Results tagged ‘ base stealing ’
Spring training day 18: news and notes
- The Pirates travel to Dunedin today to face the Toronto Blue Jays at 1:05.
You can watch the game live for free on MLB.com here
- Injury updates:
Evan Meek is scheduled to throw a bullpen on Friday. Meek has been sidelined with a tight right calf.
Scott Olsen is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Saturday. Olsen has been sidelined with a left hamstring strain.
Joe Beimel will test his arm this am by throwing soft toss at 8:30 am. Beimel’s MRI showed no acute injury on his left forearm.
- Lyle Overbay will be facing his former team (Toronto Blue Jays) for the first time since the Pirates signed him this offseason. Overbay spent five seasons with the Jays.
- The Pirates have been focusing a lot this spring on pick off’s at first base and cutting down on runners stealing bases.
I’ve noticed that most of the pitchers have been throwing to first, trying to keep the runner close and unable to steal –something the Pirates were not so great at last season.
“We have all been working on that stuff a lot down here [at spring training],” Pirates right-handed reliever Chris Resop said of the shorter, quicker delivery to the plate when a runner is on base. “We have to give our catchers a chance. We don’t want to be known as a pitching staff you can run on. Nobody wants that.”
“I think if you look at it, it can get embarrassing,” said left-hander Paul Maholm, who cut down from 15 players stealing off him in 2009 to eight in ’10. “Everyone on the staff, it doesn’t matter if you are a righty or a lefty, you need to do what you can to stop it. You need to just realize that this is something that is important if we want to win ballgames.”
- Pirates President Frank Coonelly chatted with fans on Wednesday. You can read the entire chat transcript here.
If the injury to Joe Beimel is more than what it seems, and Scott Olsen is already not doing all baseball-related activities, are you comfortable with Daniel Moskos and whomever in the lefthanded reliever position?
Coonelly: “We do not believe the injury to Joe will keep him from competing this spring. Scott Olsen is performing baseball activities and has already thrown several bullpens. Scott seems to be well on his way to pitching in games, possibly as early as next week. Daniel Moskos and Tony Watson are two young exciting left hand arms who are in camp and competing for a spot in the bullpen. It’s early, but both have looked strong. Brian Burres is also a veteran lefthander who can pitch out of the pen if he is not in the starting rotation.”
Pirates:
Pitchers: Morton (two or three innings), Lincoln (two), Yates (one), Locke (one or two) and Valdez (one).
Lineup: McCutchen CF, Pearce 1B, Diaz LF, Alvarez DH, Jones RF, Atkins 3B, Cedeno SS, Friday 2B, Jaramillo C
Blue Jays:
Pitchers: Cecil (Three innings) Followed by Rauch, Villanueva, Richmond, Ray
Lineup: Davis CF, Thames LF, Bautista 3B, Lind DH, Rivera RF, Cooper 1B, Mcdonald SS, Budde C, Diaz 2B
Bucs shutout the Yankees
The Pirates shutout the New York Yankees on Tuesday afternoon in front of 5,729 fans at McKechnie Field.
No, Derek Jeter nor Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira or Robinson Cano were in the lineup, but the Pirates didn’t send out many of their starters either.
James McDonald started for the Pirates and boy did he look sharp. He allowed just two hits over two innings –and one of those hits was because of a badly misjudged ball by Alex Presley.
“I felt good,” McDonald said afterward. “The goal today was to get ahead, throw strikes and really be efficient. Today was a success.”
“Actually, I feel like I’m a little ahead right now [compared to years' past]. I was surprised how well I could go side-to-side over the plate. I am pretty happy with myself with the way I’m going.”
The entire pitching staff pitched well against the Yankees, holding them to just four hits.
Daniel McCutchen redeemed himself after a bad last outing. He struck out two through two innings and picked up the win.
“I really like the way that he responded from his last outing,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “He went and filled the plate up with strikes, got after people. He’ll feel a lot better about himself tonight and that’s always good for all our guys. I like what I saw out of him today. He’s one of the guys that we’re expecting to see take a step forward and compete this spring.”
The Bucs put one run on the board in the sixth inning when Chris Snyder singled and pinch-runner Jeremy Farrell scored off of Pedro Ciriaco’s double off the outfield wall.
The Pirates scored again in the seventh after Garrett Jones walked, Steve Pearce doubled and Josh Fields hit a sac fly to center.
Click here for the box score.
