Bubba, Solo, Harrington and Andres Alvarez were all reassigned to MiL camp. Jackson Wolf was optioned to Altoona, which doesn’t say a lot for his standing in the org.
I'm enjoying these ST broadcast. Triolo is the starting 2B. Hits well enough and plays superior defense to the others.
I liked what I saw from Skenes. He's got some things to work on. I'm not worried about the 4 seamer. Part of his development is learning how to improve the pitch and mix it with his others. Dude is a horse.
I liked that inning very much. It was like blowing heaters past Mangum gave him a confidence boost. He sat Yandy down on beautiful slider, and blew a couple heaters past Lowe before getting him to top a slider and ground out.
Will be a future Yankee if he has the Cole mindset of FA or bust and the bidding war will be the Dodgers and the Yanks. Cole wouldn’t even counter what the Astros offered while he was with them. If that is the case he will be gone by the deadline before he hits the market unless the Bucs are hot the race for the ring.
I never want to make too much out of spring training stats, just thought it was interesting. From the 20 or 30 games I have seen them both play, I would rather have Nick play second by a smidge and have Triolo play anywhere else by a landslide.
He's probably going to have to throw a ball or 2 here and there, only throwing strikes let's major league hitter swing a little harder trying to catch up with the triple digit heat.
Sean Rodriguez is the first hitter that I remember overtly losing his place in MLB because he couldn't make contact with 95+. At this point, not being able to turn 100 mph around is disqualifying for every hitter. Which is a hell of thing to type if you're old enough to remember when 95 mph was considered major heat and 100 was the stuff that only legends had.
was 100 mph inside corner that Rosario was able to get his bat through the zone to pull HR to left field. Barely cleared the fence so not sure if wind aided. Looked better in his second inning.
Dude. You expect perfection in his first action vs. professional MLB hitters. I think i will see if Crews has struck out yet so I can post on how awful he is. Always so very negative.
I'm not concerned, but that has been my concern from the start. And it isn't even due to Skenes himself, it's my issue with the Pirates development team.
It was well known long before the draft that his four seamer tends to flatten out and wind up in the dead zone where major league hitters will feast on it regardless of how fast it is. That was one of the main reasons I wanted them to take either Crews or Langford #1, but that’s ancient history now. The Pirates either need to change the way he throws it or keep it out of or on the edge of the strike zone and use his sinker more until he learns how to change it’s shape, which isn’t a simple fix but is something he can learn to do with time and effort.
I think of it as there's 3 pillars: Velo, Shape, and Command. 1 of the 3 can lead to success, but at least 2 of 3 is what you want for a upper rotation pitcher.
You have a unicorn in deGrom, who has all 3. Cole is probably up there too.
Skenes has the velo part down, no doubt. The shape is where questions come in, but if he's commanding the fastball at it's top velo, the shape becomes little concern.
This is where an Ortiz fails, cause he just has velo. If Skenes is spotting his pitches like the second inning with Mangum, Diaz, and Lowe, he'll be fine.
Plus it is clear they are working on things. Several change ups missed. the Slider was his old slider and not the sweeper he threw so effectively last year. Expect more work on pitch types and mix.
The 3rd was probably Ortiz “most” impressive inning. He seems to unravel when something goes wrong, like the steal off him not Davis and then the error. Faced two very good players in Diaz and Lowe to closed out the inning with no problems.
Cruz looks like he’s put on a noticeable amount of muscle since we’ve last seen him play. It’s been said a million times, but it’s truly remarkable how athletic he is for how large of a human-being he is.
2025 I would like to see Endy catch half, then play first base or DH or a day off for the the other half. Then I would like to see Henry catch half, then play outfield or DH or a day off for the other half.
We also need to see some situational at bats, gotta know if he can lay down a bunt or put the ball on the ground to the right side to advance the runner lol.
Bubba, Solo, Harrington and Andres Alvarez were all reassigned to MiL camp. Jackson Wolf was optioned to Altoona, which doesn’t say a lot for his standing in the org.
Rivas was the big get there.
The little I saw of him, I thought he looked pretty good. I thought he would be starting in Indianapolis.
Another Skenes appearance without Savant data?!?!? You're killin me, MLB.
The video looks good if he can locate his fastballs on the corners like that.
Negron has a pretty good piece on Ortiz’ day. Really need Luis to step forward and help save us from all the lobbing lefties.
Who?
Alex’ replacement
Ohhh over at DKs site, thanks!
I'm enjoying these ST broadcast. Triolo is the starting 2B. Hits well enough and plays superior defense to the others.
I liked what I saw from Skenes. He's got some things to work on. I'm not worried about the 4 seamer. Part of his development is learning how to improve the pitch and mix it with his others. Dude is a horse.
You sound reasonable, I’m voting you off the island, don’t need the likes of you around here!
🤣
We got a Bubba sighting
Any velo?
No idea :/ no longer there in person
What?? We were all counting on you…….. and don’t call me Shirley……
I blame work!
@#$#&@!!!! Work!!! I am now under 2 years till I can retire…..so close and yet so far…..
The Skenes hype is alarming; I feel like he is being setup to fail.
Triolo and Skenes will convoy straight to Cooperstown. No pressure.
Don’t disrespect Iceman(Chandler) by excluding him from the Cooperstown Express!
With modest goals like being a first year hall of famer, 5000 strikeouts, and a -2.48 ERA, I think it should be perfectly reasonable
No jynx no jinx no jincks- skenes 15P/15S
411 on Skenes?
Sorry to be a bother fellas, I just have Spring fever
I liked that inning very much. It was like blowing heaters past Mangum gave him a confidence boost. He sat Yandy down on beautiful slider, and blew a couple heaters past Lowe before getting him to top a slider and ground out.
