41 Comments

Ecu wins

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Jun 1·edited Jun 1

Ecu had a 9th inning breakdown, behind Wake now. 4 to 6 gave up 5 in the 9th.

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Jun 1·edited Jun 1

Wake is having their own breakdown in the 9th, about to lose it. Bases loaded no one out with it tied.

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After watching both Burns and Yesavage head to head, I like Yesavage a good bit better. He's a starter, better control/command and a better collection of secondaries. Burns might have a higher ceiling but Yesavage has a much higher floor and a pretty high ceiling to boot.

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That game was like a third grade girl-fight.

A lot of screaming, but nobody was gonna get hurt.

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Jun 1·edited Jun 1

Yesavage made the Wake hitters look bad in the first. 1 pitch pop up, then 2 K's (including Kurtz)

He's got a pretty nasty splitter, bottom drops out.

Burns downward plane is impressive, Cunningham (senior that should get drafted) lead off with a single off him. But set down the others fairly easy.

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These guys coming up now from college. Don't they know that only Japanese pitchers are allowed to throw nasty splitters.

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Burns was just taken out, both pitchers appeared to be squeezed on the outside edge against left hand batters. Yesavage is currently the better pitcher in my opinion, Burns probably has the higher ceiling but not by much, if I had to choose, I'd take Yesavage.

Kurtz has the only hit off Yesavage.

Right on with the splitter, don't know what Yesavage is thinking lol.

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Jun 1·edited Jun 1

Pitching duel continues, Kurtz had an rbi single for the only run so far.

Yesavage is getting squeezed in my opinion, not getting nearly the calls while hitting his spots. His command is much better than Burns.

Burns got roughed up a bit, 4 to 1 Ecu.

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Another important stat from last night, jays hitters walked 7 times and we only walked once. Thats a big disparity in opportunities given

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Surprising stat to me. I think there were only walks in 5 extra innings. That means there were a ton of at bats with a runner in scoring position and first base open where they did not put the runner on.

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So much for my hope that Ashcraft would get a spot start Sunday. Started in AA last night. :-(

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Who's the player leader of this buccos team? Who calls a team meeting when needed and helps hold everyone to some standard? Saw an interview with Yelich on MLB last night and it was evident why that team is succeeding. Who's the clubhouse leader on this team?

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We have guys that like to lead by example but I don't know about in the clubhouse...

Cherington's signings of guys like Santana, Hedges, Hill, Tellez, Grandal, and Perez suggests that he knows there is a leadership void right now. Once Skenes gets settled in and when Endy or Hank (or possibly Bart) wins the starting catching job, I think they'll become clubhouse leaders. But the roster seems to be an odd mix right now of young players who'll defer to veterans and veterans who either prefer to let their actions set the example (e.g., Reynolds, Cutch) or whose play is so poor that it would look silly for them to take on leadership (e.g., Tellez).

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"Cherington's signings of guys like Santana, Hedges, Hill, Tellez, Grandal, and Perez suggests that he knows there is a leadership void right now."

And the team's performance with them shows they didn't fill it.

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Right--it was surprising to me that he did the same thing this past offseason as he had done the previous offseason despite no evidence that it was a good strategy. He got lucky that one season when he signed a bunch of veterans who then had great years and led the Red Sox to the WS and I think he just keeps trying to reproduce that.

I will say, though, that we needed Grandal with Davis's struggles and injuries to others, and pitchers seem to love throwing to Grandal. As for the other signings...

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Many can be a leader when things are goings well. When we have players that struggle, sulk, don't run hard, go into a slump etc..... our leaders go quiet.

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Tellez is clearly the leader of the team

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In calories consumed.

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Some good college games today, starts with

Ecu v Wake at 12:00 looks like Yesavage and Burns going on the bump. Espn2

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That'd be a good game to watch. Seen Burns pitch a few times but haven't seen Yesavage. Tee time at 11 so probably not gonna get to see him

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Jun 1·edited Jun 1

Also Lsu v Unc

Texas v Ta&m are nationally televised

You'll probably have more fun golfin'

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Saw UNC escaped Long Island in a helluva game, incl walk off.

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Now they get Lsu, Jared Jones has been on a heater for them.

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YDLS is a puzzle. The scouting reports from the DSL said he made extraordinarily hard contact. He played 17 games in the FCL last year. I saw about half of them and, yeah, he hit the ball very hard. He also had a pretty low K rate, didn’t chase and seemed to make good swing decisions.

So they moved him up and it all went south. Keeping in mind that he was basically skipping what used to be three MiL levels, he was totally baffled by any not-fastball. First week or so, he barely even hit a foul ball. Then he seemed to start coming around, then went back to struggling badly to make contact. When he did, the tracking data showed weak contact. The Pirates sent him to development purgatory when the college draftees arrived.

Now he’s back in the FCL and hitting better than before, including an OK K rate. He needs to move back up, but I dunno how you tell when.

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It is hard to tell when to advance him because the answer is between his ears. His K rate in the FCL last year was 14% and that jumped to almost 40% at A Ball. Going into yesterday in the FCL he was at about a 19% K rate - 5% higher than at the same level last year. That's a bad sign, because a lot of the other numbers are near the same as they were in the FCL last year.

