10 Observations: Tony Blanco hit a ball how hard? Greensboro velocity readings

More observations from around the Pirates' system last week

Photo Credit: WTM

Murphy 6/24—Tony Blanco Jr. lit up Trackman on Monday, hitting a ball 121 mph off the bat foul before ripping a home run at 112 mph. Both were off of breaking balls.

The power is insane, and perhaps the hit tool is in a better place than initially thought.

Murphy 6/25—This past week against Jersey Shore was fun because they have radar readings on their broadcast, meaning we would get some velocity readings on some of the players we hadn’t yet.

Wilber Dotel reportedly hit triple-digits in one of his starts earlier in the year, so he was at the top of the list of who I wanted to see with a radar gun. It was mainly low-to-mid 90s, but he did dial it up as high as 97, and that came later in the game, so that was good to see.

Murphy 6/25—Shawn Ross again showed how much he leans into the ‘three-true outcomes’ by either striking out, walking, or hitting a home run in all his plate appearances on Tuesday.

He hit his 15th home run on Tuesday, which at the time was good for the system lead. It’s been an impressive run for him lately.

Murphy 6/25—Mike Walsh is having a quietly strong season in the Bradenton Marauders bullpen. With 17 strikeouts in 15 innings pitched, Walsh has posted a 1.20 ERA this season while being used in a lot of high-leverage situations. Lower-level relievers are easy to look past, but having one that can throw in those situations is huge for their teams.

Murphy 6/26—I saw Carlson Reed elevate the fastball a bit more in his latest start. The slider is still the bread and butter in his pitch arsenal, but he’s going to need the fastball to play a little better if he’s going to have success as he moves up the minors.

The slider, though, picked up eight whiffs on 14 swings. Half of the sliders he threw were either called strikes or whiffs. But it was encouraging seeing the elevated fastball this time around.

Murphy 6/26—Not sure what their plans are for Charles McAdoo defensively, but the obvious path would be in the outfield as opposed to third, where he has spent most of his time this season.

He’s looked really good there so far and has shown his inexperience in the outfield when he has played there. With Ke’Bryan Hayes locked up long-term at third, you would think there would be more of an emphasis on getting McAdoo playing time elsewhere, but I guess we will see.

Murphy 6/28—Of all the players on Greensboro, Hunter Barco was probably the player I was the most excited about getting some consistent velocity readings on. The fastball velocity wasn’t anything to write home about last year, averaging right at 90 mph with Bradenton.

He threw harder in college, and it was expected to see at least somewhat of a boost as he continues his recovery from Tommy John. Barco pumped 94/95 at the Spring Breakout game, which was good to see, but it also left me wondering if that’s what to expect going forward or more of a bump from being amped up in a shorter outing scenario.

Against Jersey Shore Barco threw anywhere in between 92-95, sitting mainly 93/94 and averaging 93.6 mph. He also generated nine whiffs with the fastball alone, over half of his total on the day. Two of the three times he dialed it up to 95 mph were for whiffs.

Very encouraging to see.

Murphy 6/29—The Pirates made an odd move that you generally don’t see in the middle of the season. They moved Jonawel Valdez up from the Dominican Summer League stateside to the Complex.

The 20-year-old was pitching well in the Dominican, so the Pirates rewarded him with a move up. It probably helped that the lower levels have been a little beat up lately, with David Matoma hitting the IL, along with a couple of Bradenton starters.

Valdez made his US debut and displayed a fastball/slider mix, throwing a solid debut. In four innings, Valdez allowed just one hit and two walks while striking out another two.

The fastball was mainly in the 88-91 range but did have above-average movement on it when it comes to Induced Vertical Break (IVB)—maxing out at 21”. The slider wasn’t bad, but he heavily relied on the fastball.

Murphy 6/29—It’s always interesting to see how the power pitchers respond when they don’t have their A+ stuff. Reilly only struck out three in six innings, but he fought his way to another strong outing.

The fastball topped out at 95 mph, but he still managed to get some whiffs with it. He forced Jersey Shore into a couple of double plays and got 10 ground outs compared to two air outs. He’s been a heavy fly ball pitcher so far in Greensboro, something that has come back to bite him a few times.

Inducing more ground balls, along with his swing and miss, could help him take that next step in staying in the rotation.

Bonus: Nola Jeffy 6/30 — Anthony is too quick in coming up with ten observations, so I had to add a bonus one.

I wouldn't necessarily call it an oddity, but it was curious that Geovanny Planchart was added to Greensboro along with Shawn Ross and has mostly played second fiddle. Ross is having a decent season himself, hitting 15 HR in the 2024 campaign with a .928 OPS but a .205 batting average. The 24-year-old will be 25 in September.

Planchy, on the other hand, has quietly put together a quality season at 22 years old. He turns 23 in September. He went 6-for-12 this past week in three games against Jersey Shore, with two doubles and four RBI.

As for the season, he has a strikeout rate hovering around 25%, and a walk rate over 10%. Coming into Sunday, he had a 122 wRC+. His monthly splits have gone as follows: .722 OPS in April, .802 OPS in May, and finished June with a .922 OPS. The right-handed hitter has a .811 OPS against LHP and .833 OPS versus RHP. Then a .942 OPS at home, with a .750 OPS on the road.

Personally, I think it may be time to see if Ross can handle Double-A and if Planchart can maintain his success with a larger workload.

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