Add the command, does a good job of locating to his glove side.
As I heard in Bradenton and almost threw my beer, "LoOk At ThE FuTuRe YaNkEe"
Will be a future Yankee if he has the Cole mindset of FA or bust and the bidding war will be the Dodgers and the Yanks. Cole wouldn’t even counter what the Astros offered while he was with them. If that is the case he will be gone by the deadline before he hits the market unless the Bucs are hot the race for the ring.
Spring stats so far
Nick Gonzales 5-16, 3 doubles, 0 homers, .313 batting average, 0 walks, 2 strike outs
Jared Triolo 5-16, 1 double, 1 homer, .313 batting average, 1 walk, 4 strike outs
If offense is even close, the race isn’t due to Triolo’s defensive chops.
I never want to make too much out of spring training stats, just thought it was interesting. From the 20 or 30 games I have seen them both play, I would rather have Nick play second by a smidge and have Triolo play anywhere else by a landslide.
Was that the Skenes fastball that we’re not supposed to be concerned about that got hammered over the fence?
Bold prediction: Skenes will give up another HR in his Pirates career.
#Jeesh
Inconceivable!!!
You keep using that word…..I don’t think it means what you think it means…..
Farrrrrttttt
He's probably going to have to throw a ball or 2 here and there, only throwing strikes let's major league hitter swing a little harder trying to catch up with the triple digit heat.
The 100 mph fastball that no major leaguer can hit is . . . fictional.
Sean Rodriguez is the first hitter that I remember overtly losing his place in MLB because he couldn't make contact with 95+. At this point, not being able to turn 100 mph around is disqualifying for every hitter. Which is a hell of thing to type if you're old enough to remember when 95 mph was considered major heat and 100 was the stuff that only legends had.
was 100 mph inside corner that Rosario was able to get his bat through the zone to pull HR to left field. Barely cleared the fence so not sure if wind aided. Looked better in his second inning.
It was a line drive that the wind had nothing to do with.
Dude. You expect perfection in his first action vs. professional MLB hitters. I think i will see if Crews has struck out yet so I can post on how awful he is. Always so very negative.
Not that I’m concerned, but haven’t seen many swing and misses from him. That includes his AA time last year.
I'm not concerned, but that has been my concern from the start. And it isn't even due to Skenes himself, it's my issue with the Pirates development team.
It was well known long before the draft that his four seamer tends to flatten out and wind up in the dead zone where major league hitters will feast on it regardless of how fast it is. That was one of the main reasons I wanted them to take either Crews or Langford #1, but that’s ancient history now. The Pirates either need to change the way he throws it or keep it out of or on the edge of the strike zone and use his sinker more until he learns how to change it’s shape, which isn’t a simple fix but is something he can learn to do with time and effort.
I think of it as there's 3 pillars: Velo, Shape, and Command. 1 of the 3 can lead to success, but at least 2 of 3 is what you want for a upper rotation pitcher.
You have a unicorn in deGrom, who has all 3. Cole is probably up there too.
Skenes has the velo part down, no doubt. The shape is where questions come in, but if he's commanding the fastball at it's top velo, the shape becomes little concern.
This is where an Ortiz fails, cause he just has velo. If Skenes is spotting his pitches like the second inning with Mangum, Diaz, and Lowe, he'll be fine.
Plus it is clear they are working on things. Several change ups missed. the Slider was his old slider and not the sweeper he threw so effectively last year. Expect more work on pitch types and mix.
As a whole, I liked it.
I love how the posters that wanted Crews are now saying they wanted Crews or Langford.
Man you guys.
I know myself, I was definitely full on Crews, leading up to the college season. But by draft time, I was Crews/Langford 1A and Skenes 1B.
I would have been fine with any three. I just didn’t want a HS guy there, especially Clark (Mickey Moniak 2.0).
Crews was my #1 and Langford #2 and Skenes #3. Didn’t change and still hasn’t despite Langford looking like the best pick so far.
I’ll take Pre-Judging for $1,000, Alex.
We need to bring back the Fastball Academy. I think the kids call this trolling…..
The 3rd was probably Ortiz “most” impressive inning. He seems to unravel when something goes wrong, like the steal off him not Davis and then the error. Faced two very good players in Diaz and Lowe to closed out the inning with no problems.
Cruz looks like he’s put on a noticeable amount of muscle since we’ve last seen him play. It’s been said a million times, but it’s truly remarkable how athletic he is for how large of a human-being he is.
On the flip side, CSN looks like he may have trimmed a bit. Face looks thinner.
I also noticed that. I find myself rooting for CSN, hope he continues to trend upward with the bat
I was thinking both when I saw these guys at Pirate City.
Per Stumpf, stadium radar had Ortiz at 95-96
You heard it here first, Hank putting up a 6.9 WAR season this year
Niceeee.
Man I’m a bit worried how much damage he’s gonna get from catching. If he’s able to remain healthy I’m sure he’s gonna a good season.
2025 I would like to see Endy catch half, then play first base or DH or a day off for the the other half. Then I would like to see Henry catch half, then play outfield or DH or a day off for the other half.
I'll the over, 69.0 WAR
420 WAR
That's the total team WAR this year
BOOM !!!! Goes Hank!!!!
Send that man to Greensboro to start the season.
Three home runs and not a single triple. Too many holes in his game.
That’s a big one! But also all those homers are pulled, I rather see a well place single to RF.
We also need to see some situational at bats, gotta know if he can lay down a bunt or put the ball on the ground to the right side to advance the runner lol.
Hank spank!!!