Toggle sidebar

OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: Congrats to the Houston Cheaters on their win

Status
Not open for further replies.
Suwinski and Reynolds lost us that.

Oh well, they've carried us. They earned the right to fail tonight.
 
Maybe a game where things go differently if Key is in the lineup. I don't like being hand-wavy about W/L, but ultimately they don't really matter this year. This game had some good individual takeaways for Keller, Cruz, and Castillo, which is a nice consolation prize.

Not extremely notable but worth mentioning in the quest to comment on every single thing that happens with Cruz: several routine ground balls where he just smoothly picked them and easily threw a strike to Chavis. I think it can work for him to go full out with the throws so that he doesn't end up in his head (which would be the worst outcome, but I've never seen him anywhere near that worry), but it's also the case that he needs to be able to settle into the pace of the game. Sometimes I think it's a weakness when you see a player going 110% all the time. That's how you end up airmailing throws or pulling a hamstring on a routine ground ball running to first.

Something I've been impressed with is that he has a natural poise to his game which has smoothly carried over. I really balk at the idea that he has anything like a bad approach, because we've seen him get beat and make adjustments multiple times. He's also seeing a healthy number of pitches during most ABs and he's getting results. I assume he's a little bit pressing for that first HR, but anything else has mostly been normal. He's been fooled during a few ABs but it's par for the course. Brooks Raley has one of the nastiest sliders that a LHP can.

Kluber might be an interesting test for him tomorrow. Savvy veteran who has been very good in June, but I'd like to see him back up towards the top of the order as a catalyst. If Hayes is out again, that's a real red flag... have a bad feeling we might not see him this weekend and then find out he's retroactively on the IL come Monday. Fingers crossed.
 
Does Kluber still have elite-elite stuff or has it ticked down since the age and all the surgeries?

Guess we find out...
 
Thinking out loud...

I'm pretty conflicted on Castillo.
I think he has an above-average hit tool and can play defense at either 2nd, short or 3rd in a pinch.

But his batted ball profile is really terrible. Like he can often barrel the ball but the ball is either on the ground or maybe if he lifts one it's a HR or a long out. I think he can produce very high EVs on a dead pull as in the HR tonight but he does not have enough power to hit balls out to left-right center. PNC Park is like the worst possible place for him, home of the 380 foot out to left-center. Has he hit a ball in the gap all year?
Unlike Newman, as well, he has average (or below) speed and so he will virtually never get infield hits and frequently GIDP - whereas Newman often beat out his DP balls.

I feel like there's a 2.5-3WAR player in Castillo but it won't happen at PNC Park which is going to suppress a half dozen homers each year for him.

Maybe we just take giving him a spot against every lefty we face as a starting point and let him earn his way into more ABs against righties as they come. I actually believe he has the skill to change his batted ball profile over time.
 
Pleased with another clear step forward by Mitch Keller. Giving up a big inning doesn't seem to phase him like it did, and I thought the command was pretty good last night, if a touch inconsistent.

Loved the heavy Change-Up usage the last few innings. That pitch really played for him.

Henry Davis had a big night - 1B, 2B, BB.






Gorski had another 2B & SB night. That's like the 3rd time I've seen him with that stat line this year...

Today Burrows starts in AAA, Priester in AA, and Jimenez in A-. That's quite an impressive trio of pitching prospects right there ladies and gents.

For those not familiar: Carlos Jimenez is a 19yr old RHP with a + Fastball, an at times ++ Change-Up, and an interesting Curveball. The high effort delivery will need to be smoothed out for sure if he ever wants to throw strikes consistently, but I think he has room to grow and add velocity still. Would rather see this guy channel any velocity increases into better command though. He won't need to be faster than the 94 he is now, once he starts throwing that ++ Change consistently IMO. He's already tunneling two + pitches @ 19yrs old. Signed out of Venezuela.
piratesprospects.com

Carlos Jimenez Has Emerged As One of the Pirates’ Best Lower Level Pitching Prospects - Pirates Prospects

Even with big bonus second rounder Anthony Solometo on the team, the best pitching prospect on the Bradenton Marauders might be Carlos Jimenez. On Friday night, Jimenez worked four innings in relief of Solometo, giving up four runs, but striking out nine. Most of the damage came early, with...
piratesprospects.com piratesprospects.com

www.fangraphs.com

Carlos Jimenez - Stats - Pitching | FanGraphs Baseball

Carlos Jimenez career pitching statistics for Major League, Minor League, and postseason baseball
www.fangraphs.com www.fangraphs.com
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: td_ice
Gallatin said:
Pleased with another clear step forward by Mitch Keller. Giving up a big inning doesn't seem to phase him like it did, and I thought the command was pretty good last night, if a touch inconsistent.

Loved the heavy Change-Up usage the last few innings. That pitch really played for him.

Henry Davis had a big night - 1B, 2B, BB.






