OnlyBucs

A couple of comments after watching last night's often cringe-worthy win.



1) Hedges now has 3 interference calls on the season. Milt May is the career leader with 15. While Hedges did make a critical throw in the 9th to help nail Ruiz, I believe his defense is overrated.



2) None of the pitchers were sharp last night. The inconsistency of the home plate umpire affected the pitchers, the hitters, and the game. The likelihood of seeing a well called game will soon be as rare as a no-hitter.



3) Oviedo has been inconsistent, but he appears to have the talent to be a plus starter. The Bucs need to continue to run him out there, even if he experiences a rough patch.



4) Bae is still raw in CF, but he appears to have the natural ability to play the position. Some really nice catches in the past week.



5) I have never seen Priester pitch, but he has had some good performances at AAA. The Bucs now have 3 marginal relievers on the active roster; Z, DeJong, and Perdomo. This season is starting to shape up differently than past seasons; the team appears to be in a pennant race. A deep pen could help the Bucs to continue to be competitive. Is it time to consider bringing Priester up to add another arm to the pen?



6) Keller needs to do what both Hill and Oviedo did and go deep in the game. The pen tonight is basically Ramirez, Moreta, and Hernandez (doesn't look like there is any faith in DeJong).



7) I am (pleasantly) stunned that this team is in first after how they played in May with basically the same players.

I think Hedges' strengths behind the plate are mostly pitch framing and calling a good game. Beyond that, I don't think he's particularly strong defensively.

Regarding moving Priester to the bullpen, I don't see it. With Velasquez, Burrows, and Brubaker all injured, he's basically the only depth starter they've got. They need him to keep staying stretched out in Indianapolis when another inevitable injury happens to someone in the rotation.



The Pirates have actually been rather fortunate to only need six starters thus far. 538 has a graphic showing how many starters each team has used. The Blue Jays have used five, the Pirates six, and most other teams eight or nine. Some are up to their twelfth. (Granted, some of those are "openers," or a guy who spot started one game of a double header or something, but still...)



Point is, if and when someone gets injured, Priester seems to be next in line. I think they need him in the Indy rotation for the time being.

I'm torn. The pitchers (especially Keller) are effusive about him calling the game and keeping them on track. I know guys will always compliment their catchers, but this seems like more than that. If he's really the reason Keller's doing this I'm willing to put up with it.



I've also always been impressed with what he's had to say during postgame interviews etc. I think he's a future MLB manager maybe.

424A497E684D6A650B0 wrote: Regarding moving Priester to the bullpen, I don't see it. With Velasquez, Burrows, and Brubaker all injured, he's basically the only depth starter they've got. They need him to keep staying stretched out in Indianapolis when another inevitable injury happens to someone in the rotation.



The Pirates have actually been rather fortunate to only need six starters thus far. 538 has a graphic showing how many starters each team has used. The Blue Jays have used five, the Pirates six, and most other teams eight or nine. Some are up to their twelfth. (Granted, some of those are "openers," or a guy who spot started one game of a double header or something, but still...)



Point is, if and when someone gets injured, Priester seems to be next in line. I think they need him in the Indy rotation for the time being.


Totally agree!