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Day 21 of Pirates spring training: news and notes
- The Pirates will face the Toronto Blue Jays at 1:05 at McKechnie Field in Bradenton, FLA.
You can watch the game for free at home today MLB.tv.
ROOT Sports (formally FSN Pittsburgh) will air the game today –the first of four spring training games this year.
- James McDonald will start for the Bucs, followed by Joel Hanrahan, Chris Resop, Aaron Thompson, Daniel McCutchen, Justin Wilson, Jeff Locke, and Justin Thomas.
Ricky Romero will start for the Blue Jays.
- Dusty Brown, who the Pirates signed as a minor league free agent this offseason, has spent the past 10 years in the Red Sox organization. This spring, he has been getting familiar with his new pitching staff.
“The young guys in camp really have good stuff,” Brown said. “In comparison to the Red Sox, as far as the young pitchers go, there are better arms with a lot more velocity here. I’m excited to see where they all go and how things end up. I think there is potential to be a very good staff in a couple of years.”
- With a few weeks remaining in spring training, the Bucs season opener is on the road this year in Chicago. Manager Clint Hurdle is aware of the horrible road record (17-64) from last season and is preparing to change it this year.
“We’ve definitely had long conversations with the front office, and we’ve got some plans that we’ve just barely started scratching the surface on,” he said. “More talk will ramp up the last two weeks of spring training when we cut the club down to size. We’re going to approach things differently in some areas. One of the traps players can fall into, and it’s not their fault, but awareness can help, that at home you have a scheduled routine. Especially if you’re married and have kids, and if not you still have a routine. The luxuries on the road where you can roll out of bed and go to the park, you can eat. … We’re going to try to find ways to get them up a little earlier, get them moving a little earlier, get our preparation done a little more succinctly on the road, find more time for ourselves to prepare, maybe a workout pattern we’re going to implement on the road to make us more comfortable in visiting cities. We’ve got a plan in place.”
Blue Jays
Lineup: Patterson CF, Escobar SS, Bautista 3B, Snider DH, Encarnacion 1B,Thames LF, Davis RF, Aprencibia C, McCoy 2B
Pitchers: Romero, Rauch, Francisco, Villanueva, Stewart
Pirates
Lineup: Wimberly SS, Ciriaco 2B, McCutchen CF, Alvarez 3B, Diaz LF, Pearce RF, Fields 1B, Brown C, McDonald P
Pitchers: McDonald, Hanrahan, Resop, Thompson, D. McCutchen, Wilson, Locke, Thomas
**The Pirates will for the first time this spring will have the pitchers bat in the lineup. They have been using designated hitters up to this point.
Lincoln believes he can make the team out of spring
The 2010 season for Brad Lincoln was a difficult road.
After making his major league debut on June 9th, he went 1-2 in five starts (31 innings) allowing 16 earned runs, striking out 14 and walked nine.
He best start came against the Chicago Cubs in which he pitched a seven inning shutout striking out a career high six –picking up his first major league win.
Then pitching coach, Joe Kerrigan, tinkered with Lincoln’s mechanic’s and things started to spiral. Lincoln only made four more starts before being sent back to Triple-A Indy.
“Last year made me realize, ‘Hey, this is my career,’” Lincoln said. “I am the determiner of my career. That’s the way I have to look at it. That’s what I took most out of last year — just be who you are and don’t let anybody dictate how you go about your business.”
Since Ray Searage took over as pitching coach, he has been working with Lincoln, trying to get his mechanic’s back to the way he was before.
“Mechanically, he’s there,” pitching coach Ray Searage said. “He’s back to where he was and we’re not going to fiddle around with him. Here is the ball. Go get him.”
“I don’t want [Searage] to go and not say anything to me,” Lincoln said. “But in the same sense, he’s going to let me be who I am and get that aggressiveness back and be a more physical pitcher. Last year, I felt like I was using a lot of my upper body instead of using what God gave me, and that’s big legs.”
Lincoln has been working hard this offseason, focusing on his core and his lower half during his conditioning programs.
Lincoln may have a check list of things to accomplish before the Pirates will give him a chance back in the starting rotation: consistency, his changeup has to develop and a better mindset on the mound, but that doesn’t stop him from believing he can make the Pirates team as a starter by the end of camp.
“I’m going to take the approach that I’m going to make the team out of spring,” Lincoln said. “I don’t want to go to Triple-A. I want to be at the top. That’s the way I’m going to approach it. The cards may fall as they do, but I’m going to have the attitude that I’m going to make this team and I’m going to be the guy to help out this team.”
Milledge signs minor league deal with White Sox
Lastings Milledge signed a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox on Thursday. He also receives an invite to spring training.
Milledge, who turns 26 on April 5th, hit .277 with four home runs, 34 RBIs and five stolen bases in 113 games with the Pirates.
The White Sox will be his fourth major league team (Milledge made his debut with the New York Mets in 2006).
MLB’s beat reporter Scott Merkin thinks Milledge has a shot at making the big league roster. He tweeted the news on Thursday afternoon: Lastings Milledge also was signed to Minor League deal, with a ST invite. Would not be surprised if Milledge earns final reserve OF job
Kristy Robinson
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