Results tagged ‘ mike crotta ’
Day 15 of Pirates spring training: news and notes
- The Pirates have a split squad on Monday. Both games will have a 1:05 pm start.
- At McKechnie Field in Bradenton, Paul Maholm will start for the Bucs against the Baltimore Orioles, pitching two innings. He will be followed by Jeff Karstens who will also pitch two innings of work.
Tyler Yates, Jeff Locke, Mike Crotta, Justin Wilson and Cesar Valdez will all pitch one inning a piece
- At Charlotte Sports Park, Bryan Morris will start for the Bucs against the Rays, followed by Fernando Nieve. They will both pitch two innings of work.
Sean Gallaher, Aaron Thompson, Kyle McPherson will pitch one inning.
Jeff Neiman will start for the Rays.
- This will be the first meeting of the Pirates and former Skipper John Russell on Monday since he was fired over the offseason. Russell was hired by the O’s as a third base coach.
Russell finished his tenure with a 186-299 record.
- Lefty Scott Olsen is scheduled to throw his third side session on Monday. Olsen is recovering from a left hamstring strain.
- Joe Beimel said he woke up experiencing pain in a muscle near the elbow, but it isn’t anything serious.
“It’s not too big of a deal,” Beimel said. “When I was playing catch, I over-extended on one (throw) and it got a little sore. I was a little worried because it’s something I never felt before. They’ve done all the tests and there’s nothing (wrong) with the ligament. It’s one of those things where I can move it, like, 10 times and on the 11th it will hurt. Since (Sunday), it’s become less and less (painful), to the point now that I don’t really feel it.”
Lineups:
Orioles: J.J. Hardy SS
Felix Pie RF
Mark Reynolds 3B
Vladimir Guerrero DH
Adam Jones CF
Nolan Reimold LF
Brandon Snyder 1B
Craig Tatum C
Cesar Izturis 2B
RHP Brad Bergesen
Pirates:
Jose Tabata LF
Josh Rodriguez SS
Andrew McCutchen CF
Pedro Alvarez 3B
Lyle Overbay 1B
Garrett Jones 1B
Ryan Doumit DH
Chase d’Arnaud 2B
Jason Jaramillo C
LHP Paul Maholm
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.
Searage pleased with pitchers progression
Long gone this season in Bradenton, FL. Are the strings that marked the bottom of the strike zone –a tool used by former Pirates pitching coach Joe Kerrigan.
Ray Searage will still be using the life sized batting dummies during batting sessions this year –but only sparingly.
“If you need a visual to get the ball down, then you need to go back to the minor leagues,” Searage said. “This is the can-do league. This is the majors leagues. Get the ball down. Make it happen. What I’m trying to get them to concentrate on is the execution of the pitch and not so much on how you’re doing it. We can take care of that later if we need to. In the game, you need to focus on executing the pitch — not where your front shoulder is or anything else. Get the ball to where you want it to be”
Searage is pleased with the pitchers, especially Evan Meek, Tyler Yates and Mike Crotta, who he says stood out during their bullpen sessions.
“Yates looks like he could pitch (in a game) tomorrow,” Searge said. “That was the best ‘pen I’ve ever seen out of Meek. Good gosh, it was solid. “Crotta, a young kid, looked sharp.”
“I’m really happy,” Searage said. “Not that I’m going to go out and buy a case of champagne, but I’m very happy with the progression and what transpired during the winter (throwing) program.”
Kristy Robinson
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