43 Comments

Don't think I want the pirates to take Ryan Johnson, his delivery scares me. WVU is hitting him decent. Wetherholt has walked and been hit by a pitch.

Flied out deep to the wall the other way, just missed it.

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Watching Coastal Carolina woop up on Vanderbilt. Brings back memories of depositing a couple balls on the tennis courts in Conway.

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hold on, tell us more...

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The baseball field at Coastal use to be where the football stadium is now back in the 90's. Played a tournament there and hit 3 balls out over the left field fence on the tennis court. There was a tennis camp or tournament going on, needless to say it interrupted it a bit.

Also took an unofficial visit to Coastal.

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hell yes.

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Melkel: seeing two Mocks hit in the last day and MLB has us on Bryce Rainer and Bleacher Report has Brayden Montgomery.

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I'd be cool with either, I'd definitely prefer Montgomery or any of the top 8 college players but I have it as a toss-up with Rainer and Griffin along with Yesavage, Tibbs and Cam Smith if none of the top 8 make it.

I also prefer the college bats top 6 over the pitchers but if Hagen Smith and Burns keep dominating that could change but not likely.

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Wish we had a shot at Kurtz but seems highly, highly unlikely.

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Me too, he's still is my favorite hitter this year with power, contact and discipline.

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Interesting new statistic, whomps per whiff, created by Ben Clemens at FG:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/updated-whomps-per-whiff-and-kimbrel-leaderboards/

He adds this nugget which suggests the stat does a good job of capturing what has been so frustrating for many of us (but hopefully is better now with some lineup changes):

"There are a raft of Pirates towards the bottom of the list, which helps explain why their offense feels so lost at times."

If you open the spreadsheet, you'll see that raft includes Tellez, MAT, Triolo, and Hayes in the bottom 20 of 233 players ranked.

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Can’t be. BC says Tellez has stellar metrics.

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They must be using the Imperial system.

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I would like to see a whiff percentage, but weighted based on the count. No on strikes out on strike one, but it lessens your chances of getting a hit that at bat. No one strikes out on strike two, but it lessens it even more.. Maybe a weight whomp per whiff, where a strike one whiffs counts only as 1 point or whiff, where a strike two whiff counts 3 points and a strike three whiff counts 6 points.

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Well after 2 games at Indy I posted how good Gorski looked. Sorry to say, his bats were not competitive yesterday. 0 for 6 with 4 strike outs. Suwinski and Lamb both look like they are ready for call-ups if needed. I am looking forward to seeing Domingo German pitch tonight. I am thinking if he pitches well tonight, he would be a candidate for a call-up.

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Suwinski 47% k-rate. looks good when he makes contact, and he looked good in CF.

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honestly probably exactly the player he is and should be trying to recreate. The contact approach wasn't working.

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Colin Selby with two scoreless against Indy last night.

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Last handful of Indy games have been broadcasted on Sports Net Pitt

Selby had no control of his heater but was on point with the curve and slider. Made dudes look silly. Watching Gorski live instead of the box scores...I don't see any scenario where he is an MLB hitter. Seems destined for Korea. He's a good athlete, but at the same time he doesn't look like a good athlete. Nothing looks smooth...the way he swings a bat, the way he runs, the way he throws is all awkward looking.

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Pence!

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Gorski looked bad yesterday.

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He might have the most hideous looking swing I've ever seen.

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I thought he had an all or nothing swing in spring. Earlier this week, it seemed like the ball looked pretty smooth off the bat. Last night he looked like the pitches fooled him and had idea how to swing.

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He looked like a mental patient trying to hit Selby's slider and curve.

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Sure would be swell to leave Toronto with Varsho and Vlad on our team

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Luis Peralta!

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He was very impressive last night. If he locates he's unhittable (at least to high A hitters).

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McAdoo has been ripping it lately, but I would have favored the kid who only had 2 hits, but hit the 1st inning Grand Slam, Lonnie White, Jr,. Promotions to AA cannot be too far off for 3 or 4 players in A+ and possibly a few pitchers from A+.

