93 Comments

Anyone else think Priester looks like the Wish version of Keller when he came up in 19? I can’t wait to stumble through another 4 years of Q taking his lumps until he kinda sorta finds himself.

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Well, another poor performance by Keller, the Pirates need to do something other than keep running him out there as a starting pitcher.

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Who else is gonna pitch? I don’t mean that to be snarky, but seriously...who else? Bido? Jones is prolly close to his innings limit. Like an established hitter who is struggling, a lot of times they have to work through it.

My issue with their adjustments, or lack thereof, is it takes Marin forever to find them. That pitch Acuna smoked was about two feet away from where it was called for. It took Marin weeks to figure something out with Ro’s delivery. How the hell does that happen?

Keller’s command looks way off, but the velocity looks fine so I don’t think it’s injury related. I’d guess it mechanical.

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Not that it changes your point at all, but i would imagine jones probably has at least ~50 more innnings this year!

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Jones probably does have that many innings, but I’ll bet they’d rather he work through Indy a bit rather than come up to the bigs. I anticipate an end of the year cameo start or two by him.

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If command is the problem move him to the bullpen to work it out, but he is not competitive when he is pitching and it's been for quite awhile, usual results 5 or less innings pitched with double that in baserunners and multiple runs given up...

Frankly for me no more excuses for him, get the job done or find your life's work...

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I know it makes fans good to talk tough like this, but again, you didn’t answer the question: who else is there to start if you send Mitch to the pen or wherever you want to send him?

Would it have been wise to cast aside Reynolds when he was struggling earlier this year and say to hell with him? Keller has been bad since the start of July (really only two decent starts in seven since then). I don’t think a stint in the bullpen is in order, but maybe a skip in the rotation, or him pushed back a bit so they can try to diagnose it.

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Keller for the most part has been bad for the last 3 years, if your solution is to push him back a turn or two, then your question right back to you who will start for him...If the Pirates cared who would start they would not have traded Hill. If they put him in the bullpen then the Pirates could do bullpen games, and take the stress from Keller...

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Skipping a turn is just that: a turn. Sounds like you’re sending him to the bullpen without any dinner.

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Defense behind Keller has been pretty bad as of late. Keller is also struggling to command anything.

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No pitcher in baseball has seen a bigger 1st half to 2nd half drop in called strike rate.

Nothing helps pitcher's command more than having the best framer in baseball behind the plate.

Genuinely not trying to troll here, but how frequently has Keller had Hedges catching him since his slide began?

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Sorry, but the dog ate my homework doesn't fly for me on Keller. if you are a major league pitcher it shouldn't matter who catches you...

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if you have the command to expand the plate by 4 inches and a catcher who can make them strikes, it sure as fuck does.

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So I guess you re against the Robo Ump, BTW not very professional reply...

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Sure, have a beer league catcher suit up catch...

Why do certain pitchers have personal catchers?

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Better question why do most pitchers by a wide margin not have a personal catcher??

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Another problem I see with Keller...

Between his sinker, 4 seam and cutter, there's not much separation in speed. Even his change is coming in at 91.

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Aug 9, 2023Liked by NolaJeffy(BnP)

I loved Good Mitch as a poor man's Lance Lynn, buzzing hard shit in the zone and making dudes beat him.

Both guys show the razor's edge of that strategy right now, tho.

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author

He gave up 10 ERs in 10 IP of the two games Hedges caught of his in July. So, it's across the board.

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They had a graphic up during the game

Games Hedges caught Keller's era low 4's

Games Endy caught over 10

Games Delay caught low 3's

The staff misses Hedges...dude had/has a legitimate gift behind the dish.

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author

While true, Hedges also caught Keller's stellar first half. But in the month of July, during Keller's skid, he was just as bad with Hedges as he was with Endy. Now Delay, caught 7 scoreless, and then last night's game. Endy caught a game that was 2 ERs in 5.2 IP on July 28th.

It is more around the fact that Keller himself has just been bad.

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Keller's era with Endy is over 10.

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It's kind of funny that we got on Searage for a "One Size Fits All" approach, which mostly involved just throwing sinkers and two-seamers low in the zone, and it's beginning to look like (which, would need to further investigate) they're settling on a different"One Size Fits All" approach, while zeroing in on a type of pitcher. Cause, this could be used for their recent draft class.

