The Bucs vs. the O's at McKechnie Field; the game starts at 7:05.
Lineup: Jose Tabata LF, Matt Diaz RF, Neil Walker 2B, Lyle Overbay 1B, Garrett Atkins 3B, Ronny Cedeno SS, Gorkys Hernandez CF, Jason Jaramillo C and Paul Maholm P.
Pitchers: Paul Maholm, Joel Hanrahan, Evan Meek, Chris Resop, Jeff Karstens and Tony Watson.
Paul Maholm takes the mound against Baltimore's Brad Bergesen. The game will be televised on Fox Sports - Pittsburgh.
-- Joe Biemel and Scott Olsen are throwing live BP, which means they're close to coming back. Jose Ascanio is throwing bullpen sessions, which means he still has a ways to go, and Kevin Hart is just throwing long toss; he appears destined for the DL.
-- John Bowker (wrist), Josh Rodriguez (quad) and Brian Friday (hand) are all listed as "day-to-day."
-- The Pirates' Clint Hurdle continues to bat his pitchers during the spring to get them ready for the season; it also gives him a better idea of how the team will perform under NL game conditions. But don't read much into it. With starters going just four frames, it usually means giving up one at-bat; it's just early mental prep for the starter.
-- Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweeted that Eric Krebs retired. The 25 year-old RHP was Pirate property until 2009, when he was the PTBNL in the Delwyn Young deal. He never pitched above the AA level.
In the same tweet, he reported that Jordan Newton, a 24 year-old C at High A Bradenton who was signed from the Indy Leagues last season after Tony Sanchez and Eric Fryer went down, also hung 'em up.
I would like to see Diaz get a few more AB's than just as the platoon guy in RF. He is too good a hitter to be restricted to just 250 AB's or so vs. lefthanders---though of course he is most effective against southpaws. I think we might see quite a season from him if he is healthy and can get northwards of 350 at bats.
ReplyDeleteMost excellent point, Will - the years he hit double digit homers with a .300+ BA have been the seasons that he's had north of 325 at-bats.
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