season, batting .222/.296/.278 in 81 plate appearances. His BABIP has dropped, perhaps to a point where he’s now unlucky. He’s not hitting for power, but wasn’t hitting for a lot of power last year. The upside for Triolo looks like a super utility player off the bench, who can add some value with his contact skills, plus defense all over the field, and might add a bit of pop with his size. Gonzales has stepped up the most out of the infielders sent to Triple-A. After Sunday’s contest, he’s riding a 12-game hitting streak, and has reached base safely in all 19 games this season. He has hits in 18 of those games. Gonzales is batting .285/.435/.590 in 85 plate appearances this season in Triple-A. More importantly, he’s striking out in just 16.5% of his plate appearances, cutting down on his biggest issue from the past for his best strikeout results of his career. If these trends continue with both players, Gonzales will deserve a shot at the big leagues and the starting second base job.Pitching Help On the Way
The Pirates have already turned to their pitching depth with a few bullpen additions, and this weekend’s replacement of Quinn Priester for the injured Marco Gonzales in the rotation. Priester should remain in the mix for a few starts, but will need to limit the home runs that hurt him last year and in that Friday appearance. The obvious help in Triple-A is top prospect and 2023 first overall pick Paul Skenes. The Pirates are bringing Skenes along slowly, extending him to 65 pitches in his most recent outing. This week’s start should see him at 70-75 pitches, which would be enough for his first start with four full innings. Skenes is ready for the majors right now. He’s making Triple-A hitters look like someone created a player and turned the level into a video game. In 12.1 shutout innings so far, he has 27 strikeouts. Once Skenes is ready from a pitch and innings perspective, nothing should hold him back. Not even Super Two. Until then, Priester will get his shot, and the Pirates will eventually have to find a way to make room for one of the most anticipated prospects in the game. My own personal guess is that Skenes should be ready after the start of May.STATCAST HEROES
If you only looked at the Statcast leaders, you’d think the Pirates won this game 6-1. STATS The minor league Statcast Heroes can be found in the nightly Pirates Prospect Watch.DAILY VIDEO RUNDOWN
Yasmani Grandal homered in his latest rehab appearance for Indianapolis. https://twitter.com/indyindians/status/1782135151364870557 Eric Lauer struck out eight batters in five perfect innings today.Matt Fraizer homered for the second time this weekend for Altoona.We weren't lying, Lauer really got 'em with the strikeouts today. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/P3QP6Xxnti
— Indianapolis Indians (@indyindians) April 21, 2024
Javier Rivas hits his first homer of the season in a three hit day.Matt Fraizer has his second home run of the season in the ninth inning! pic.twitter.com/a9eggK3aoT
— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) April 21, 2024
Jesus Castillo walks it off for Bradenton in the bottom of the tenth.First HR of the season for Javier Rivas! pic.twitter.com/pH3UxEt7zZ
— Bradenton Marauders (@The_Marauders) April 21, 2024
NEVER SAY DIE! Walk-Off winner for Jesus Castillo! pic.twitter.com/oUDQsQX1Qe
— Bradenton Marauders (@The_Marauders) April 21, 2024
PROSPECT WATCH
The Bradenton Marauders won on Sunday in comeback, walk off fashion. Tall shortstop Javier Rivas led the comeback, showing a lesson on team and individual perseverance.Pirates Prospect Watch: Never Giving Up
TODAY: PIRATES (11-11) VS BREWERS (14-6)
Game Time: 6:40 PM EDT Watch: SportsNet-PIT Listen: KDKA-FM 93.7 Pirates Starter: Jared Jones, RHP (1-2, 3.13) Brewers Starter: Joe Ross, RHP (1-1, 4.91) In the Minors… The minor leagues are off on Monday.PIRATES PROSPECTS DAILY
Last week, I hit a milestone, spending 100 days in my car as I use this site and a few other tactics to establish new life routines.First Pitch: 100 Days of Being Homeless in a Honda For Science and RoutineSubscribe to Pirates Prospects Daily below for free, and get these Pittsburgh Pirates updates delivered to your inbox.