My suggestion would be to promote he and Jhonny Severino together to be the starting MI at Bradenton. I think that relationship they have as the MI can help them support one another to succeed at Bradenton. Before too long, the MI at A+ will be moving up, meaning the MI at A could also be promoted to the next level. Rivas is again struggling at A and the team needs to take some action - my suggestion would be to pull him out of the mix altogether for some seriously intense work on the backfields at Pirate City with a "live" pitcher throwing the pitches to him that he is struggling with - probably breaking and offspeed pitches. He will turn 22 in Sep and needs to get this type of one-on-one work now or be lost altogether.

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His ISO is up 30 points. Generally speaking, I'll sacrifice whiffs for power. Sadly, the Pirates' pattern is more whiffs and less power.

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I'm picking on one sentence but I truly don't understand your using stats to come to the conclusion the issue was between his ears. Maybe (as WTM referenced) it was a big leap and his game (not head) just wasn't ready. BASEBALL IS HARD. I do believe confidence / comfort is a part of the game but didn't see anything in your analysis or as far as I know that we have heard that 'between the ears' was considered a big part of his problem.

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When a player has difficulty at the plate or in the field, it usually becomes as much a mental issue as a physical issue. Last year he hit .285 in the FCL and then .189 at A. I've watched this kid launch absolute bombs in BP at Pirate City, but that ease with which he hits in BP is not transitioning to actual AB's in games.

He's an excellent fielder - some say the best we have at the lower levels, and it takes self-confidence to be that good. It is just not there when he has the bat in his hands.

Hitting is extremely difficult, and finding the issue that is causing him difficulty will take a lot of off-field work. Build his confidence in his ability to make more consistent contact. That's what "between the ears" means - it's more mental than physical - that's what batting coaches do - locate the issue and do as many reps as it takes to change the bad habit.

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Sorry, we will just agree to disagree. I think the mental aspect is very important but feel you are way under estimating the skill differences from level to level. By this argument Quinn Priester's inability to get MAJOR league hitters out at the same success as AAA is between his ears more than maybe the fact that his physical current skills/abilities may be that of a 2 or 3 starter in AAA and a 5 or 6 in MLB. I think Quinn's most important path to success (and YDLS') is to continue to improve their physical abilities/skills.

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Fair point about pitchers, it's the physical skill set they bring and develop. But with hitters, it is a much higher level of the mental aspect, ie confidence breeds more confidence. How many hundreds of examples can we site when a hitter goes thru a 1-20 stretch.....it becomes a mind game at that point.

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I agree with your general point but disagree some from a level to level perspective. My initial push back on emjay was that YDLS issues moving up a level were just mental while when I think level to level there is much physical skill to improve or accomplish. Where I think mental (I think your valid point) is extremely important is where success has already been reached and batters are trying to shake a slump. ie. Brian Reynolds goes in a slump. Mental (get brain in good place/confidence) aspect may be the biggest issue while physical (dropping hands etc.) also needs reviewed. But a player moving from A+ to AA has very real physical (skill improvement etc.) that must occur. Is confidence important, absolutely, but if you can not read a curve ball from better pitchers(higher level) who hides it better all the confidence in the world isn't going to help you move up.

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I'm guessing and hoping that last night's game put an end to any thoughts of a bullpen game tomorrow. The pen did alright but unless Keller gives us a complete game today, I can't see our pen being ready to cover nine innings tomorrow.

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I really like my subscription to the PG but how a beat writer with access to the players could write an article about the game and not

1. Highlight that we went hitless for 8+ innings to end the game (it was mentioned, but should have received more attention);

2. Note the HBP when covering Holderman's 7th;

3. Ask whether Holderman was mad at himself or Bae when he threw his glove in the dugout after that inning...

seems like lazy reporting. Easy to put blame on Bae but to Shelton's credit he seemed more understanding about that and less patient with Triolo's baserunning.

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The post gazette understands if they dwell on negativity they’ll lose subs. They understand blogs and twitter is the place for that type of content.

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Print media, famously positive. ;)

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What can the Manager say about the CF losing the ball in the crowd - it looked like he saw it off the bat, started back and then lost it. Shit happens! Triolo tried to be too aggressive getting to 3B and misread the positioning of the third baseman - should never happen when you are already in scoring position at second base - did not see the play - did he think it was going through? A tough loss and not being too critical is standard for a Manager in those situations. Hold Man was pissed - at himself and losing the lead on a fluke play.

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I saw the highlights and it was totally poor judgement on Triolo's part since the play was right in from of him the ball was hit directly to the 3rd baseman. I agree with players losing balls in lights, crowds and crappy ceilings in indoor stadiums. I watch the entire mlb game highlights almost everyday and guys losing fly balls is a routine thing.

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Having our runners getting thrown out at third base on ground balls is beginning to look like a routine thing for our players as well.

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Org went 0-6 yesterday. Yuk.

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Now thats some pirates baseball

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