> How consistent has Paul Maholm become? His last outing marked the 19th consecutive start in which he pitched at least six innings. Eleven of his 20 starts have lasted at least seven innings. Maholm is 3-2 with a 2.63 ERA over his past nine starts.
> Out of the reams of stuff written about Adam LaRoche, the one item that really sticks out is his RISP line. He's batting just .223 with runners in scoring position, which goes a long way towards explaining his disappointing 55 RBI year.
Last year, when he drove in 88 runs, his RISP average was .313. That might have been an anomaly, as he was a .255-.265 RISP hitter in his three seasons with the Braves. It surely suggests that he's better suited to the six hole instead of a prime RBI lineup spot in the middle of the order.
> We're a little surprised over the hubbub concerning Steve Pearce's demotion. He was auditioning with Brandon Moss for next year's RF spot, and was losing. Moss' line in Pittsburgh is .209-3-7 with a .312 OBP and .403 slugging %. (Overall in 2008, he's .255-5-18, .325/.434) Certainly, that's not mashing it.
But Pearce was just .224-0-7 with a .299 OBP and .349 slugging %. Moss runs and fields circles around him. Factor in Nyjer Morgan's showing at Indy and Nate McLouth's virus, and it probably wasn't that hard of a choice for the Pirates.
He'll be back in a week. Our guess is that Pearce will spend September battling Morgan, or maybe even Chris Duffy in the spring, for the fourth OF spot in 2009. He's the favorite, but he'll have to show some pop in his bat to seal the deal.
> Factoid of the day: Chris Duffy (4/20/80 DOB) is just 10 weeks older than Nyjer Morgan (7/2/80 DOB). Time sure flies.
> Mike from Hyzdu Headquarters caught the Curve game against New Hampshire, and saw the Pirate scouts out in force. His take is that they're checking out the Jay's AA position players at NH for the Player To Be Named as the return on the Jose Bautista deal.
> Brian Bixler may be getting groomed for a utility spot on the Bucs next year. He's been spending a little time at second, as 24-year old Luis Cruz, signed as a minor league free agent from the Padre organization, has been playing more and more at shortstop since being brought up from Altoona a month or so ago.
BB first played second base last year, and in 22 games over two years, has yet to make an error there. It's also a good way to get two bats into Indy's lineup, as Bixler is hitting .285 and Cruz .322.
> After winning 15 games last year, LHP Oliver Perez is 9-7 with a 3.93 ERA this season. Jon Heyman, in SI's Daily Scoop, believes the soon-to-be free agent and ex-Pirate will command $12M/year over 4 or 5 seasons when he hits the market.
Showing posts with label steve pearce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steve pearce. Show all posts
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Moving the ball around...
We haven't seen Ian Snell pitch for awhile. Today, he had a sharp slider and a heater that was hitting 92-93 all day with fair control. No difference; he still got slapped around and was gone after four innings. And it's not hard to see why.
We know this is a mantra of Pirate followers, but you have to pitch inside. Snell won't, and doesn't even seem to have the inclination to do so. Even on weak hits, the batters are tracking the outside of the plate, slapping and dumping great sliders into right field.
Snell's wasting the pitch if he won't throw hard and inside to hitters to keep them honest. It's not just a matter on intimidation, but of making the hitters guess and cover the whole plate, every at bat.
Home plate is only 17" across, pretty small to begin with. You can't make a living in this league by ignoring half of it. Can you think of a great power pitcher that didn't own the inside black? And if the ump is squeezing the plate, well, that's even more reason to use all of it.
He had one sequence where he jammed the only lefty and got him to foul out, and later that inning he came inside on a righty, got him to roll the bat over, and was rewarded with an easy ground ball double play. It works if he comes inside.
The other problem? Way too many belt high heaters. It seems that he's enamored of his four seam (straight) fastball and doesn't go to the two seamer (sinker, in his case), especially when his slider's on, and it costs him dearly. There's not nearly the margin of error for straight heat as there is for a ball that moves.