LAST WEEK ON PIRATES PROSPECTS
In my premium column for Patreon subscribers, I looked at the cautious approach the Pirates are taking with Paul Skenes. I agree with the approach, but broke down how it could have limits that would call for him being up before the Super Two dates pass. **Williams: The Pirates Should Be Taking a Cautious Approach With Paul Skenes I wrote two articles this week looking at depth options who stand out to me in Triple-A. Nick Gonzales was taken seventh overall in the 2020 draft. He’s dealt with swing and miss issues, which have kept him in Triple-A. In the early part of the season, he’s showing positive overall improvements with his strikeout rates, while still having some underlying concerns about swing and miss. **Examining the Swing and Miss of Nick Gonzales Malcom Nunez is a stocky corner infield prospect who can play third, but has the power for first base. After hitting three home runs to start the season, I looked deeper at the power bat of Nunez, and his brief history in Triple-A already as a 23-year-old prospect. **Malcom Nunez Brings Plus Power Bat to Indianapolis This week I also highlighted three lower level pitchers who have stood out to me in early looks as potential MLB starters. The Pirates drafted Hunter Barco in the second round of the 2022 draft, while the lefty from Florida was out with Tommy John. Now fully recovered, Barco is pitching in Greensboro, and has thrown seven shutout frames in his first two starts of the season, with an advanced mix of pitches. **Hunter Barco is Showing Why the Pirates Invested in Him Alessandro Ercolani is a 19-year-old pitcher from the small country of San Marino, with a mix of six pitches that all show promise. The Pirates gave him the assignment of pitching in High-A Greensboro, which he embraced with four shutout innings in his debut. **Alessandro Ercolani is a Big Talent From a Small Country Patrick Reilly was drafted as a reliever out of Vanderbilt last season, but with a mid-90s fastball that gets up to 98, and a plus slider, it’s easy to see why the Pirates are giving him a shot in the rotation. He’s showing promising control results in the early games, reversing the issue that has held him back the most. **Patrick Reilly Features An Elite Fastball, With Early Positive Results in ControlSONG OF THE DAY
Pirates Prospect Watch: Never Giving Up
I liked the story of Javier Rivas on Sunday.
The tall shortstop for the Bradenton Marauders went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run, three RBIs, and he was even hit by a pitch. The hits came at key moments. An RBI double to tie the score at 1-1 in the third. A solo home run to give the Marauders their second run of the game in the sixth, down 5-2. The final double came in the bottom of the ninth, bringing in Omar Alfonzo for the tying run.
Bradenton went on to allow two runs in the tenth inning, before scoring three runs in the bottom half for the walk off win. It was a great story of never giving up until the game was over, and Rivas was crucial in their long battle back.
In the case of Rivas, it was an individual case of never giving up. Rivas has been a regular mention in the Statcast Heroes feature, and not for his accomplishments. Rivas has been hitting the ball hard all season, but has been getting a large amount of hard hit outs. As a result, he came into today’s game batting .067/.106/.089.
On Sunday, his home run traveled 107.3 MPH for the hardest hit ball of the game. His game tying double had a 100.0 MPH exit velocity. The other double traveled at 97.6 MPH. Those are three hard hit balls, and today, all three went for extra base hits. After the game today, Rivas is batting .122/.173/.245. That’s still not a good line, but if he has more games like today, where the hard hit balls go for hits, he’ll end up with a more respectable stat line in no time.
PIRATES PROSPECT WATCH
INDIANAPOLIS won 5-0, led by Yasmani Grandal going 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs in a rehab appearance behind the plate.- LHP Eric Lauer pitched five perfect innings, striking out eight. Lauer had 14 whiffs on the day, getting swing and miss from all his pitches. He had four whiffs each on the four-seam and cutter, three on the curve, two on the slider, and one on the changeup. His total called and swinging strike rate was 43%.
