10 Observations: Termarr Johnson Doing The Right Things, Malcom Nunez, Rodolfo Nolasco

Observations from the past week include Termarr Johnson, Malcom Nunez and Rodolfo Nolasco, among others.

Photo Credit: WTM

Murphy: Now getting a chance to watch some of the FCL games, can get an early look at some players I probably wouldn’t have noticed before hand. Kevison Hernandez is 21-years-old pitching in the FCL, which isn’t ideal, but he can spin a fastball.

It’s something I’ll eventually expand on as I get more data, but for now the metrics I got from his fastball puts it with some of the better ones I’ve tracked so far this year.

Murphy: Termarr Johnson hasn’t gotten off to the best start to his time in Greensboro, but he’s been a tough out the entire time. He’s worked deep into counts, made contact, things just aren’t falling for him (I wrote this part before he hit his home run on Saturday, I guess I’ll start writing the date I made the specific observation going forward).

I thought that his walk rate would take a steep dive in Greensboro, as a lot of them in Single-A seemed to be more a factor of pitcher’s lack of control. As of when I wrote this update, he was at a 16.7% walk rate in Greensboro.

Murphy: It’s been really hard to get a gauge what I believe the upside is for Thomas Harrington. At times he’s lights out and barely hittable, others its nearly the opposite.

His start Saturday really played into that, has it seemed he bounced back and forth from inning to inning, finishing with three earned runs allowed over five innings, with six strikeouts.

He almost feels to be more of a comparable prospect to Quinn Priester, with the floor really his selling point, with the difference being his fastball plays a lot better.

Murphy: Jack Brannigan is starting to give me a different vibe and reminder of another prospect that was in Greensboro last year - Matt Gorski - as in great tools, how much is he going to hit?

Maybe it’s just the insane home run burst that is making me put two and two together with them. Brannigan doesn’t have the power Gorski does, I’d even argue at most he’ll finish with at best average power, but that isn’t really the draw with him.

It’s the glove, arm and speed - the added power is just a really welcome bonus at this point.

Murphy: Nola and I have been talking about a bigger project article going over some new advanced metrics we’ve been digging into, but until then, here’s a quick preview.

With only seeing the metrics of one draft pick so far, I’m wondering if there is a specific pattern that they followed with some of the selections they made in 2023. Patrick Reilly has a 50% whiff rate with his fastball in two appearances, with some of the metrics behind it looking really solid.

Again, we’ll get more in depth as we collect more data, but some interesting stuff we’ve been noticing.

Murphy: It looks like the Pirates have finally made the move and shifted Kyle Nicolas to the bullpen, and it’s really letting the fastball play up. He’s topped out at 99.6 mph, and has picked up 13 whiffs just with the fastball this month alone across seven innings pitched.

He’s a guy that could really rise as a back of the bullpen type power arm now that he’s made the shift.

Murphy: Their games aren’t being streamed, so this is strictly a box score observation, but Omar Alfonzo is putting in yet another strong week. Some of his underlying numbers hinted at him potentially doing this, and getting him in the lineup more at first base certainly could have played a factor. Through Saturday’s game, he has two home runs this week, and has 22 RBI in 32 games played with the Marauders.

Nola: Malcom Nunez returned this week to Triple-A, and had a strong week. He finished the series 6-for-20 with two home runs and a double, with three RBI. During his first 38 games this season before going down with injury, he was carrying a 706 OPS.

WTM: Rodolfo Nolasco’s two dingers on Sunday, giving him 15 on the year, had to be quite a relief. He’s been in a massive slump. Going into that game, he was batting .157 since the beginning of July, with a 37% strikeout rate. He’d fanned 32 times in his previous 63 at-bats. It isn’t terribly mysterious. He’s been getting a steady diet of curves and changeups in the dirt and he’s been chasing them consistently.

WTM: It’s all miniscule sample sizes, of course, but the Pirates’ 2023 pitching draftees haven’t exactly hit the ground running. Apart from Paul Skenes, seven draftees, all college players, have seen action so far (round in parentheses): Carlson Reed (4), Patrick Reilly (5), Jaden Woods (7), Landon Tomkins (10), Garrett McMillan (14), Tyler Kennedy (19) and Peyton Stumbo (20). Collectively, they’ve thrown 17.1 IP with a 7.79 ERA. They’ve issued 15 walks while striking out 15. The reports on most of the pitchers the Pirates selected after round one included control problems, often bad ones, so that’s holding true. And this is all in rookie ball and low class A, levels that shouldn’t be a problem for college draftees.