10 Observations: Paul Skenes masterpiece, Duce Gourson, Jesus Castillo
All full-season minor league affiliates in action.
Murphy 3/31: For the first three innings, it looked like the Pirates’ pitching lab truly cooked something up great, only to see it fall apart. That was Carmen Mlodzinski’s first official start in the rotation. He was throwing 97/98 with the fastball, and looked good the first time through.
Things unraveled from there, but it was enough that I’m intrigued in at least figuring out in another couple of starts from him (he starts the game on the day this article goes live). See if he can make any adjustments and find some success. Stuff looks super intriguing as a starter.
Murphy 4/1: Mike Burrows was fantastic in his first start of the season. It was a shorter outing, as he was limited to 52 pitches, but he struck out four in 3.2 shutout innings.
The slider, which is the ‘newest’ of his four pitches, absolutely dominated, getting six whiffs on nine swings. The fastball didn’t get much miss, but looked a lot better, especially after the first.
It will be interesting to see his usage while in AAA, but it looks like the stuff was heading in the right direction another year after his surgery.
Murphy 4/1: That was maybe as bad a debut as you could hope for from Thomas Harrington. As a more command-oriented pitcher, you can see what happens when that isn’t working for him.
I’m generally a big proponent of the ‘it could always get worse’ saying, but I do think this is probably towards the bottom of what you could probably expect. He’s never walked four batters in a game during his time in pro ball, and I probably wouldn’t expect him to do that much more often.
Live, fail, and learn. That’s all you can really do with this.
Murphy 4/1: Most minor league teams don’t have designated closers, as they are on more set pitching schedules, so they may not always be available when a save situation comes around.
But it was interesting that in a game that Kyle Nicolas and Hunter Stratton pitched, it was Eddy Yean who was in the ninth inning with a one-run lead. It didn’t go well, as he struggled to find the zone, but interesting nonetheless.
Murphy 4/2: That was a masterful pitching performance from Paul Skenes on Wednesday. It goes beyond the seven innings of one-run (an unearned run) baseball where he allowed just three hits and struck out six.
It’s how he went about getting through those seven innings that stood out, the way he changed gears as the lineup turned over. He didn’t strike out a single batter the first time through the lineup, relying on getting weak contact and being more efficient.
Then he dialed it up and struck out four of the next five he faced, and then the final two batters he faced on the day.
Beautiful masterpiece.
Murphy 4/2: In one outing this year, Drake Fellows is officially on my radar, even if just as a middle relief option. He made some really good hitters look really foolish, getting 12 whiffs on 19 swings with his slider.
TJStats didn’t necessarily like the pitch from an analytical standpoint, but you can’t argue those results. He’d be a guy you’d want throwing an extremely high amount of sliders, but it’ll be interesting to see if he can continue to succeed with it.
Murphy 4/2: Not the most ideal debut for Bubba Chandler, who really struggled with the fastball control, basically from start to finish. It was thrown in the zone just 28% of the time, but it still graded out with a 115 Stuff+ on TJStats.
Monitoring Chandler will be fun, because it looks like he’s really just a slow starter. He had some control issues at the start of last year before taking off, and then basically the same thing in 2023. Probably wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if the promotion comes around when things start taking off.
Murphy 4/4: Jesus Castillo missed most of the 2024 season due to an injury. He’s back, and in Greensboro—and a right-handed hitter?
When we last left off with the super-utility hitter, he was a switch-hitter. Watching him in Greensboro, something felt different. Looks like he’s only hitting from the right side now.
Another change? Looks like Keiner Delgado is a little more open in his stance.
They both doubled on Greensboro opening day.
Murphy 4/4: Lonnie White Jr. bunted for a base hit and then stole a base a few pitches later. There probably aren’t many more in the Pirates’ system facing a more critical 2025 than White, and maybe doing the little things like this will be key. Build confidence early, and then let the natural talent take over.
NolaJeffy 4/4: Duce Stealson, I mean Gourson, walked in his first at-bat of the Grasshoppers home/season opener, and then stole two bases. In his next plate appearance he singled, and then subsequently stole two more bases. In 22 games post the draft in 2024, Gourson stole four bases in five attempts. He’s already 4-for-4, through one game.
BONUS: NolaJeffy 4/5: On Saturday, Garrett McMillan tossed five innings, allowing one run on two hits with eight strikeouts and no walks. Dating back to 2024, including his one postseason start, he has allowed only two earned runs in 31.0 IP with Grasshoppers. He has struck out 43 batters and walked only five.
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2 earned runs in 31 IP playing for Greensboro! Is McMillan really all that?
Nola - If you could have included Sunday's games, you could have included Maikol Escotto as another Buc at GBO who has now stolen 4 bases in one game.