Our advice to Snell? Use all your pitches, Ian, and the whole plate, and you'll be back in business. You have the stuff; trust it and come up with a game plan that uses both sides of the black.
As far as the game, the Cards showed why they're hanging around with the Cubs. They made three or four top notch, inning-killing plays in the field. The highlight reel catch of the day was Ricky Ankiel's diving, back to the plate grab of an X-Man drive in the second that may have changed the course of the game.
They also turned a couple of DPs, and the Pirates, though hitting the ball on the nose all day, could never put a big inning together, stranding 11 and dropping a 7-4 decision.
Jack Splat was a last minute scratch again. Let's hope his wheels don't become a chronic issue with him.
On the Pirate front: Jack Splat has some tenderness behind his knee, and the team is hoping it's just a bit of inflammation. John Russell says he has no plans to rush Wilson back into game action until his leg is good to go, though he's penciled in for today's tilt.
>Ryan Doumit is wearing a splint on his broken thumb and plans to continue using it for the remainder of the season. He's recovering nicely, catching bullpen sessions and batting left-handed, which puts less pressure on his injured thumb. He'll start hitting right-handed this week.
The brass are debating whether or not to send him out for some minor league rehab when he's ready. Doumit is lobbying hard against it.
On the minor league front: Neal Huntington told the Hardball Times that "Steve Pearce is one of our best prospects. While we believe he has quality upside, he is not a finished product.
The reality is for Steve to fulfill his potential we have some work to do outside of the batter’s box. Steve has worked hard to improve his defensive abilities to allow him to play adequate defense in the outfield.
At some point this season we will re-introduce first base to Steve and thus give him two potential major league positions. Steve is progressing nicely. He continues to mature as a hitter and has made quality strides with the gloves and with other parts of his game."
Reading between the lines, it sounds to us like Pearce has a better chance of replacing LaRoche if he's moved than taking the place of Nady. We thought he was having some problems converting to the OF. Too often we've checked on Indy and Pearce has been the DH.
>OF Anthony Webster hit a grand slam for Altoona, his fourth HR of the year. The 25 year old minor league vet signed with the Bucs as a FA this year to add depth to the organization. He's hitting .228 as a Curve. Webster is in his 8th season of pro ball.
>At Lynchburg, 3B Jim Negrych went 3 for 3 with an RBI and walked twice. The 23 year old Pitt grad is hitting .364 for the Hillcats this year.
On the draft front: Dejan Kovacevic of the Post Gazette writes of Thursday's draft: "there are strong indications, internally and externally, that they (the Pirates) favor Vanderbilt University third baseman Pedro Alvarez."
That's somewhat contrary to recent national reports. But there's no question he fills a need - he plays third base and he's a left handed power hitter, seemingly custom made for PNC Park. Will he overcome a poor playoff and Scott Boras? We'll see soon.
On the Pirate history front: Tony LaRussa just overtook Red Schoendienst as the longest tenured manager of the Cards. The top five managers for the Pirates by games coached are:
Fred Clarke (2,427 games, 1,422-969), Danny Murtaugh (2,068 games, 1,115-950), Jim Leyland (1,716 games, 851-863), Chuck Tanner (1,398 games, 711-658), and Frankie Frisch (1,085 games, 539-528).
(The GW will profile the three likely suspects for Pittsburgh on draft day this week. Tomorrow, we'll feature Florida State catcher Buster Posey, Tuesday will be high school phenom Tim Beckman's turn at bat, and Wednesday we'll write up Vandy's 800 pound gorilla, Pedro Alvarez.)
We know this is a mantra of Pirate followers, but you have to pitch inside. Snell won't, and doesn't even seem to have the inclination to do so. Even on weak hits, the batters are tracking the outside of the plate, slapping and dumping great sliders into right field.
Snell's wasting the pitch if he won't throw hard and inside to hitters to keep them honest. It's not just a matter on intimidation, but of making the hitters guess and cover the whole plate, every at bat.
Home plate is only 17" across, pretty small to begin with. You can't make a living in this league by ignoring half of it. Can you think of a great power pitcher that didn't own the inside black? And if the ump is squeezing the plate, well, that's even more reason to use all of it.
