From the Backfields: Two Days Against the O's at Pirate City
With ALL the prospects in one game
This installment covers two days of games against Baltimore at Pirate City, upper-level guys on Thursday and lower-level on Friday.
Day One
Thursday saw just one game against the O’s, along with an intrasquad game. Back in olden times, like a year or two ago, they used to play two-and-two every day, but the AAA/AA pair of games has been getting compressed into just one game. I guess that’s due to the domestic roster limits, just like the proliferation of position players pitching during the minor league regular season.
Anyway, Carmen Mlodzinski threw the first four innings against the O’s, as the Pirates seem serious about him starting. I was trying to keep track of both fields, which isn’t easy because of the way so much of what used to be the public area is roped off now. Mlodzinski had very quick second and third innings and, I think, a fairly quick first. His fourth inning wasn’t so great, as he gave up 4-5 runs. It didn’t help that Enmanuel Valdez, playing second, failed to come up with a pair of not-easy-but-playable grounders. There were also several balls well hit. It could be the one inning didn’t mean much, but I do think there’s some concern about how well Mlodzinski will do the second or third time through a lineup. Despite a 96-mph fastball and a good slider, he doesn’t miss a whole lot of bats, and that was the case on Thursday.
Justin Lawrence followed for one inning. He gave up a walk and a hit while fanning two. In contrast to some sidearm guys, Lawrence’s motion is short and quick and doesn’t involve a lot of extension. Maybe as a result, he has more velocity than I recall seeing from other sidearmers — he’s been around 97 this spring — but the fastball doesn’t seem to have great movement. Isaac Mattson came next and failed to record an out before they rolled over the inning.
Tsung-Che Cheng made a remarkably deft and quick short-hop catch and sweep tag on a stolen base attempt. The runner had the throw beaten, but the play showed why Cheng is so well-regarded defensively. He has great hands and actions.
Bubba Chandler and Carlos Castillo started the intrasquad game. Chandler actually got hit around quite a bit, including a bases-loaded triple by Brenden Dixon. It looked like he was going heavily with his slider, especially in the second inning, when most of the damage came. He went more to the fastball in the third, and nobody could really catch up with it.
I didn’t see as much of Castillo, but he did allow a rocket over the RF fence by Edward Florentino. In the only other AB I saw, Florentino grounded out. Wyatt Sanford lined out, flew out, and got rung up in three ABs. Konnor Griffin was probably in Sarasota for the lower-level games.
Jonathan Rivero, who got the Pirates’ largest international bonus in the 2023 class, caught in the intrasquad game, the first time I’ve seen him. The only time I saw him bat, he flied out to left. Cristian Jauregui and the mysterious Carl Calixte both played in the outfield. They each struck out the only time I saw either.
Day Two
The Friday action was two games with lower-level guys. These can’t really be broken down into A+ and A. In fact, one Orioles player talking to some fans next to me said exactly that. The Pirates, and apparently also the O’s, just seem to assign guys based on the playing time they want them to get.
One game had quite a lineup: Konnor Griffin, Wyatt Sanford, Jhonny Severino, Edward Florentino, and Yordany De Los Santos, right in a row. I’m afraid I just parked myself at that one. About all I saw of the other game was Khristian Curtis fanning a batter and Shalin Polanco doubling in a run. Oneil Cruz supposedly played in that game, just hitting no doubt, but I never saw him anywhere.
Griffin played center, with Sanford at short and YDLS at second. The first time up, Griffin singled and stole second easily. Second time he had a rookie moment: He beat out an infield hit, but stayed inside the line after he crossed first and was tagged out. I didn’t see his third AB, except it ended with him on second.
Sanford tripled in the first when the center fielder missed on an attempted diving catch of a liner over second. The second time he was called out on strikes, which is at least the third time I’ve seen that. He tries to work the count, but it doesn’t always work out. The third time, he flied out almost to the fence in left.
Severino lined an RBI single in the first, then was retired his other two ABs. He must have been DHing.
Florentino went 0-for-3. He struck out the last time, which I’m pretty sure was the first time I’ve seen him do that, and I’ve seen him a good bit now. He played first. He’ll probably need some time there. He couldn’t track down a foul popup, although it would’ve been a difficult play even if it wasn’t here. (LOTS of popups drop unmolested every spring at LECOM and PC. They’re never routine.) He was also slow to get a tag on a runner they clearly had picked off. Florentino did, though, make a nice play on a one-hopper with a runner on second. The runner took off, and Florentino threw to third with no hesitation, nailing the guy. He also made a better tag on a later pickoff, and I thought they had the runner, but they didn’t get the call.
YDLS struck out his first time up, then flied out to deep center and doubled to deep center. He stole third despite getting picked off because the third baseman was high with the tag and he slid under it.
Richard Ramirez caught this game, the first time I’ve laid eyes on him this spring. He flied out and hit two hard singles.
Camden Janik played left. He caught the last time I saw him. I also saw him playing second last August. I suspect he’s slated for some sort of C/UT role. He seems pretty athletic, in contrast to their more common catcher template of big guys with power potential and strong arms (not that I’m saying Janik can’t throw). He had an RBI single in this one.
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Endy at 1B in a MiL game. When the big leaguers are out here, they usually just hit. Hmmm.
Mlod fail as a starter, so when the whole stretch to a starter began I was skeptical. I think multiple innings reliever is the best possible outcome, especially early on along with Ferguson.