Notes:
- The Pirates have been working on being more aggressive on the bases this year at spring training. During Tuesday’s game, it didn’t go so well.
Alex Presley was caught stealing in the fourth inning. John Bowker was thrown out at second base after trying to stretch a single into a double. Ciriaco and Snyder were a part of a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play –a hit and run gone bad.
- Steve Pearce had a nice out of bounds catch reaching over the Pirates dugout in the eighth inning.
- Both the Pirates General Manager (Neal Huntington) and Yankees General Manager (Brian Cashman) were sitting behind home plate at the game this afternoon.
- Jenifer Langosch, Pirates beat writer, reports:
The Pirates have added right-hander Cesar Lopez to their Minor League system after signing the 20-year-old as a non-drafted free agent out of Mexico. A native of Cuba, Lopez stands 6-foot-3. According to Latin American scouting director Rene Gayo, Lopez possesses an above-average sinker and a fastball that touches 94 mph.
Day 9 of Pirates spring training: news and notes
- The Tampa Bay Rays Manager Joe Madden announced that David Price will start on the home opener against the Pirates on Saturday. Manager Clint Hurdle has not announced who will start for the Bucs yet.
- MLB Network will be airing three spring training games.
Sun March 6 Blue Jays vs. Pirates
Thursday March 10 Orioles vs. Pirates
Mon March 28 Pirates vs. Twins
- Pedro Alvarez, who missed Monday’s workouts due to necks spasms, was at workouts on Tuesday. He took swings and participated in defensive drills.
- The Pirates will use seven pitchers for one inning a piece in during the game on Saturday against State College of Florida. They are as followed: Aaron Thompson, Tyler Yates, Jeff Locke, Mike Crotta, Justin Wilson, Kyle McPherson and Rudy Owens.
The workouts ran 15 minutes longer than usual, according to Rob Biertmepfel of the Trib.
“The only way to increase stamina is to work when you’re a little bit fatigued,” Hurdle said. “That’s how marathon runners work. You’ve got to run to a distance you haven’t run before. One of the separators at the major league level during a game is finding a way to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. It’s something you spend a lot of time with in a game. How many times in a game do you go to the plate where you’re locked in, the ball’s big and your swing’s right? We need to push them. Where we want to go is going to take work. It’s not going to take putting a couple hours in and going through a traditional routine.”
- The position players worked on hit and runs on Tuesday, while the catchers took practice blocking balls in the dirt.
- Pitchers and position players worked on signs and stolen base attempts.
- The players continued to work on base running drills at Camp Hurdle –a huge focus this year. Hurdle also emphasized runners going from first to third base on singles.
“Our goal is to be the best in the National League at this,” coach Nick Leyva said.
- Tyler Yates will throw a supervised side session to pitching coach Ray Searage on Wednesday. Yates did not throw live batting practice to the players this week.
“I want to work on him again and make sure that he feels comfortable mechanically,” Searage said. “This is my call. He’s ready to go. He would probably get something out of the BP, but I think I can get more out of working with him on the sideline.”
- Jose Ascanio is sidelined with a tight right elbow. The discomfort came a day after throwing his bullpen session on Monday. His status is day-to-day.
Matt Diaz swinging in the cage. Chris Snyder watches on beautiful day in Bradenton, Fl. (photos via @Colin_Dunlap)
Pedro Alvarez, along with other Pirates players practicing drills.
McCutchen working to become bigger threat on base paths
Manager Clint Hurdle has made it known that he wants the Pirates to be a threat on the bases this season.
Andrew McCutchen, who stole 33 bases in 2010, has been working with infield/base running coach Luis Silverio who is trying to get McCutchen more relaxed and in a better athletic position to steal bases.
“He is doing a couple of negative moves,” Silverio said, explaining what he saw in McCutchen’s attempts to steal. “To me, he doesn’t have a very good balance. He does not have a very good athletic position to start with. That creates an extra move — a few inches.”
McCutchen has 55 stolen bases in just two seasons with the Pirates. Although, he hasn’t publicly said how many bases he is aiming for, I’d expect that number to continue to climb.
“I know a lot of times when I get thrown out, it’s bang-bang,” McCutchen said. “If I can eliminate some small movements and have a better start, maybe that bang-bang turns into being in my favor.”
“This is a special guy,” Silverio said. “He’s got special speed. We just have to put the speed to work more frequently and more consistently. He definitely has the potential to be an excellent basestealer.”
Kristy Robinson
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