He had one sequence where he jammed the only lefty and got him to foul out, and later that inning he came inside on a righty, got him to roll the bat over, and was rewarded with an easy ground ball double play. It works if he comes inside.
The other problem? Way too many belt high heaters. It seems that he's enamored of his four seam (straight) fastball and doesn't go to the two seamer (sinker, in his case), especially when his slider's on, and it costs him dearly. There's not nearly the margin of error for straight heat as there is for a ball that moves.
Our advice to Snell? Use all your pitches, Ian, and the whole plate, and you'll be back in business. You have the stuff; trust it and come up with a game plan that uses both sides of the black.
As far as the game, the Cards showed why they're hanging around with the Cubs. They made three or four top notch, inning-killing plays in the field. The highlight reel catch of the day was Ricky Ankiel's diving, back to the plate grab of an X-Man drive in the second that may have changed the course of the game.
They also turned a couple of DPs, and the Pirates, though hitting the ball on the nose all day, could never put a big inning together, stranding 11 and dropping a 7-4 decision.
Jack Splat was a last minute scratch again. Let's hope his wheels don't become a chronic issue with him.
On the Pirate front: Jack Splat has some tenderness behind his knee, and the team is hoping it's just a bit of inflammation. John Russell says he has no plans to rush Wilson back into game action until his leg is good to go, though he's penciled in for today's tilt.
>Ryan Doumit is wearing a splint on his broken thumb and plans to continue using it for the remainder of the season. He's recovering nicely, catching bullpen sessions and batting left-handed, which puts less pressure on his injured thumb. He'll start hitting right-handed this week.
The brass are debating whether or not to send him out for some minor league rehab when he's ready. Doumit is lobbying hard against it.
On the minor league front: Neal Huntington told the Hardball Times that "Steve Pearce is one of our best prospects. While we believe he has quality upside, he is not a finished product.
The reality is for Steve to fulfill his potential we have some work to do outside of the batter’s box. Steve has worked hard to improve his defensive abilities to allow him to play adequate defense in the outfield.
At some point this season we will re-introduce first base to Steve and thus give him two potential major league positions. Steve is progressing nicely. He continues to mature as a hitter and has made quality strides with the gloves and with other parts of his game."
Reading between the lines, it sounds to us like Pearce has a better chance of replacing LaRoche if he's moved than taking the place of Nady. We thought he was having some problems converting to the OF. Too often we've checked on Indy and Pearce has been the DH.
>OF Anthony Webster hit a grand slam for Altoona, his fourth HR of the year. The 25 year old minor league vet signed with the Bucs as a FA this year to add depth to the organization. He's hitting .228 as a Curve. Webster is in his 8th season of pro ball.
>At Lynchburg, 3B Jim Negrych went 3 for 3 with an RBI and walked twice. The 23 year old Pitt grad is hitting .364 for the Hillcats this year.
On the draft front: Dejan Kovacevic of the Post Gazette writes of Thursday's draft: "there are strong indications, internally and externally, that they (the Pirates) favor Vanderbilt University third baseman Pedro Alvarez."
That's somewhat contrary to recent national reports. But there's no question he fills a need - he plays third base and he's a left handed power hitter, seemingly custom made for PNC Park. Will he overcome a poor playoff and Scott Boras? We'll see soon.
On the Pirate history front: Tony LaRussa just overtook Red Schoendienst as the longest tenured manager of the Cards. The top five managers for the Pirates by games coached are:
Fred Clarke (2,427 games, 1,422-969), Danny Murtaugh (2,068 games, 1,115-950), Jim Leyland (1,716 games, 851-863), Chuck Tanner (1,398 games, 711-658), and Frankie Frisch (1,085 games, 539-528).
(The GW will profile the three likely suspects for Pittsburgh on draft day this week. Tomorrow, we'll feature Florida State catcher Buster Posey, Tuesday will be high school phenom Tim Beckman's turn at bat, and Wednesday we'll write up Vandy's 800 pound gorilla, Pedro Alvarez.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)