Morning Rundown: Pirates make front office hire, Termarr Johnson doubles in AFL
Morning Rundown: Pirates make front office hire, Termarr Johnson doubles in AFL
Pirates hire new director of research and development, Termarr Johnson gets another hit in AFL
After an off-day on Monday, the Scottsdale Scorpions resumed their Arizona Fall League schedule on the road against the Salt River Rafters on Tuesday night. Termarr Johnson was the lead-off batter and starting second baseman, while Sammy Siani played left field and batted seventh. Khristian Curtis came on in relief later in the game.
Johnson started the game with a ground out to third base. Siani struck out swinging in his first at-bat during the second inning. Scottsdale took a 2-0 lead that inning on a two-run homer by Jacob Reimer. Johnson lined out to third base to begin the third inning. Siani grounded out to second base in the fourth inning.
Johnson doubled on a line drive in the fifth inning. The ball was hit 103.8 MPH off a 92.9 MPH fastball from lefty Michael Prosecky. Johnson scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly to make it a 3-0 game.
Curtis took over in the fifth inning. The first batter he faced hit a fly ball down the right field line that couldn't be caught, and then it bounced far away from the outfielder for an inside-the-park home run. The next batter reached on an infield single, a play that Termarr Johnson should have made. It was a slow hopper up the middle, which Johnson fielded cleanly but then bounced the throw toward first base. Curtis then walked the next two batters to load the bases. The next batter also walked to make it a 4-2 game.
Curtis recorded his first out on a full-count pitch, picking up a swinging strikeout. A grounder to first base was thrown into left field during a double-play attempt. That made it a 4-4 game and ended the night for Curtis. He threw 34 pitches, with 15 going for strikes. A wild pitch after he left brought home another run. Three of the five runs charged to Curtis were earned. He allowed two hits and three walks while recording one out.
Curtis threw 18 fastballs, topping out at 96.8 MPH. He did a great job of mixing his other four pitches (slider, curve, changeup, and cutter) for the other 16 pitches. All five of the pitches have their own MPH range, dropping about four MPH each from the fastball, to the cutter, to the changeup, to the slider, to the curve.
Siani lined out to right field while leading off the sixth inning. Johnson struck out swinging on three pitches to end the sixth. Siani came up with a 6-6 score and a man on second base in the seventh. He flew out to center field to end the inning.
Johnson was replaced on defense to start the bottom of the seventh. He finished 1-for-4 with a double and a run. He has a .300 average and a 1.062 OPS through 39 plate appearances (eight games).
Siani struck out swinging to end the top of the ninth. He finished 0-for-5 on the day, dropping him to a .367 average and a .939 OPS through 32 plate appearances (seven games)
Scottsdale won 8-6 to move them to a 5-7 record. The Scorpions will be at home on Wednesday afternoon to take on the Peoria Javelinas (3-9) at 4:30 PM EST.
According to John Dreker on Twitter, the Pittsburgh Pirates have hired Kevin Tenenbaum as their new Vice President of Research and Development.
Tenenbaum held the same position with the Cleveland Guardians this past season and previously worked for the Baltimore Orioles.
Here’s a look at some of his previous he’s held in MLB front offices:
Assistant Director, Baseball Research and Development with the Guardians
Analyst, Baseball Analytics for the Baltimore Orioles
Baseball Operations Intern for the Orioles
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Top Exit Velocity
Thayron Liranzo - 110.7 mph - Single
Thayron Liranzo - 110.4 mph - Double
Kala’i Rosario - 107.3 mph - Single
Josue Briceno - 106.9 mph - Single
Ben Ross - 104.4 mph - Flyout
Top Pitch Velocity
Dylan Ross - 97.2 mph
Dylan Ross - 97.2 mph
Dylan Ross - 97.1 mph
Dylan Ross - 97 mph
Khristian Curtis - 96.8 mph
Most Whiffs
Dylan Ray - 9
Jacob King - 7
Rayner Castillo - 5
Michael Prosecky - 5
Khristian Curtis - 5
Good coverage of the AFL game. Termarr bounced a throw to 1B.....sounds telling that we need to not assume he can play SS or 3rd!
The pitch arsenal and the velocity ranges for Curtis make for an intriguing pitcher when he's throwing strikes. He's throwing five pitches at five different speeds, starting with solid fastball velocity. You could really keep a batter guessing/off-balance when you have that type of range and pitches going in all different directions.
My immediate thought was pitchers who used to work batters slower each pitch. If they were sitting fastball, they are going to swing over a changeup. If you can drop down to a slider and then curve, his timing will be all off, and then the fastball looks 110 MPH. It feels like Curtis could really thrive as he gets more experience. Of course he has to throw strikes, but if he becomes a pitcher (not a thrower), there is real potential there.