37 Comments

Today's FG "five things" piece has video of some Will Craig-level baserunning blunders by Joe and Triolo. Ugh.

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Bob's wallet doesn't approve of this message.

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Apparently they think its June 15 already.....

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I still think it will be mid May.

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May 4 at PNC against the Rockies; 2nd start also at PNC against the Cubs

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I used to think that, but every three inning start makes me think more and more than it will be mid June no matter what. But I hope I'm wrong!

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Glad to see Quinn Priester being brought up. So far at AAA he is 1-1, 3.95 ERA, 13.2 IP, 20K, 5 BB. Last year at AAA he was about 2.5/1 K/BB and this year at AAA (SSS) it is 4/1 K/BB. Hope that means something.

Always watch where some of our needed prospects are at statistically.

Malcom Nunez, 1B/3B, 56 AB, 17 H, 5 Doubles, 3 HR, 12 RBI, 3BB/14K Slash 304/323/554/877

Center Fielders in AAA we could possibly trade to get:

Everson Pereira, SWB (NYY), 55 AB, 14 H, 2 Doubles, 6 HR, 13 RBI, 7BB/23K Slash 255/359/618/977

Other AAA CF's that could be considered are Peyton Burdick of the Orioles and Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Cubs.

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Excited about Nunez. Really hoping he's the answer at 1B.

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Are you Pereira's agent?

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No, just trying to keep the need for a young RH hitting Centerfielder on the Front Page. Pereira is with the Yankees and has at least 2 MLB players ahead of him in CF (Judge, Grisham) and he is the 3rd Ranked Prospect (BA) but the two guys ahead of him are both CF's - Switchhitter Jasson Dominguez and LH hitting Spencer Jones. I started this just before ST touting Pereira and Ceddanne Rafaela of the Red Sox as CF's we should look at seriously. Rafaela did very well in ST and started in CF for the Sox on opening day, and then they signed him to a $50 mil extension. Pereira is still with the Yankees playing CF, LF, and RF at SWB (AAA).

A ridiculous situation where we are loaded with MI's but very few true Centerfielders. Strong up the middle includes CF, but the Pirates tend to ignore that.

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There is no need to state the same thing daily. It gets repetitive and tedious for we the readers. BC and every general manager are aware who is blocked and where their team has a surplus. Even if BC is the only GM not aware he isn't going to go to this Substack and be enlightened by some random guy in Tennessee. So we go back to it being repetitive and tedious to those of us come here for information and opinion. Though I think I speak for most in that I like your passion.

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Bubba allowed only 2 earned, but 6 hits and 2 walks in 5 IP is a lot of traffic. Expecting better results.

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Was also a really tough lineup he faced and a learning opportunity for him on a couple of those. Tried to reach out with his bare hand to play a ball, couldn't get to it and both became base hits. Both are probably handled by the shortstop for outs if he lets those go.

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Apr 19Edited

Mini report from Greensburo last night. It was my first ever minor league game, so I’m far from a professional scout.

I went armed with my handy-dandy prospect guide, but it was very hard to use real time. Next year I would suggest having a player index to help find specific guys. Anyway, Siani did have a nice night at the plate, but the guy who impressed me most was Sightler. He hit a monster shot to deep center-right that was half way up the net at 400+ feet just to the fence. Everything he hits is hard. His bat makes a different sound than the others.

T Johnson is a man among boys on the field. He had a nice double to left that was not cheap, but his fielding impressed me the most. There were many fielding errors in the game but he looked like a professional when fielding. In one play he ranged from 2nd across the bag into shortstop territory, cut off the ball before it could get to Jenn and make a smooth across the body throw to first. He also turns a smooth double play.

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Glad you had a good time! Greensboro is a fun spot to visit.

When Sightler gets going there's a lot of pop there.

Hope to see Termarr hit more of those the other way and not look to pull EVERYTHING.

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Minor league baseball is where it's at, don't you think, Tim?

I was lucky enough to get to Greensboro late last year and the former GM trained his black labs to retrieve bats and to deliver balls to the umpires. Great stuff.

And OH yeah. One of the reasons I wanted to go there was Bubba Chandler... AAAANNND I wad determined to meet Andy Durham, the Hoppers' radio voice. He's the guy who makes that crazy homer call: "Goin' Goin' Goin' Goin' Goin' Goin' Goin' GOOOOONNNNNEEEEEE!!! It's another Hopper homer!"... Usher took me up into the booth and Andy signed the bill of my Hoppers hat.

Yeah. Minor League Baseball is where it's at.

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Skenes 65 pitches to get ten outs, that’s 19.5 pitches per inning, not very efficient despite the results.