Bad fastball, with some velo, above-average to plus slider, (maybe) and average command or better. Make them start to throw 5-6 pitches, emphasizing the SL, with 3-4 of them used evenly. Just went to look at Ortiz's most recent start on July 29th, and either they're mixing up his usage, or just REALLY pushing the changeup.

In 80 pitches:

SL - 34%

CH - 26%

SI - 23%

FF - 18%

His MLB usage on the season:

SL - 32.4%

SI - 28.6%

FF - 25.5%

CH - 13.1%

FC - 0.5%

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I don’t mind the expansion of the repertoire for pitchers if it gives opponents another pitch to worry about. But that theory has its limits.

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Feels like they're not really trying to address an issue, rather than just mask it. Which would kind of lead to what's happening to Keller, when it's not all working together.

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Can you expand on that distinction between masking an issue vs addressing it as it related to Keller? Undoubtedly I’m getting caught up in semantics, but for most pitchers, they’ll always have weak points (command of a certain pitch or two is erratic for example), so masking it is probably the best way to address/mitigate it.

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A lot of this is me really just trying to rationalize how he completely 180'd, after 180'ing lol

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I guess for example, we can use Keller's fastball. The characteristics of the FF haven't changed much at all, he's just gone from ~50% usage and cut it in half to 25.1%. The sinker and slider/sweeper were the biggest additions going back to 2022. These made his generally hammered FF play better, as he also wasn't leaning heavily on a specific pitch. But he needs to be commanding his pitches and tunneling them, in order for them to play off each other. So they didn't actually change anything about the pitch in terms of spin/movement (I'd assume grips), they just added more pitches to keep a hitter from sitting on it.

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looks like the dodgers signed that korean pitching prospect, hyun-suk jang. oh well

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I have been in mourning

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Yeah. I just ate some kimchi before reading this. Randomness. Maybe the next Korean.

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contreras is starting for indy tonight. idk why he was moved up so fast. his bradenton start wasn't anything different from the rest of the season, stuff-wise

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Oh good hes fixed! /s

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ANDRE JACKSON

Buccos might have found something here. Plus FB and change. Love me a dude with plus velo and a nasty change. He's faced 15 hitters and retired all 15.

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Aug 9, 2023·edited Aug 9, 2023Liked by NolaJeffy(BnP)

Sheltie said that proof Bednar hasn’t been overused is because he was still hitting 97-98. But, that the problem was his execution/command was off. I guess being tired doesn’t affect a pitcher’s command, right Sheltie? What a maroon.

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Aug 9, 2023Liked by NolaJeffy(BnP)

To my very untrained eye, he seemed to be missing up and in a bunch with FB, so velo was good but seemed to be overthrowing to get to that velo

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And when you’re missing high, YOU’RE TIRED!!

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Aug 9, 2023Liked by NolaJeffy(BnP)

No no because maroons say he wasnt

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Aug 9, 2023Liked by NolaJeffy(BnP)

The original plan for Shim was to move to Bradenton after a handful of starts. His injury was minor, but he had to completely stop throwing for a short time. So then was a cautious reset to get him back into throwing, followed by him pitching on the side to get to the point of being able to go back out for a second inning in this game. My guess is if he finishes the FCL schedule healthy in two weeks, he finishes at Bradenton still.

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Of topic but thought you would know more than anyone else. Is it possible the Pirates could use the pool money they got for Hedges on one or both the kids from (Panama?) now to open up some pool money in January?

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No, because those kids aren't eligible to sign yet

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Thanks, wasn't sure.

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Aug 9, 2023Liked by NolaJeffy(BnP)

still very early, but the pirates so far are having some interesting success with late round college hitters lately. sightler/cimillo hitting well so far. mcadoo, obviously off to a nice start. miknis hitting better after a slow start

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I've been taking on a, "I'm not trusting a hitter till Altoona" stance, where I'll give a little leeway to the younger raw prep kids, but I'm at least becoming a little more hopeful.

