The college season has Honeycutt trying to pull a 50/50. Jac C. with plate discipline. JJ hurt with a hammy. Bazzana destroying everything until Hagen Smith brought him back to earth with 3 K's of 17 for Hagen. Brody throwing 199 pitches over 10.2 innings. Tommy Tanks don't look the same without Crews and Morgan. Charlie Condon apparently can really hit. It's still too early to make any real predictions but drafting at pick 9 is not bad this year if your preference is a college bat.
I agree with that, kinda why I put the Bazzana vs H Smith example in. Oregon State v Arkansas. Smith was horrible his first start and lights out his second.
One of me best buds is going to the game today. Can't say I'm not jealous. Being that I've been flirting with Oriole and Mariner fandom. Side pieces. Bucs still my first true love in baseball. Not life. Just wanted to clear that up.
Excellent report on the game and nice to see Henry Davis, Termarr Johnson, and Edward Olivares leading with 100+ EV's. Olivares had two balls in excess of 300' including the 324' 2 RBI Triple. CSN had a hit and a 375' FO. Gilberto Celestino, RH hitting CF, came out smoking against his former team with 2 hits. He just turned 25, and is coming back off a thumb injury suffered in ST in 2023 that cost him more than 2 months last year, and a lot of rehab in AAA.
If anyone looked at the highest Velo on Statcast, it's like Jared Jones was the only pitcher - lit it up with upper 90's FB's. He had 15 pitches in his inning - any read on what else he threw in addition to a lot of FB's.
I have been touting 2 young RH hitting CF's that I would hope the Pirates try to get NOW. Ceddanne Rafaela, 23, was 0-3 for Boston yesterday; Everson Pereira, 23, of the Yankees was 1-2, a single, BB, and a SB yesterday. Why would Pereira be available? Judge, Grisham, Stanton, Verdugo, Soto at the MLB level, and their two best prospects are also CF's. Jasson Dominguez, 21, 980 OPS at the MLB level before going down with TJ, and Spencer Jones, 23, who yesterday hit a 109.2 EV, 470' HR, and a 111.4 EV single. Pereira played in the AA Eastern League and the AAA International League in 2023 so the Pirates should know him well. Hit for both average and power at both levels. At AAA in 138 AB 7 doubles, 1 triple, 8 HR - that's a HR for every 17 AB. At AA it was a HR for every 16.5 AB.
I have to give thanks to the readers here for the great sales over the first 44 or so hours of the minor league guide being on sale. The book currently ranks 1st and 3rd on the Amazon charts for new baseball books. The paperback version is 1st and Kindle is 3rd. Not gonna lie, I thought the Kindle would do better, at least at the start with the book releasing right before the opening game and TV opener today, so it's a pleasant surprise to see paperback still in style.
I'm sure plenty of people here purchased it in one form already, so thank you. We wanted to make this a yearly project, so first-year sales are important, and you guys are coming through for us to make that happen.
There was only one hitter with 7/7 boxes checked. Reynolds snuck in on the short list showing 5/7. Steals and Contact were his two misses… here’s to hoping he makes in zone contact at a higher rate this year!
"It all starts with Henry, swinging 3-0 with confidence and hitting the ball hard,” Smith-Njigba said. “There’s not a lot of people who work harder than Henry. Obviously, Henry has a future and he embraces it. He goes out there and plays hard. His effort is always there. He wants to be the best, and we’re here to help him get there because he truly is a bad man. He really wants to win. I feel like he can help the Pirates win baseball games.”
At the end of the article, Falter referred to him as "a monster."
Obviously teammates have bought into what he's about.
That's the most encouraging sign of him being a longterm catcher or even playing 1st base some down the road. It shows his hands are softer than they looked before. His hands looked hard last year, if he is transforming that weakness into a strength. Look out good things could be coming right around the corner.
Always liked Davis for his character and work ethic. I was worried about him having hard hands, learning to play with soft hands is extremely difficult.
The college season has Honeycutt trying to pull a 50/50. Jac C. with plate discipline. JJ hurt with a hammy. Bazzana destroying everything until Hagen Smith brought him back to earth with 3 K's of 17 for Hagen. Brody throwing 199 pitches over 10.2 innings. Tommy Tanks don't look the same without Crews and Morgan. Charlie Condon apparently can really hit. It's still too early to make any real predictions but drafting at pick 9 is not bad this year if your preference is a college bat.
It’ll be far more interesting when conference play starts.
I agree with that, kinda why I put the Bazzana vs H Smith example in. Oregon State v Arkansas. Smith was horrible his first start and lights out his second.
Geesh, the coaching malpractice continues with pitch counts and it's only February. Just awful. When is the NCAA going to do something.