Loved the 23 year old group of Lefties that the Grasshoppers threw - Hunter Barco, Luis Peralta, Cy Nielson, then finished it up with a 22 year old Lefty, Jaden Woods. All have impressive numbers and all could possibly help Altoona.

Jhonny Severino (thanks Carlos Santana) looking good at the plate and fielding very well at SS for the FCL Pirates. The Pirates need to make a call there, because Javier Rivas has continued to struggle at Bradenton, and Jack Brannigan has struggled defensively at SS at A+. This kid could move through the system very quickly if he continues to hit and field like he has to start 2024.

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We may have caught a break with the Tigers moving Flaherty back a day--he dominated the Red Sox last night. Great bounce-back season he's having (17th in the majors in fWAR); too bad we weren't successful in our pursuit of him (he was high on my wish list).

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Random thought: does cutch have any shot at the HoF? Right now i think hes definitely hall of very good. Was thinking about his bad luck this year and how he might have 5-7 more homers playing at another park and he might be in the all star conversation.

Say he finishes this year strong and plays two more, maybe he ends up with 350 homers, 2400 hits, and 55bWAR? Honestly dont know if thats enough, but it feels like hes got more left in the tank for sure

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Don't see Cutch getting much support in the HOF vote......maybe 15-20% of ballots.

I first want to see the Cobra get in before we even think about Cutch getting in.

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Sadly to say Hall of Very Good, I think his only way in on his first go around will be post season heroics. The bucs need to make the playoffs for that to happen, but if they do and he mashes it'll leave a lasting and resurrecting impression on voters tying his MVP worthy years with a cherry on top at the end, bypassing his more average years in-between.

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I would think he would make the 'Best Team-Mate HOF', lol.

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I'd agree on the hall of very good.

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He does have an MVP, 2 third places and a 5th. He has 5 all-star appearances. This will be his 10th season in a row without an all-star appearance or mvp vote. I think he will be one of the better players that fall short of the Hall.

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Cutch was on a HOF track until he tanked his year 29 season. Instead of a TOP 5 MVP as some might have expected him to have at that point in his career he spent the 1st 4 months sub 100 OPS+ and only finished at 104 OPS + due to a mild recovery in August and September. He never played at a HOF caliber level after that though he did rebound back to “good hitter” level. Sadly, he will not be a HOF’er.

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Cutch and Cherrington both earn a ticket to the hall of fame if we someone win the world series

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I’d argue he was on a glide path, but he peaked too early. Putting up 6.7 fWAR from 2016-2018 hurt, then of course the injury happened, all of which hurt his counting stats as well. Maybe if he plays a few more years and somehow manages to keep playing decently? The bat speed still seems to be there for now.

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Maybe add in a Reggie-esque postseason heater. I’d be down for that.

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Cutch will turn 38 after the 2024 season. I think he could have more in the tank to play another season, but there's much to be said for leaving while still productive! He has the 300 HR's in his back pocket which I think he considered necessary for his consideration for the HoF, and returned to his wife's hometown and the city where he started his career and led this franchise back to the playoffs after 20 years of sub-.500 seasons. An NL MVP and I think 2nd and 3rd a few years during a 5 year run.

The Achilles injury that ended his 2023 season was probably an eye opener for him, and I fully expect an announcement from him that this would be his last year AS A PLAYER for the Pirates. A place in the front office? Make it happen Bob!

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His peak years did not last long. Had he remained a 5 to 7 WAR player for two to three additional seasons, he would have had a good chance for the HOF. I remember Dave Cameron remaking during Cutch's peak years that Cutch would end up in the HOF. But then Cutch no longer hit for a good to great batting average and his ops declined. The Pirates eventually traded him and he became a peripatetic player until he returned home. His place is in the Hall of the Very Good.

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I think as much as his counting stats being a bit light, is his lack of postseason success. If he were to have a magical October, his case would be more compelling for HOF induction.

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Lets discuss after he passes Dwight Evans in bWAR🤷‍♂️🤣🤣

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Jarvis name keeps popping up in the hard hit section 🤔

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