- RHP Kyle Nicolas pitched a perfect inning in relief, striking out three. Nicolas averaged 98 MPH with his fastball, touching 99. He had four whiffs on six swings with the pitch, and two whiffs on two swings with the curveball.
- CF Ji Hwan Bae went 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base.
- DH Matt Gorski had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a triple.
- SS Nick Gonzales went 1-for-3 with an RBI, extending his hitting streak to 12 games, and reaching base in all 19 games this season.
- LHP Antony Solometo was pulled in the third inning after issuing three walks, including one with the bases loaded. He ended up with two runs allowed, after another run scored on a reliever.
- RHP Valentin Linarez got the final out after walking in the second run from Solometo. He then pitched a scoreless fourth inning, with two strikeouts.
- CF Matt Fraizer hit a solo homer leading off the ninth inning, after hitting his first homer of the year on Friday leading off the game.
- RF Aaron Shackelford also homered in the ninth inning, two batters after Fraizer. It was the third of the year for Shackelford.
- 1B Jase Bowen went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
- C Omar Alfonzo went 2-for-4 with an RBI double in the ninth inning, and the game tying run. He also drew a walk.
- LF Juan Jerez had two doubles and an RBI in five at-bats. One of his doubles and RBIs came in the tenth inning.
- PH-RF Jesus Castillo won the game in the tenth inning with a walk off single.
- Prior to Castillo winning the game, 3B Garret Forrester got things started with an RBI double for his only hit of the game.
- RHP Khristian Curtis allowed three runs on four hits in four innings. He was hurt by the long ball, giving up two homers. Curtis didn’t issue a walk and struck out four.
STATCAST HEROES
Matt Gorski was hitting the ball far and hard. His triple went 104.9 MPH, traveling for the longest hit of the game. One of his singles went 104.2 MPH. Gorski also had a single at 88.1 MPH. It’s not as extreme, but Gorski has been unlucky with hard hits just like Rivas. STATS Khristian Curtis was showing good results from his slider, picking up three whiffs in four swings, with two called strikes for an overall 63% called and swinging strike rate. STATSTOMORROW’S SCHEDULE
- The minor leagues are off on Mondays.
First Pitch: 100 Days of Being Homeless in a Honda For Science and Routine
On Tuesday this week, I woke up in an emergency room parking lot.
The sun was not up yet around 6 AM as I got out of my car to walk toward the row of three port-a-pottys lined up next to this small satellite hospital, in between two growing areas in an Orlando suburb. Everything in Orlando is in close proximity to Disney World, and many other theme parks. The growing areas in this part of town won’t be connected to this hospital for a few years. That leaves a lot of vacant space and the early stages of development in this small, quiet area that still gets Disney tourist traffic. One day in the future, this small hospital will serve a larger local population, and the outdoor toilets are meant for the construction workers who have been working on sight for the last few months. My guess is expanding the hospital slowly, ahead of the anticipated future rush.
I went to sleep in this parking lot on Monday night, with a migraine and articles to write. This lot is vast, dark, and quiet, which means my migraine wouldn’t be interrupted by sensory distractions. There was no minor league coverage, and the Pirates lost, so I held my Pirates Prospects Daily feature for Tuesday morning. My only focus that night was going to bed and ensuring this migraine wouldn’t continue to the next day.
On Tuesday morning, I exited the port-a-pottys with an empty bladder and no lingering effects from the migraine. My daily article from the night before was posted before 8 AM, and was better quality than I could have managed the previous night — even though I was writing my idea from the previous night.
I wrote that article in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Then, I wrote re-wrote three features for the weekly premium article drop on the site. After all of those features were written, I went to the local gym where I pay a monthly membership to work out three days per week, and shower seven days per week. I then drove to a McDonald’s and edited under a tree in the far end of their parking lot for three more hours, finalizing this week’s article drop.
