Ten Observations: Jhonny Severino Hits Home Run In Debut
Jhonny Severino hitting his debut with the Pirates are among several things going on throughout the system over the last week.
Murphy: After getting drafted in the 10th round of the 2021 draft, Justin Meis jumped right into the Bradenton bullpen, helping the Marauders win the Low-A ‘Southeast’ division title. It seemed like a solid place for Meis to pitch going forward, but instead the Pirates used him as a starter all of last year into the first part of 2023.
He was able to cross the century mark when it comes to innings pitched last year(116 K in 114 IP), but struggled out the gate with Altoona. It took him a bit to adjust to a role as a multi-inning guy out the bullpen, but July has really been strong for him.
Meis picked up his first professional save last week against Harrisburg, and the previous series against Reading saw him strikeout nine batters across five innings (two appearances).
The slider has always been his go-to pitch, and that’s played far better out of the bullpen lately, working in his low to mid 90s fastball, even elevating it up in the zone more.
It’s easy to fall for the Double-A reliever trap, but this is a role that I always thought Meis could succeed in, and we are starting to see that more.
WTM: Severino is similar in size and build to Yordany De Los Santos, more of the modern prototype than the older-model, slightly built infielder. He’s strong and athletic-looking and should get stronger; he won’t turn 19 until November. He appears to have above-average speed. The error came on a routine grounder to shortstop. The throw pulled the first baseman off to the home plate side of the bag and Severino got down the line quickly enough that the first baseman couldn’t make a swipe tag. Later, Severino stole third, easily ahead of the throw. He played third and nothing of note happened there. I wouldn’t necessarily read anything into him playing third and not short; with the Pirates, everybody plays everywhere. That includes De Los Santos, who may be the best shortstop prospect in the system, and Javier Rivas, who’s definitely the best defensive shortstop at the lower levels. I’d be surprised if Severino doesn’t move around some.
WTM: So, the Pirates had the biggest draft pool, but finished second in money spent. And they left more money unspent than any other team. Marvelous.
WTM: With Josiah Sightler moving up, the next guy on the past-due-for-promotion list is 1B/OF Esmerlyn Valdez. He’s repeating the FCL after posting a solid .765 OPS there in 2022. As I write this, he’s 4-for-4 in the July 27 game, pushing his average to .391 and OPS to 1.068. That latter figure is probably third in the league. Still only 19, he’s shown some real potential.
Murphy: On paper it wasn’t prettiest of outings, and I’d hate to try and sugar cake things but there were still moments from Alessandro Ercolani’s latest start that were encouraging. The fastball was getting up to 97 mph, on multiple occasions, and even though he didn’t get a lot of swing and miss, hitters still weren’t making solid contact. Of the 14 fastballs St. Lucie made contact with, only one was put in play, the rest fouled off. There’s a lot I like in Ercolani’s game, and he won’t turn 20 till next April.
Murphy: On paper, there is a lot to not like about Omar Alfonzo, but watching play and some underlying stuff, plus add in the fact he’s only 19, he’s always an intriguing guy when he’s in the lineup. WTM had a great breakdown of the two Bradenton catchers, a topic I had planned but since he’s on the scene thought it’d be better to let him run with it. For still being a teenager, two main factors play in why I want to see Alfonzo in the lineup more - he doesn’t chase (takes plenty of walks) and he’s already hitting the ball hard. I think the competition they have for playing time should only bring out the best in their development, whatever that is at this point.
Murphy: This was pointed out in the comment section but warrants discussion, the Pirates Triple-A team may end up with too many first base bodies here upcoming. They promoted Mason Martin from Altoona, while already having Aaron Shackelford there and at some point should get Malcom Nunez back as well. Does one come up? Is one sent back down when Nunez returns? Definitely too many first base only profiles for one affiliate.
WTM: Jimenez’ first start back probably exhibited a good deal of rust. He looked fine with the first batter, getting a strikeout easily, but then he began missing badly high. Jimenez walked the next three batters and was then removed. One note here: As of the time I’m writing this, the box score shows Jimenez as having thrown 1.2 IP. That’s not accurate. Andy Maldonado relieved Jimenez after four batters, getting two strikeouts to strand the three runners. The box score adds all of Maldonado’s outing to Jimenez’.
It’s tough to say much about how a pitcher looked when a lot of the pitches he threw were obviously getting away from him. His velocity and movement seemed like last year, in the absence of radar readings. He didn’t have much opportunity to use the change as he was struggling just to avoid the walks. Jimenez DID seem to settle down a bit after a mound visit following the second walk, but still walked a third batter after a long at-bat. We’ll have to hope he has a steadier outing next time.Murphy: We’ve seen several college level players hit very good for Bradenton as of late, two of which were promoted recently. Three games in and I’m already a fan of Mitch Jebb’s hit tool. Still not overly sure what his true upside is, based on where he is playing and the sample size on everything else being so small but he does seem like a guy that’s absolutely going to rake in the lower levels.
Nola: It was a slow start to Tsung-Che Cheng's Double-A career, but he caught fire this week. After tearing through High-A, he had a .229/.261/.253 slash through his first 21 games with the Altoona Curve and only one extra base hit. Cheng entered the week on a two game hitting streak, and collected a hit in all six contests this past week. He went 8-for-23 with three doubles and his first Double-A home run.
Hey everybody.
Just checking in. I haven't gone anywhere, even though it's been nice having this unintended reprise from writing.
I was just curious though, if anyone is really missing my contributions, as far as payroll, service, options, etc. go. Anthony has so graciously offered this space if I wanted to take it, so just thought I'd see what anyone thought.
Like I said, I've been enjoying the break, but just trying to read the room.
This is weird. According to MiLB.com, the Pirates just signed catcher Luke Scherrer, an 18-yr-old NDFA from Yucaipa, CA. Assigned him to the FCL, which if you count John Lopez now has something like eight catchers.