Rays  9,  Pirates  5  

The Pirates opened the official Grapefruit League season with a loss to the Rays.  The Pirates were held to just 6 hits.  All but two were singles and all but one were by the established major leaguers.  1B Garrett Atkins smacked a ground rule double for an RBI in the top of the 9th, and C Dusty Brown singled moments later.  LF Jose Tabata, 2B Neil Walker, 1B Lyle Overbay, and C Chris Snyder had the other hits.  LF Alex Presley walked twice in two trips to the plate; the second walk came in the top of the 9th, with two outs and a runner on second base, and the Pirates management watching carefully to see how he'd handle the situation.

Charlie Morton pitched the first two innings for the Pirates.  He had the lead-off batter reach base in both innings, on a walk and a single, but both times he got out of the innings courtesy of a double play.  Brad Lincoln worked around 2 singles to keep the Rays from scoring in the 3rd, but gave up a solo home run to Evan Longoria in the 4th.  Overall, an encouraging outing for Morton, and not too bad for Lincoln.  Chris Resop also gave up a solo home run in the 5th, which tied the score at 2-2.  After Daniel Moskos pitched a scoreless inning, Daniel McCutchen got into trouble in the 7th.  A double and two walks loaded the bases, and another double cleared them, giving the Rays a 5-2 lead.   Justin Thomas also struggled in his inning, the 8th, though the 4 runs that came in were all unearned, after a fielding error by 3B Josh Fields.  Tom Boleska, up from minor league camp, finished the inning, giving up a single before getting the final out. 

Other minor leaguers getting some playing time:  2B Josh Rodriguez, CF Gorkys Hernandez, SS Pedro Ciriaco.

Finishing up our look at the outfielders in the Pirates' minor league organization:

Andrew Lambo  --  L/L,  6' 3",   190 lb
Lambo is a 22-year-old California native, who came to the Pirates' organization at the end of July 2010 in the Octavio Dotel trade.  He had been the Dodger's 4th round draft pick in 2007, and actually played in 8 games at the AA level that season.  He went 14-for-36 in those few games, but when he returned to AA in the 2009 season, he slipped -- .256, with 11 homers and 61 RBI.  Lambo began 2010 back in AA Chattanooga.  He began the season better, but after just a few weeks, he was suspended for testing positive for a "drug of abuse" --presumed, but never confirmed, to be marijuana.  Between the suspension and his less-than-stellar hitting stats in 2009 and again after the suspension, Lambo found his star falling instead of rising in the Dodgers' system.  When the opportunity came up for a trade, Lambo was on his way to the Pirates.  He joined AA Altoona, where he started off hitting well.  In the first two weeks of August, Lambo had a .400 average for the Curve, with 7 RBI.  But when Lambo ran into the outfield wall, he injured his shoulder.  He was not playing much outfield after that, but doing a lot of DH'ing.  His hitting slipped again, and he finished the season with a .275 average in 26 total games, with one double, 2 homers, and 10 RBI.  Lambo got a charge in the playoffs, as the Curve earned the Eastern League championship.  He hit .286 over the course of the playoffs, with 2 homers and 7 RBI.  He went to the Arizona Fall League to help make up for some of the lost time during the regular season, and continued to show some better work there.  He hit .274 in 28 games, with 8 doubles, 4 homers, and 23 RBI.  Lambo is in the big league spring training camp as a non-roster invitee, hoping to boost his standing in the eyes of the management.  Lambo has expressed his appreciation for the Pirates' willingness to give him the chance to make a new start.  He's determined to not waste the opportunity.  The plan is to have him begin the 2010 season in AAA Indianapolis, probably in right field.  

Pirates 21,  Manatee-Sarasota  1   (7 innings)
The Pirates' top prospects and players fighting for a major league job got the chance to show off their stuff this afternoon in the Pirates' annual charity game against the State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota.  The Pirates pounded out 20 hits, including home runs by 1B Garrett Atkins and 2B/3B Brian Friday.  Atkins and Josh Fields, who took turns as the DH, and at third and in left field, each had 3 hits.  2B Corey Wimberly, 1B Steve Pearce, CF Gorkys Hernandez, Friday, C Wayne Toregas, and C Tony Sanchez all had 2 hits.  Pearce's two hits were both doubles, and along with a walk, he drove in 4 runs.  Atkins and Hernandez each had 3 RBI.  The Pirates jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the 1st, with 3 runs.  Pearce's first double drove in two, then a sacrifice fly by RF Andrew Lambo brought in Pearce.  Wimberly began a rally in the bottom of the 2nd with a double, and the rest of the Pirates took off, adding 7 more runs in that inning.  The Pirates scored in each of their 6 at-bats (it was only scheduled for 7 innings).  