With work completed, and games to watch that night, I spent the rest of the afternoon handling a few life chores, cleaning and washing my car, and I eventually stopped at Tijuana Flats for their Taco Tuesday deal for dinner. I got ice cream that night at Dairy Queen, while charging my laptop and watching games. I ended up returning that night to the same small hospital, where I walked the over-one mile loop in the vacant space, and watched fireworks in the distance from one of the local theme parks. After that, I drove nearby to park at another local spot away from my migraine contingency space in the hospital lot.
Tuesday was day 100 of living out of my car.
THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS TIM WILLIAMS
On January 7th, I wrote what at the time might have ended up being my final column on this site. It was the only article I had posted all year, and the first since December 26th. I didn’t publish a lot during the second half of 2023, as I worked to adjust my routines and healthily cut out marijuana and all other substances from my lifestyle. When I say “all other substances”, I don’t do anything harder than marijuana, pain killers, caffeine, or prescribed drugs for mental health. With nothing in my system by December but the occasional bowl of marijuana to relax, I took time to myself. I lived mostly out of hotels during the second half of December and into the new year, adjusting from a bad living situation the last two-plus years. The night of January 7th, I drove to a Kohl’s parking lot and went to sleep in my driver’s side seat of my mid-sized Honda hybrid vehicle. I knew at that point I would be homeless in my car for a long time, but I did not know how long it would be. I did not know if I wanted to continue doing this site, or attempt to do something else. After a few days of living in my car, I changed all of my social profiles to “The Artist Formerly Known As Tim Williams”. This time period represented a period where I was using zero substances, and pretty much had returned to the blogger I was from 2009-2018, before I started taking prescribed pills from a doctor for the first time in my life in order to deal with my frequent migraines and mental health issues. I have talked a lot about my marijuana usage over the last few years, because I think it’s a miracle substance. It’s the best solution for migraine relief, outside of hydration and sleep. Those take time for your nerves to settle and your body to relax. Weed works instantly to cure the pain and allow you to sleep comfortably, or nourish yourself. I started using marijuana occasionally in mid-2018, specifically for my frequent migraines. This was after I had started taking an unhealthy mix of doctor prescribed pills to get me to a consistent daily level. Weed accomplished the same result. Prior to this, I was living a life like I’m sure many live, where I felt like I was always behind in dealing with things I needed to do in life. Some people in their mid-30s are overloaded with managing a job, a house, kids, animals, and other fun aspects of life they never find time to enjoy. I was overloaded with a high-traffic/thousands of subscribers website with contributors, plus a fix-er-upper house to maintain from falling apart, and the heightening of a relationship where I was ultimately only seen as the provider of an image for a little girl’s social dream where the man in her picture happens to be interchangeable. It was very difficult to regulate my mood with so many factors in play, until I started addressing my mental health for the first time in my life. I eventually got to a point of a consistent level of energy each day. The migraines remained, because even though I was at a steady energy flow every day, I had way too much work to do at that flow level. My migraines largely existed because I was taking on way too many operations, and over-extending my brain and nervous system with all of the excess work. I had no time to manage a massive site, plus write all of my articles for that site, plus manage, edit, and publish articles from contributors, plus manage a house that was falling apart, plus manage a toxic relationship, plus four warring cats, plus a further focus on my health to see if there might be something inside my body going wrong. I eventually had the worst migraine in my life in mid-2019, which felt like a small stroke. I haven’t been to a doctor since then, but decided to rapidly adjust my life routines. Fast forward to 2024. I have no house to manage. I have no relationship to manage. This site went offline shortly after January 7th, as I worked to shift it to a new server. I took a month debating whether I wanted to continue with writing about baseball. And during that month, I spent all of my time developing a healthy routine around working daytime hours. The Artist Formerly Known As Tim Williams was a two-plus month time period where I reverted to my pre-2018 self. It was zero substances, but a largely unregulated energy flow from my brain and body. The goal, for the second time in my life, was to establish a healthy