Cheng is starting to click. Glenn is actually hitting well (even if 25 already and soon to be 26), and showing some pop. EL average OPS is 724, with Cheng at 705 and Glenn at 781.

Sightler hit the ground running initially, but has since slumped. Which, that is kind of what happened with Tres Gonzalez, who is looking like he might be ready for the next step. Still quite small sample size, but Jack Brannigan is still rolling. K% just a click under 27%, with a BB% still over 10%.

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oh yeah. not counting on any of them to pan out lol. cuz, you know....prospects are fickle. i just find it fun to track their progress. and i'm looking for any positives in regards to this pirates development staff. if you look at the late round pitchers, it's the complete opposite. they're all mostly bad.

in regards to sightler, it was only a matter of time until he slumped. he should bounce back. at least sort of tread water like gonzalez has in high a so far.

as far as glenn goes, i wanted to include him, but i always forget he was a top 10 round pick. hopefully he makes it in the bigs as a backup player. pirates seem to have a lot of prospects where they should make it as a backup player at least. weird system, man.

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I love tracking them! That's what made the recent fortunes so heart breaking. You think a hitter is breaking out, then they can't even get our of Altoona. Previous regime would get kids to Indy at least looking like something, then flail in majors. GMBC and company are having trouble getting them to even excel in Double-A. Cal blew up Triple-A last year, then all of a sudden his K-rate doubles and his wRC+ plummets? CSN has at least gotten his K% back in order, dropping BA and increasing power. Though, that probably leans into why he struggled massively in majors with a ridiculous K-rate. Having him gear for power this season.

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Aug 9, 2023Liked by NolaJeffy(BnP)

it is interesting to see. for all the advancements in statistics and tech in baseball. it's still pretty unpredictable!

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Aug 9, 2023Liked by NolaJeffy(BnP)

Looking at McAdoo’s college track record, I’m a little surprised he didn’t go earlier. Scouts probably saw him as a LF. He’s pretty awkward at 2B.

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yeah. and his scouting report is just a solid hitter overall. not sure why he dropped that far. maybe cause of the conference he hit in?

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He won All Conference Honors as a Util player his Soph year. With teams in the Mountain West such as Air Force, San Diego St, Fresno St, UNLV, etc. he was hitting in a very good league. I wonder how he fared against Skenes (Air Force) his Freshman and Sophmore years?

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BA said he hit well in a wood bat league.

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yep. dunno. maybe the pirates got a steal?? *gasp*

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Idk why, but I thought he was smaller. He's got some size to him.

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He had a Bill Madlock look in the picture the other day. No jinx!

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I thought Tahnaj would have been in the mlb by now. Unsure of why I thought that. He's like Lolo to me. Feel like they have been around forever.

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He would have a much better shot if he still was throwing triple digits rather than low 90s

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Aug 9, 2023Liked by NolaJeffy(BnP)

Exactly, the guy was hitting 101 MPH as a starting pitcher, plus his slider was a solid second pitch. There were definitely reasons to be excited about him at a young age. Now he just blends in because there's nothing special about his game. He could be sitting low-mid 90s if he had command and a plus breaking ball, but he has neither. He basically peaked at Bristol. I'd say he took the Luis Heredia path of peaking in short-season ball, but at least Heredia was still as good as he was at that level for a few years.

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Dang, Heredia was one that I was pumped about. These message boards really show how many times my heart was broken. It's tougher than being a teenager in love.

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If only the Pirates had a time machine. They could go back to when Heredia was in State College and get a big return for him. I was with a group of scouts in a press box who were talking about him like he was a future Cy Young winner. Pirates would have had a bidding war if they put him on the market

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Just looked up the 2012 deadline. Your Mighty Bucco's did the following. This was the right up on a bleacher report article::

July 25: Traded OF Robbie Grossman, LHP Colton Cain, LHP Rudy Owens to Astros for LHP Wandy Rodriguez

July 31: Traded RHP Brad Lincoln to Blue Jays for OF Travis Snider

July 31: Traded CF Gorkys Hernandez to Marlins for 1B Gaby Sanchez, RHP Kyle Kaminska

July 31: Traded 1B/3B Casey McGehee to Yankees for RHP Chad Qualls

In a position to legitimately contend this season, and much better off than they were last season, the Pirates were active buyers at the deadline.