The Pirates' pitchers were not to be outdone.  Aaron Thompson began the game by striking out the Manatees in order in the top of the 1st.  Tyler Yates pitched the 2nd, and gave up the lone Manatees' run on a single, a wild pitch, a ground out, and a sacrifice fly.  Yates gave up another single before ending the inning.  Jeff Locke surrendered a single in his scoreless inning, as did Rudy Owens.  Mike Crotta struck out the side, and Justin Wilson and Kyle McPherson both struck out 2 batters without allowing a hit.   

 

Almost done looking at the outfielders in the Pirates' minor league system...

Alex Presley --  L/L,  5' 9",  180 lb
Check out Colin Dunlap's article about Presley in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today.

 Every year it seems like there is one player in the organization who suddenly breaks out  -- everything gels, the planets align, and the batted balls all miss the fielders.  In 2010, that was Alex Presley (photo).  Presley had spent the previous two seasons at A+ Lynchburg, where he hit for nearly identical averages (.258 and .257), and similar RBI totals (35 and 37), though he had more playing time in 2009, mainly in center field.  He also had 11 triples in 2009.  He was moved up to AA Altoona to begin the 2010 season and almost from Opening Day, the magic began.  He went 2-for-10 over the first three games of the season.  Then, on April 11th, he faced Nationals' Steven Strasburg, and scorched a hit tot he base of the right field wall in the 1st inning  -- the first hit surrendered by Strasburg in his pro career.  That began a 19-game hitting streak, which extended until May 5th (second-longest in Curve history).  All those hits gave Presley a .333 average and 11 RBI in April and a .391 average with 26 RBI in May.  He broke the Altoona single game RBI record on May 24th, when he drove in 8 runs.  By the end of June, he had not cooled off, but had a .350 average, with 13 doubles, 7 triples, 6 homers, and 47 RBI.  His strikeout rate had dropped markedly from 2009, and he was walking a little more, giving him an OBP of .399.  Meanwhile, Presley was doing a fine job in the outfield, mainly playing in left field for the Curve.  
Presley earned a promotion to AAA Indianapolis at the end of June, where he continued to hit.  In his third AAA game, on June 27th, Presley went 5-for-6 and hit for the cycle, (plus an extra single) becoming the first Indian to do so in the 15-year history of Victory Field.  He hit .330 in July, though he slipped to .250 in August, then boosted it up in the last week of the season.  Presley finished his time in Indianapolis with a solid .294 average, 15 doubles, 6 triples, 6 homers, and 38 RBI.  Presley covered center field in Indianapolis easily with his speed and a strong arm.  He earned a call-up to Pittsburgh when the minor league season was over, and got into 19 games with the Pirates in September.  He went 6-for-23 at the plate with one double and continued to look solid in the outfield.  Presley was named the Pirates' organization's Minor League Player of the Year for 2010.  Now he comes to spring training already on the 40-man roster, but as Colin Dunlap noted, he is blocked at all three outfield positions.  The 25-year-old Louisiana native is confident in his ability to make the team as a utility outfielder, but he's going to face stiff competition.  That will be from established players who the organization has invested free agency money in (Matt Diaz) and other players who are out of minor league options (John Bowker and Steve Pearce).

More outfielders in the Pirates' minor league organization, as we get closer to the start of spring training games:

Quincy Latimore  --  R/R,  5' 10",  175 lb
Latimore, who just turned 22 years old a few weeks ago, was the Pirates' 4th round pick in the 2007 draft.  He's progressed up one level each of the past four seasons, reaching A+ Bradenton for the 2010 season.  He had an up-and-down-and-up-again year, but that means that he worked around a mid-season slump and finished up stronger.  He started with a .298 average in April, dropped down to .245 in May, and worked his way back up, so that he ended up with .266 overall for the season.  That included 31 doubles, 19 homers (highest he's had in a season), and 100 RBI.  On the downside, Latimore has continued to have a high strikeout rate in his three full seasons in the organization, with 136 strikeouts in 134 games for the Marauders in 2010.  He walked only 30 times all season, which means he's not taking many pitches.  He has some speed, which gave him 11 stolen bases (caught only once), but is not enough to make him great in center field.  He played most of his games in left field in Bradenton, and just a few in right and center.  Latimore spent the winter in Australia playing for the Adelaide Bite in the latest iteration of Australian Baseball League.  A big fan favorite in Adelaide, Latimore's time there mirrored his Bradenton season -- started off hot, slumped, then had some big hits for the Bite in the playoffs.  He finished the regular season with a .313 average over 31 games, with 8 doubles, 2 triples, 5 homers, and 25 RBI.  The strikeout problem continued in Australia, where he struck out 32 times in those 31 games.    Latimore's power numbers are propelling him along, and he should begin the season in AA Altoona, but his upward momentum is going to come to a halt if he can't get the strikeout numbers down and the patience at the plate up.