life routine. I established this in 2019-2020, after the worst migraine of my life. Then, my life went crazy and I got off that schedule. Last year, I bought the car I’m living inside, with the idea that I’d be living inside of it within a year, should I need a place to go to eventually build back up to the healthy routine I had in 2019-2020. There was a period where I thought I’d be homeless while running this site for other people to publish their articles and make a living as I moved on to something else. My routine that I’ve developed in these 100 days is focused on saving myself before saving anyone else. Putting my life needs before work, and then only working with a percentage of my remaining energy, rather than working until the job is done and trying to find time to reclaim my energy.SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
After 100+ days of living in my car, I’ve got a routine. I wake up every morning between 5-7 AM. Some days, in trusted lots that I know won’t be occupied the next morning, I sleep in until around 9:30. My sleep schedule prior to this was chaotic, with a few all-nighters a month, and many nights staying awake until 2-3 AM. There was never a consistent time period where I slept for 5-8 hours. Around 8 AM, I start a two hour block of writing or life chores, depending on what takes priority that day. I also make sure to eat breakfast during this period, usually turning to a high protein/high fiber snack in the car. I also rush into the nearest port-a-potty or Wal-Mart restroom. By 10 AM, the most important thing I needed to do that day was finished. Even if that was extra sleep. I then spend two hours getting the next important thing done. If it is a big writing day, I’ll continue with my work, and write until lunch. Around noon to 1 PM, I grab the best daily deal in the McDonald’s, Wendy’s, or Burger King apps. My old TAFKATW schedule would often see me skipping lunch, and working non-stop from 8 AM to 5 PM. I’ve had fewer migraines with a healthy sleep schedule and a constant eating schedule. But the work regulation is where I’m seeing the best results. After my hour lunch break, I have about three more hours of work. On days where I’m writing a lot, I spend two of these hours writing, and one on life chores, giving me six hours of writing that day. On normal days, I’m writing for 4-5 hours, but always making time for life management. Whatever isn’t done by 5 PM in work or life that I think needs to be done by the next day gets thrown in the next day’s 8-10 AM time slot. From there, I wind down and enjoy my day from 5 PM to sleep time. That usually involves watching baseball. I changed from my TAFKATW designation when I was ready to bring this site back. That’s mostly because this version of Tim Williams is something no one has seen before. And, I’m still an artist with my approach to sports writing.THE ROUTINE OF BASEBALL COVERAGE
As I’ve been developing my own healthy life routines (regular sleep schedule, proper hydration and food schedules, daily exercise, a few bigger workout days per week, daily hygiene, and managing time to deal with all external factors like work, life, and barometric pressure shifts), I’ve found the routine of the game of baseball comforting. Every single day, you can wake up and see what someone in the Pittsburgh Pirates system did the previous day. No two days are the same. Every single night, you can wind down from your schedule by watching the games, from the majors through Single-A, enjoying the spontaneity of human performance. Some nights, I’m stuck on the Pirates. Other nights, I’m flipping between minor league contests, and box score watching. It’s not really an escape from work, in my case, but it is a relaxing escape knowing I don’t have a big feature to write. Seeing the top performers from each night, recapping the key moments in the game, and knowing they’re all going to be finished before 10 PM has allowed me to return to my baseball fan roots, and I always have some thoughts at the end of each night. Baseball is one of the most difficult sports, not necessarily because of the challenge of the sport itself, but because of the tediousness of the schedule. They play nearly every single day for six months, with six weeks to warm up, and eight more weeks to conclude the season. It takes a special type of person to be wired and focused enough to follow a full baseball season, every single night, regardless of their daily life routines and schedules. Especially when you’re also following the minors, which involves action every single day of the week during a five month stretch. There are some nights where I feel the grind of writing daily. I’ve learned to scale back my work load on those days. I decided on 4/20 that I was going to take the full day off, and post my recaps the next morning. Unlike the migraine that pushed my daily recap back seven hours, this decision to take a break from work resulted in the Pirates Prospect Watch being pushed back about 10-12 hours. I’ve been writing about the Pittsburgh Pirates and player development since 2009, and