At least he only threw 99 pitches in his 6 innings Friday lol. If this workload continues, I'd avoid him with our second round pick.
Ok thought the 199 was in one start into extra innings! I feel a little better now!
Sorry, I was pretty vague.
Lol, 199 into extra innings would get a manager fired. I hadn't had enough coffee yet to get that.
He has been dominant other than the walks, wild pitches, and hit by pitch.
His control is better than it was last year so he's moving in the right direction lol.
Termarr hit Daniel Duarte, a real MLB reliever. Whereas Cheng and Joe Perez struck out. That's what you expect from Termarr, good to see the contact.
Jared Jones allowed 2 hard line drives, one for a hit, one to an OFer. Not sure what the EV was.
Suffice to say, he'll need more (offerings) than just 98 to pitch in the show successfully.
One of me best buds is going to the game today. Can't say I'm not jealous. Being that I've been flirting with Oriole and Mariner fandom. Side pieces. Bucs still my first true love in baseball. Not life. Just wanted to clear that up.
Excellent report on the game and nice to see Henry Davis, Termarr Johnson, and Edward Olivares leading with 100+ EV's. Olivares had two balls in excess of 300' including the 324' 2 RBI Triple. CSN had a hit and a 375' FO. Gilberto Celestino, RH hitting CF, came out smoking against his former team with 2 hits. He just turned 25, and is coming back off a thumb injury suffered in ST in 2023 that cost him more than 2 months last year, and a lot of rehab in AAA.
If anyone looked at the highest Velo on Statcast, it's like Jared Jones was the only pitcher - lit it up with upper 90's FB's. He had 15 pitches in his inning - any read on what else he threw in addition to a lot of FB's.
I have been touting 2 young RH hitting CF's that I would hope the Pirates try to get NOW. Ceddanne Rafaela, 23, was 0-3 for Boston yesterday; Everson Pereira, 23, of the Yankees was 1-2, a single, BB, and a SB yesterday. Why would Pereira be available? Judge, Grisham, Stanton, Verdugo, Soto at the MLB level, and their two best prospects are also CF's. Jasson Dominguez, 21, 980 OPS at the MLB level before going down with TJ, and Spencer Jones, 23, who yesterday hit a 109.2 EV, 470' HR, and a 111.4 EV single. Pereira played in the AA Eastern League and the AAA International League in 2023 so the Pirates should know him well. Hit for both average and power at both levels. At AAA in 138 AB 7 doubles, 1 triple, 8 HR - that's a HR for every 17 AB. At AA it was a HR for every 16.5 AB.
I have to give thanks to the readers here for the great sales over the first 44 or so hours of the minor league guide being on sale. The book currently ranks 1st and 3rd on the Amazon charts for new baseball books. The paperback version is 1st and Kindle is 3rd. Not gonna lie, I thought the Kindle would do better, at least at the start with the book releasing right before the opening game and TV opener today, so it's a pleasant surprise to see paperback still in style.
I'm sure plenty of people here purchased it in one form already, so thank you. We wanted to make this a yearly project, so first-year sales are important, and you guys are coming through for us to make that happen.
This “Automated Hitter Checklist” is interesting:
https://x.com/jonpgh/status/1760366922107932707?s=46
There was only one hitter with 7/7 boxes checked. Reynolds snuck in on the short list showing 5/7. Steals and Contact were his two misses… here’s to hoping he makes in zone contact at a higher rate this year!
If Keller doesn’t go more than 7 shutout innings with 13 K then is a sign that he’s regressing and the contract was a mistake!!!!!
#thatguy. #allSTgamesmatter.
In triblive writeup:
"It all starts with Henry, swinging 3-0 with confidence and hitting the ball hard,” Smith-Njigba said. “There’s not a lot of people who work harder than Henry. Obviously, Henry has a future and he embraces it. He goes out there and plays hard. His effort is always there. He wants to be the best, and we’re here to help him get there because he truly is a bad man. He really wants to win. I feel like he can help the Pirates win baseball games.”
At the end of the article, Falter referred to him as "a monster."
Obviously teammates have bought into what he's about.
The comments on his improved framing at the bottom of the zone were great too! That was J Jones, right?
That's the most encouraging sign of him being a longterm catcher or even playing 1st base some down the road. It shows his hands are softer than they looked before. His hands looked hard last year, if he is transforming that weakness into a strength. Look out good things could be coming right around the corner.
Hard work will solve a lot of problems... maybe not all.. but a lot. Patience with Davis may pay off in the long term.
Always liked Davis for his character and work ethic. I was worried about him having hard hands, learning to play with soft hands is extremely difficult.
He needs to hit and get to his 70 grade power. If he and Cruz reach their potential…..
Yep.