Gorski had another 2B & SB night. That's like the 3rd time I've seen him with that stat line this year...

Today Burrows starts in AAA, Priester in AA, and Jimenez in A-. That's quite an impressive trio of pitching prospects right there ladies and gents.

For those not familiar: Carlos Jimenez is a 19yr old RHP with a + Fastball, an at times ++ Change-Up, and an interesting Curveball. The high effort delivery will need to be smoothed out for sure if he ever wants to throw strikes consistently, but I think he has room to grow and add velocity still. Would rather see this guy channel any velocity increases into better command though. He won't need to be faster than the 94 he is now, once he starts throwing that ++ Change consistently IMO. He's already tunneling two + pitches @ 19yrs old. Signed out of Venezuela.
piratesprospects.com

Carlos Jimenez Has Emerged As One of the Pirates’ Best Lower Level Pitching Prospects - Pirates Prospects

Even with big bonus second rounder Anthony Solometo on the team, the best pitching prospect on the Bradenton Marauders might be Carlos Jimenez. On Friday night, Jimenez worked four innings in relief of Solometo, giving up four runs, but striking out nine. Most of the damage came early, with...
piratesprospects.com piratesprospects.com

www.fangraphs.com

Carlos Jimenez - Stats - Pitching | FanGraphs Baseball

Carlos Jimenez career pitching statistics for Major League, Minor League, and postseason baseball
www.fangraphs.com www.fangraphs.com
Click to expand...

Tim is being awfully presumptuous with that Jimenez. I saw good offspeed stuff but 0 command of it. He had no idea where the curveball was going.

Also @Gallatin I read the comments on one of the PP things you posted yesterday. Tim acknowledged the org needs external pitching. He ain't THAT high on his own supply.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ImporterExporter
Bad defense did us in in the 1st and I don't see us coming back from it.

Okay that Park couldn't make the circus play. Bad that Chavis couldn't start the DP. Then IMO Reynolds got fooled on the Brujan single. Pretty badly. The kind of thing that won't go down as an error but SHOULD hurt Reynolds' advanced defensive stats in center. Too bad for Brubs.
 
Castillo would be so much more coveted if he didn't play at PNC. He has way above-average natural hitting ability.

He's kinda Freddy Sanchez-esque.
 
One thing where I'm not bullish on Cruz - he doesn't seem to barrel the ball frequently enough. When he does barrel it they are missiles but there's a lot of soft contact and popups.

...Small sample size and all that.
 
Nice to have a game still -- let's see if Brubaker can settle in here and still navigate 6 innings.
 
Really solid work these past few innings by Brubaker. Attacking, but able to lock down a leadoff double, and then no nonsense vs. the bottom of the order. We'll see if he can get two more under his belt. The pitch count is there for sure, but I would expect a quick hook from Shelton still, since this is realistically the only chance we have to win a game in this series.
 
DocEmrickSkitters said:
Tim is being awfully presumptuous with that Jimenez. I saw good offspeed stuff but 0 command of it. He had no idea where the curveball was going.

Also @Gallatin I read the comments on one of the PP things you posted yesterday. Tim acknowledged the org needs external pitching. He ain't THAT high on his own supply.
Click to expand...

Yeah clearly command is the big issue with Jimenez, and the command's an issue because the delivery is an issue. The stuff looks good though Doc, wouldn't you agree?

I think you have me confused with someone else, Tim hasn't responded to anything I've written lately. Edit: Oh - ok, he was talking with someone about how nice it would be to bring in a Quintana, and someone better than a Quintana next year? That one?

I don't think I would disagree with that. Where have I disagreed with bringing guys like Quintana in? I just think we're going to have more guys come out of nowhere with this pitching staff the next few years. I see more raw ability out there than the rest of you do. I could be wrong. But I got no problem bringing guys in right now.
 
I know the Pirates benefitted in this case but this field is so ugly, terrible and stupid.

"Oh, routine flyball hit the catwalk, now it's a hit!"

Suwinski!
 
Sorta feel like that's the baseball gods mocking Cash for excessive tinkering. I think Kluber could have gotten him at least this inning and probably the next.

Still tons of game left, need to nail this one down.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NewAgeOutlaw
Yeah, I think the Rays made a mistake pulling Klubot with such a low pitch count.

Idk, maybe his numbers the 3rd time through the order are horrendous or something.
 
The more I see from Park and Castillo, the more I'm convinced they should just move on from Newman.

What's the point of keeping Newman if Cruz is your everyday SS? Newman has pretty much exclusively played SS in the majors, and I'd rather just keep Park up and move Newman than try to turn Newman into a super utility IFer.

I think your 13 man roster should be:

C: Heineman
1B: Chang
2B: Marcano/Castillo
3B: Hayes
SS: Cruz
LF: Gamel
CF: Reynolds
RF: Suwinski
DH: Vogelback
Extras: Marcano/Castillo, Perez, Park, Madris
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Top Bottom