Their big move was acquiring Wandy Rodriguez from the Astros, pushing Kevin Correia to the bullpen and giving the staff another veteran innings eater for the stretch run.

In their three other moves, they essentially just shuffled players, as they replaced Brad Lincoln with Chad Qualls, replaced Casey McGehee with Gaby Sanchez and replaced one once-highly touted outfielder with another in picking up Travis Snider and moving Gorkys Hernandez.

Deadline Grade: B

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Aug 9, 2023·edited Aug 9, 2023

It was said that the Astros wanted Heredia for Wandy and Pirates were unwilling to move him. I saw Cain live multiple times that year and he had nothing. He was zero loss. Even when he had success, he was sitting 86-87 MPH and getting hitters to chase high fastballs out of the zone. Owen was much better until he was injured, then next time I saw him he had zero of his command. Would have worked out better keeping Grossman over Heredia I guess, so there was that part as a possibility.

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It's just weird that he had control issues, they started going with a really weird windup and delivery, only for his control to, get worse? And lose velocity?

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I really don't know why they mess with so many peoples mechanics. I am sure there is a great reason for it. Just not sure why they don't just let them go with what feels right for their body. Change a thing and there goes the UCL.

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It's funny that I always thought Burrows motion was going to eventually lead to arm troubles, and it didn't until this year when he seemingly changed it. But then again, the short violent motion may have very well played a part leading up to TJS.

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Pirates also signed C Dom Nunez to a MiL deal and sent him to Indy. Cubs released him from AAA a couple days ago. C injuries really mounting.

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Aug 9, 2023Liked by NolaJeffy(BnP)

Cheng with 2 xbh! He's about the only hitting prospect at altoona or indy that i have much hope for at this point so good to see him picking it up!

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I start paying REALLY close attention to young players when they perform well at AA. Cheng’s success after his early struggles is impressive.

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Some extra special performances in the minors, especially Charles McAdoo 6 for 6, 8 RBI's and LHP Michael Kennedy, only 18, pitching 5 innings, 0 runs, 5 K. This is the 3rd time in his last 4 outings that he has pitched 5 innings - in those 15 innings 9 H, 20 K's, 0 BB.

Good things on the horizon for LHP's with the likes of Kennedy, Anthony Solometo who is only 20, and Hunter Barco 22, just coming back from TJ surgery performed in May of '22

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McA-DOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

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Aug 9, 2023Liked by NolaJeffy(BnP)

I think he's a lot like White Jr., he was a two sport star in high school and I think he even played football a year at San Jose St. I think he's my favorite hitting pick from the draft. Jebb has a higher floor but McAdoo has a higher ceiling.

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McAdoo needs that higher ceiling because he can dunk from a standing position. Or I am I confusing the two McAdoo’s??

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Aug 9, 2023Liked by NolaJeffy(BnP)

i liked the pick because i watched his brother play basketball for unc and the warriors lol

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Aug 9, 2023Liked by NolaJeffy(BnP)

Building our intersport domination. If the org ever has to play football or basketball against another one, we should be set

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adding wolf and skenes sure helps too. they'll have the height advantage!

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Anyone remember the Steelers basketball team? They played local teams for charity. Not sure if they did the donkey basketball games. I also remember Bruno Samartino & jumpin' Johnny DeFazio coming to my grade school, Batman, too. Jesus wept, I'm old!

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Plus the bubba to lonnie white connection on the gridiron. We may not be as well suited for baseball, but we got some of the other majors ones covered!

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pirates playing the long game, when baseball adds football/basketball elements to the game

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That's fair. On the Low-A leaderboard, he had the second hardest hit ball in Low-A (107.3 MPH) and the second and third top distances (428 FT & 405 FT). Kid has some pop.

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Aug 9, 2023Liked by NolaJeffy(BnP)

He can play several positions as well. If he can keep on hitting, he's like a Bobby Bonilla light with potentially better defense.

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One of the plays he made last week was insane. Unfortunately we have no stream this week!

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Aug 9, 2023Liked by NolaJeffy(BnP)

Move him up

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