Notes and On This Date...
- Ray Searage was interviewed by 93.7 The Fan, and said that he thinks the odds are that AJ will retire and that Jeff Locke's problem in the latter half of 2013 was fatigue, among other topics.
- Josh Norris of Baseball America features Gregory Polanco in "Prospect Pulse." Polanco credits winter ball with its many veteran ballplayers for improving his game, telling Norris that " I’ve been able (to absorb) a lot of knowledge, especially when it comes to hitting.”
- Travis Sawchik of the Tribune Review chatted with John Manuel of Baseball America about the who and what of the Pirate farm system, which BA has ranked #1 in MLB.
- Pirate pitchers and catchers report to camp February 13th; the entire squad on the 18th.
- The Bucs have announced that their primary logo this season will be the ol' Pittsburgh P. They'll still use the Jolly Roger, which served as their main logo since 1997, as a sleeve decoration.
- January 10, 1922 - LHP Cliff Chambers was born in Portland, Oregon. He worked for the Bucs between 1949-51, going 28-28 with a 4.33 ERA. But he had a shining moment: On May 6th, 1951, Chambers pitched a no-hitter for the Pirates, the second complete no-no in franchise history, beating the Boston Braves 3-0.
- January 10, 1926 - SS George “Bo” Strickland was born in New Orleans. The Pirates got him from the Red Sox in the Rule V draft, and he played for the Bucs from 1950-52. He hit .199 over that span, and then was traded to the Indians, where he lasted eight more seasons, several as a starting SS, including the 1954 AL championship club.
Let's hope that Locke's problem was, in fact, "fatigue". I am not sure I believe that it was. There was something about him having a back injury sometime around the All Star break, and he was never the same after that. I don't think "fatigue" is sufficient explanation for how a guy can go from looking like Tom Glavine over the first half to looking like Bob Kipper over the second half! Pirates have some questions about their pitching staff this spring. Hopefully they can tread water until Taillon arrives, and hopefully Taillon is the real deal when he gets here. PS Ron, apparently the library's browser has been upgraded, so I should be around more often going forward. Sorry for my long absence.
ReplyDeleteBe glad to have you back, Will. Locke may have physical issues, but I suspect he needs a better approach and a few more strikes to succeed. And they have more than a couple of questions on the staff.
ReplyDeleteI think they made a mistake not keeping AJ around for one more season; 2015 should have a couple of the kids in the minors - Kingham, maybe McPherson and a couple others - ready for action, but they're thin this year.
Speaking of Locke, some posters on another site were claiming last season that Locke was throwing essentially a screwball at one point. I never got to watch him pitch last year, either on TV or in person, so I can't speak to that. But I am curious if it looked to you like he was throwing one. If so, it may be that the novelty of the pitch caught a lot of hitters off guard, but once word got around, they were able to adjust. Again, I think he was hurt, but am wondering if this might be part of the explanation for why he went over a cliff.
ReplyDeleteCan't say that I noticed a screwball, Will, but he did throw a lot of changes and went from a straight curve to a knuckle curve. He tossed those two pitches 33% of the time, according to Fangraphs; both are fairly notorious to master.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I have always loved the knuckle curve, and because so few pitchers throw it, it definitely has a "surprise" factor. As for his change, I don't know that his fastball is good enough to really set it up well, but then again the changeup really works on the difference in velocity between it and the fastball, even if the fastball isn't exceptional. Still, it helps to have at least a better than average heater and I don't think Locke has that. Still, he was incredible over the first half of 2013, so maybe he can do it again. I doubt it, but we'll find out.
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