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Don't think his command was on point last night, but I've kind of wanted to see how he would manage when he didn't have his 'best stuff'. Want to see some adversity, just to see how he reacts. May not get that in the minors though

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I was thinking about this. If you are a strike out pitcher, you aren't going to last late in today's game. Assuming it takes an average of 5 pitches to strike a batter out, it is going to take you 13 batters to get to 65 pitchers.... or a perfect 4.3 innings.

I was also wondering are they going to want Skenes to start pitching to contact more.

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I’m sure MLB game planning and strategy is much more extensive given the availability of data. Knowing what batters can and can’t hit or what induces weak contact seems imperative to being a very good pitcher over an extended period of time, assuming you can execute the game plan. Maybe this is something he will need to learn or polish at the MLB level. I still don’t like him throwing nearly 20 pitches per inning. If the ultimate goal is run prevention, and his stuff and command is elite, you would want him to be more efficient over a longer outing. At the end of the day, an out is an out. I’d like to see him swap some 5-6 pitch Ks for some 2-3 pitch weak contact outs. Easier said than done, I know, but this is why he is paid the big bucks.

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I will be interested to see his K numbers at the big league level, I am assuming they will still be very good but not as mind boggling as at AAA. Will be intriguing to track for sure

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I really have no idea, but wouldn't that mean he should be pitching to contact more in the minors. I do love watching the dominance of him blowing away batters right now.

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I don't want him trying to pitch to contact in the minors at all

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I am not disagreeing, but interested in your reasoning. I know this seems like a long time ago, but I remeber Glasnow constantly mowed down batters in the minors, but they wanted him pitching differently in the majors.

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Glasnow gave an interesting interview where the only time he didn't try to throw his hardest he had a 7ERA....aka his time with the Pirates. Some guys are meant to whiff guys, other guys induce soft contact. Let him be SKKKKKKKKenes

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I watched most of his start and he was just missing on the edges. I assume they had automated balls/strikes (I heard a fan yell c'mon robo :)), so I can't blame the ump. But last night he didn't have quite the command that he usually does.

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His command was off just a bit but only about 5 or 6 were way off. Like you said he was missing by inches on the edges on most balls. The only mistake pitch was the double being middle middle at 100mph, got to give it to the hitter on that one. Of his called third strikes the only one questionable was on Kepler.

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TBH... I think he was deliberately nibbling so that he could get more pitches in during his innings limit. I think his command is just that good. Saw that game... and that guy can put the ball wherever he wants. With his velocity, that command is amazing.

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Thought he was on a pitch limit, not innings 🤷🏻‍♂️

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I felt the same. Wouldn't it be nice if not having your best stuff makes it so you only get 8ks with 1 hit given up :)

Skenes day predicted by me at T minus 32 days

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In AAA the ump calls balls/strikes, but the teams can challenge the call -- each team is allowed 3 challenges but if correct they keep the challenge. Skenes has a pretty good record of challenges, but I didn't see him use any last night.

The challenge is shown on the scoreboard and is a little like the Levin strike zone thing on pirates broadcasts. Takes about 5 seconds -- it's pretty cool.

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He will probably be a fairly high pitch count guy given his strikeout numbers, unless he becomes ultra efficient like jones has shown this year

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I wonder if his pitch counts (and walks) are elevated because some hitters are so overmatched that they are looking for walks, knowing that hitting his faastball will be nearly impossible.

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Lots of feelings regarding pulling Skenes after only 3.1 IP, but it was not so much the number of innings as it was the number of pitches which for Skenes last night was 65 pitches. The Pirates pulled Jared Jones from his last MLB start this week after 5 innings, but he had only thrown 59 pitches to get through 5 innings.

I agree with taking precautions, but we also need to be able to figure if it's 5 IP (which is what was told to Jones before his start) or the number of pitches regardless of the number of innings. Getting to 65 pitches in 3 innings is working too hard, and that was a good decision, IMO.

Also woke up to Quick Pitch with a highlight on Skenes - another country heard from! Watched the "highlights" of Jack Leiter making his MLB debut 3 years after being drafted as the second player in the first round in 2021. They rushed him to AA with a heavy workload and the results were not good - 5.54 ERA in 92 IP at AA, then a 5.19 ERA at AA/AAA in 2023. He dropped that to 3.17 ERA in AAA, but the callup yesterday resulted in him giving up 7 earned runs.

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With Leiter, there also is a bit that his 'stuff' was running hot at Vandy. In the draft they said he ran with a 'plus plus' fastball. Seems like its just 'plus' in real life sitting at 96.

But I think the point is that its fine to get Skenes a few games in AAA.

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