Off-Season Questions: Who Gets The Ball In The First Spring Training Game?
Baseball is finally back!! After four long months of wheeling and dealing, it is time for all 30 clubs to begin Spring Training. For the Pirates, that means covering on LECOM Park in Bradenton, Florida. This year's camp features a lot of bright young stars all looking to make an impression on Derek Shelton and his coaching staff. Shelton met with the media yesterday afternoon and was fired up to get back on the field with his team. He said, "We're back, and it's baseball, and it's something I know I've been waiting for all winter long." Coming off of a season where they went 19-41, the team is looking for improvement and looking to develop their future stats as Ben Cherington and his staff work on building a winner in Pittsburgh.
With so many young guys in camp, there will be a lot of competition for spots both on the Major League club and in the Minor Leagues. 17 of the Pirates Top 30 prospects will be in camp including each of the top five prospects on the list. the first workout for Pitchers and Catchers was yesterday, followed by the first full-team workout next week. During this time, players will be developing their skills and getting ready for their first Spring Training game on February 28th. With the starters still being stretched out, it is likely that one of these top prospects could be on the mound for the Spring Training Opener. Today, we look at who might be toeing the rubber against the Orioles to open Spring Training for the Pirates in 2021.
LHP #71 Braeden Ogle
One guy that was on the fringe of earning a roster spot prior to the Rule 5 Draft was left-hander Braeden Ogle. Ogle was drafted in the fourth round of the 2016 draft and has pitched well when healthy. In his first four minor league seasons, Ogle has gone 7-8 with a 3.10 ERA over 130.2 innings while walking 50 and striking out 120. He started his career as a starting pitcher in the GCL, but shoulder issues have moved him to the bullpen as the Pirates monitored his workload in 2019. He was working his way back from shoulder inflammation that only allowed him to make four starts the season before, and he ended up going 3-3 with a 3.56 ERA in 27 games, two starts, between Low-A and Advanced-A ball.
One of the perks of Ogle is his ability to ramp his fastball up into the upper 90s, however, that speed is not very consistent. He works off the fastball with both a change-up and a slider, that he has been developing since he was drafted back in 2016. His strikeout numbers are very good, with a strikeout rate of 22.3%, and he is very hard to hit with a career opponent batting average of .229. Ogle did make two starts in 2019 and got the chance to show his stuff at the Pirates alternate site last season. He will more than likely start the season either in the Double-A bullpen or the Advanced-A starting rotation depending on what route the Pirates want to take. In a year where Ogle is trying to advance, a good first impression would boost his confidence.
RHP #84 Quinn Priester
As the Pirate's top pitching prospect in the organization, Quinn Priester is looking to make an impression in his first Big League camp. Priester was solid in his first professional season, going 1-1 with a 3.19 ERA, but he wasn't able to build off of that momentum when the 2020 season was canceled. Priester absolutely dominated in the Gulf Coast League, pitching to a 3.03 ERA over eight games, seven starts, so he earned a promotion to Short Season West Virginia. He made one start for the Black Bears, and although it wasn't great, he lasted four innings giving up three runs, two earned, on three hits while walking four and striking out four.
Priester's biggest weapon on the mound is his sinker, which averages in the mid-90s and has wicked downward movement. All three of his pitches have good movement, and as a result, he has been able to keep opponents at bay at every level so far. In rookie ball, he held opponents to a .238 batting average over his eight appearances, and in his one Short Season start, he had an opponent batting average of just .214. He made the Pirates alternate training site last season and is emerging not only as the best pitching prospect the Pirates have, but one of the best in baseball. He ranked #52 on MLB's Top Prospect list and is amped up to return to live games this season.
RHP #83 Yerry De Los Santos
One of the most underrated prospects on the Pirates non-roster invitee list is right-handed Yerry De Los Santos. De Los Santos has spent the last five seasons in the Pirates system, working mostly in the bullpen, and has gone 6-7 with a 2.98 ERA over 68 games, 14 starts. He made it to Class Low-A ball last season and would be higher had it not been for Tommy John surgery during the 2016 season. Since then, he has been coming out of the bullpen and 2019 was his best season yet as he was the closer for the Low-A Greensboro Grasshoppers. De Los Santos went 4-2 with a 1.44 ERA over 50 innings of work while going a perfect 13-13 in saves.
He dominated the league striking out 38% of the batters he faced, and allowing opponents to hit just .183 off of him. Both his ERA and his opponent batting averages were career lows, and and he was rewarded by being named a MiLB.com Pittsburgh Pirates organizational all-star. He was not invited to the Pirates alternate training site last season, but he did get a chance in Winter Ball, playing with Oneil Cruz on the Gigantes Del Cibao. He appeared in six games and did not allow a run on two hits while striking out nearly 37% of the batters he faced and not walking anyone. He is entering his first Big League camp this season and is looking to make the jump to Advanced-A ball with a good first impression in the Spring Training opener.
RHP #76 Chase De Jong
One of the newest Pirates pitchers is right-hander Chase De Jong, who was signed to a Minor League deal this off-season. De Jong has spent the four seasons bouncing between the Minor Leagues and the Major Leagues and hasn't found much success. In 15 games, 10 starts, at the Big League level, De Jong has done just 1-5 with a 7.12 ERA in 54.1 innings of work. He spent the 2020 season with the Houston Astros and made just three appearances going 0-1 with a 14.74 ERA. De Jong was looking for something to go his way, and at 27-years-old, a change of scenery to a pitcher-friendly park may help ease his struggles a little bit.
The problem isn't that De Jong doesn't have good stuff, it is that he has had trouble controlling it. He has a career walk rate of 10.6% and has struggled with location throughout his career. De Jong's fastball averages at about 93 mph, and and he interchanges that with both his curveball (77.1 mph) and his slider (85.6 mph) to bring a nice change of speeds to the mound. He isn't an overpowering pitcher, so he has to live and die by his location. It is something he has struggled with throughout his career, and the Pirates coaching staff looks to help him adjust. If the Pirates are looking for an experienced arm to make the first start of spring, De Jong might be their best bet.
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