I’ve been writing about sports since about 2006-2007, with message board posts dating back years earlier. This has always been an expressive method for me, allowing me to find my voice and beliefs, at least through this system of following life. As a result, during this homeless stretch, I realized that baseball writing would be the best constant for my work routine as I tried to merge my new life routine in with a full-time job. Pirates Prospects has me for one year, with a one year option. That’s what I can tell you as the owner of Pirates Prospects and the head writer for the entire 15+ season duration. I figure by the end of 2024, I will have figured out where I want to live in this world, and what I want to do next. To be honest, part of this homeless stretch is that I don’t have any place that feels like a home area, even though I know the Pirates from growing up part time in Central PA. I debate moving to the Pittsburgh area and living the writer lifestyle for another 15+ years. I still have a dream of being a writer. This time it’s not a sports writer, but a fiction sci-fi writer. On 4/20, on a day off that I scheduled for myself two months earlier, I created from scratch and outlined 23 chapters of a book called “Mantis”. Adding that project to my daily baseball writing schedule, I think I can finish the ~400 page project by the end of June. If I can maintain a schedule of running this site, plus writing 2-4 fiction books per year, that would be ideal. Especially since it would mean one of those books could be the return of me having time and energy for a Pirates Prospect Guide. If the book projects and P2 workload don’t give me excess migraines, I’m picking up the option for writing on this site in 2025 to continue that writing lifestyle. Ideally, this time, in a home in an area where I want to live for several years.QUALITY CONTROL
My goal in life is zero migraines. At this point I get a migraine about 10% of the time compared to 2018. I used to have 5.5 migraines per week on average, with 1-2 days pain free. Now, I get one migraine a week, and some weeks go without any issues. The biggest factors for me are storms. The pressure change ahead of the storm always alters my nourishment schedule in a way that I feel is a result of added dehydration beyond my normal routine’s control. My work schedule allows for my best mindset to be present when writing. There is zero pain, I only write when I’m in a regulated mood from my schedule, and my enjoyment of the game of baseball gets embraced during those hours. The publishing schedule reflects the layers of quality control in my writing process. Every Tuesday, I released six premium articles. You can only access these articles with a Patreon subscription, and to be honest, these subscriptions are keeping me and this site going right now, after scaling revenue chasing back for half a year last year. While I’ve given myself a one year deal with an option on this site, the Patreon subscriptions are monthly. None of you are ever on the hook for supporting me and this site’s 2024 project for more than a month. These premium articles represent the most work on the site. They include features where I sought out interviews. They include a culmination of thoughts on players and subjects while watching games. They include hours of data research. As of today, I know the next 18 topics over the next three weeks. I start writing these around Thursday, and finalize them on Tuesday morning, with a write, re-write, and an edit in three separate sessions. Every day, I try to release at least one of those same levels of premium features for the free audience. In total each week, I write 12 premium articles, only charging for six. There might be a time when the daily premium articles go behind the paywall. For now, that list of free features looks like this:- Sunday’s First Pitch has included some site updates in this time, but mostly will revolve around bigger system topics and trends. As the site gets into a routine, and the season develops bigger sample sizes, this will be a bigger weekly Pirates feature.
- Monday is a day off in the minors, which means the daily Pirates Prospect Watch covers the best performers from the previous week.
- Tuesday is all about the six premium articles that get released at noon for Patreon subscribers.
- Wednesday looks at the Statcast Heroes who put up the best metrics in the Majors, Triple-A, and Single-A from the previous week.
- Thursday and Friday include columns from me. I’m trying to arrange a schedule to produce a weekly Pirates Roundtable with subscribers on these days, and eventually a weekly chat.
- Saturday caps off the week with one more player feature that didn’t make the weekly drop, called Saturday Sleepers, looking at a sleeper prospect who fall outside of the top 30.
- Every day I publish Pirates Prospects Daily and the Pirates Prospect Watch for free. Daily also doubles as a free daily newsletter, and recaps the day’s events. The Prospect Watch started about a week ago, as I decided I wanted to expand that recap from the daily article.