OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: Spring Training! Spring Training!

[Pick87your71Poison]

Glasnow pitching right now - for some reason my MLBTV isn't blacking it out even though I live in Philly (we are playing the Phillies). Maybe spring training is never blacked out, since that would be insane because about 20 people are probably watching?

He was really wild to start the game, went full count and walked Hernandez, but then seemed to settle down. Curveball looks very good, he's controlling it and got two Ks with it. Given Hutchison's bad start yesterday, I think it's still possible that Glasnow could make his case if he's strong today, but you have to think Brault has an inside track right now if he's able to just stay pretty consistent.

Obviously it would be better if he had good control from the start, but it is definitely good to see him being able to reign it in since that is something we haven't seen a lot of in his limited starts.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

He looked pretty sharp in the second, despite giving up a few hits, one on very solid contact up the middle by a red hot Daniel Nava, and the other a little flare.

And he just legged out a single on a ground ball to short.

Pirates are basically taking batting practice against Hellickson. We've scored 5 runs and are one away from batting around. Will be somewhat interesting if Glasnow and just go back out there and get in a rhythm again. The announcers mentioned Brault is scheduled to pitch today too, so I'm not sure if Glasnow is scheduled to go 4 or 5 or what. If he can get 5 solid innings, that will really be something to build on.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Who is this Osuna guy? He's hitting .464 in Spring Training so far and he looks like he put up solid numbers in AAA. Is he one of the Pirates top prospects or just a guy on a hot streak? He's only ranked the 27th best prospect in the Pirates system according to MLB.com, that's why I'm a little intrigued by him.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Who is this Osuna guy? He's hitting .464 in Spring Training so far and he looks like he put up solid numbers in AAA. Is he one of the Pirates top prospects or just a guy on a hot streak? He's only ranked the 27th best prospect in the Pirates system according to MLB.com, that's why I'm a little intrigued by him.

He's probably too low on the MLB list, but he's not a top prospect. He does profile as a possible 4th OF type or perhaps mid-range starting 1B if everything goes well - decent RH power, it just so happens that the four players in front of him are Cutch, Marte, Polanco, and Bell. And Meadows I guess. But he's not just a random guy on a hot streak -- he's put up good numbers consistently, and I think should definitely make the team at this point.

Very encouraging inning from Glasnow. His curve is exceptional right now, and he's consistently placing the fastball.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Fourth inning - staying sharp. I don't have a precise count for the game, but I'd guess that Glasnow has been ahead in the count on over 2/3rds of the batters he's faced, and it really shows. He's commanding both the fastball and curve, and seems to also be mixing in a kind of high eighties slider at times? I haven't noticed a changeup.

Gosselin makes a very nice play at SS, bad throw but an equally great pick at first from Bell for an out.

Nava has been a tough out, works a full count and gets a walk. Brault is warming up, so presumably Glasnow just has this inning, hopefully he can finish it strong. First pitch strike to Hannigan, then a great 92 mph fastball right on the bottom outside corner, pinpoint. Now at 60 pitches, 40 strikes and 20 balls. Gets Hannigan to ground out to third.

Blows the first pitch past Roman Quinn, high in the zone for a strike. Then gets a flare down the line that ends up as a double, really fluky pop up that was foul, drifted fair. Hellickson is going to bat so hopefully he can just get the easy strike out and finish strong. Gets a weak little grounder to end it -- 66 pitches now through 4 innings. Overall a very solid outing if he's done. Was wild maybe on two batters, otherwise basically just working counts, throwing a lot of strikes, missing bats. Little strong contact, maybe on two of the hits max.

 

[Pick87your71Poison]

Yeah I missed the beginning but saw the last couple innings and he definitely looked comfortable and mostly sharp. Had a couple tough at bats, but it was a nice job by the hitters and really wasn't out of control and they weren't anything out of the ordinary for most pitchers. It will get put under the microscope and every walk analyzed probably too much because we are watching his control so closely, but overall it was def a promising and solid outing.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Yeah, really just the one solid hit for Nava earlier in the game. The three others were a fluky pop fly, an infield hit, and a weak contact single to the OF. The only place where Glasnow was really wild in an ugly way IMO was the first at-bat of the game vs. Hernandez. Otherwise, he was near pinpoint control most of the time, especially placing the curveball where he wanted.

Brault gives up a first pitch single but immediately gets a double play. His velocity looks solid so far. I'll probably keep the game on in the background, so will update later if there's anything of note, but it looks like the media guys are closely following this one on twitter, for anyone unable to watch.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Good lord, we are beating the **** out of the Phillies. Jaso just launched a 3-run HR to make it 11-1.

 

[Pick87your71Poison]

Good lord, we are beating the **** out of the Phillies. Jaso just launched a 3-run HR to make it 11-1.

Jaso with the HR, 2B, and SB. Doing it all from the cleanup spot!

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Brault did not look his sharpest, and had to be pulled. While the Pirates should basically make decisions on Glasnow that are independent of MLB need and what other players are doing (by which I mean, based on the spring so far, he still needs some more time in AAA to polish his delivery and get the walks under control), there's definitely some more ambiguity now for the #5 spot. If anything, Kuhl has the #4 spot basically locked down given the uncertainties with the other pitchers, but I think as long as Huntington, Searage, and Hurdle are considering it an open competition, there's basically room for any of Glasnow, Brault, Williams, or Hutchison to claim the spot out of camp.

Glasnow said after the game that he was focusing on his two-seam fastball, which he finds easier to control. He was still sitting around 94/95 a lot of the time, or at least he threw some four-seamers. A lot of the fastballs were also 92-93, but sharply controlled. If he can keep that control, and the good control of the curveball, he's already basically equipped for MLB time, with the slider-type pitch and changeup also in the mix. He can build from there and try to mix in the four-seam with control when he's ahead in counts, since it's such a hard pitch that it's likely he can blow mistakes passed guys. We'll see -- today definitely makes me think his next start will prove very interesting, because a performance similar to today makes the early spring look more like early bumps in the road. I'm less inclined to totally write him off for the start of the season after seeing him today. The control was just that good, and I'm not convinced much by Hutchison or Brault yet. I had hoped Brault would put a quality few innings together, but he was basically pretty hittable and unable to make a pitch when he needed to.

 

[td_ice]

Anyone gonna watch USA vs DR?

Starting now

Cutch hitting 6th.

Marte hitting 6th and Polanco in the 8th slot.

 

[td_ice]

Polanco 9 for 16. Announcers talking possible MVP if DR wins tourney.

Cutch, 1-11. Struck out first time up. Wasn't a great AB.

Edit: Polanco another hit. Now 11 for 17. Both hits of the lefty Duffy.

 

[NewAgeOutlaw]

I can really feel the offense being great this year and I think there's a chance Polanco ascends to superstar status.

With him and Marte, if Cutch has a good season they will put runs up on the board which could help to take pressure off of the pitching staff.

 

[Pick87your71Poison]

I can really feel the offense being great this year and I think there's a chance Polanco ascends to superstar status.

With him and Marte, if Cutch has a good season they will put runs up on the board which could help to take pressure off of the pitching staff.

That definitely has to be the hope and is our best bet to being competitive. The staff needs to be adequate but we will need the offense to really be a strong point and luckily that is a very real possibility with our outfield.

 

[Winger for Hire]

I can't see how any objective baseball fan is not enjoying this tournament... other than having to stay up until 2:00am to watch the end of the big games and 4:00am to watch the start of others.

 

[Cherpak]

Last nights game was worth every minute of lost sleep. Adam Jones flat out robbed his MLB teammate Machado with that catch. Loved the tip of the cap they gave one another. If not for that, the game is tied. Machado and Cano both went deep in the bottom of the 7th but the US came out leading 4-3. Then Cutch finally came through with a HUGE 2 run double to give the US some breathing room. Just an unbelievable exciting game.

 

[Pick87your71Poison]

Yeah I can definitely understand people in general not loving these types of tournaments, particularly with all the guys that turn it down. But there is still plenty of talent spread around and, more importantly, guys really care and are into it and playing with heart. Plus, there have been plenty of damn good games this tourney. Great stuff so far and hopefully the last 3 games will keep it going.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

You'd have to pay me to watch a pre-season tournament where the best nation involved doesn't give a flying **** about trying. It doesn't help that I'm not remotely in baseball mode yet.


Go Polanco, though, I guess.

 

[Cherpak]

Well with DR out the good news is we get Marte and Polanco back in camp any way.

 

[Pick87your71Poison]

You'd have to pay me to watch a pre-season tournament where the best nation involved doesn't give a flying **** about trying.


Go Polanco, though, I guess.

Angry much?

Polanco and Marte's tourneys are over and they will be back with the Buccos soon. Polanco get a great tourney though, which is def nice to see and hopefully the start of a huge year.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

My coffee is still brewing, so angry is my natural state of being at this time of the morning

I still don't think there's any way I'll ever really care about this tournament. No matter when the tournament would be held there's a laundry list of negatives that would go alongside it (pre-season obviously has issues, mid-season runs an injury risk for players not involved and the owners would never give up multiple weeks of the schedule anyway, and post-season will be just as hard to attract players to and I'd be fully in hockey/football mode come November anyway)...and until the best American players care, I can't be bothered.

 

[Cherpak]

Having Jim Leyland come out of retirement to manage the US is enough to keep me interested.

Damn I miss having an actual baseball manger and not some players friend.