Buccos Cove Players of the Week: Phillip Evans and Duane Underwood Jr.
The final three spring training games are upon us and the Pirates have shown some upside during this 12-12-1 schedule so far. However, as the regular season draws near competition is heating up for the final few spots on the roster. Because of this, players are elevating their game in the hopes of being with the club when they head up to Chicago on April 1st. It is our final edition of Buccos Cove Players of the week for Spring Training, and today we are honoring two guys who are hoping to claim those final two spots. Both players have elevated their games and are showing that they can perform for the Pirates during the regular season.
The Buccos Cove Hitter of the Week is infielder Phillip Evans and the Buccos Cove Pitcher of the Week is Duane Underwood JR. Both players are trying to claim spots on the Pirates Opening Day roster and both are getting hot at the right time at the end of Spring Training. For Evans, he had a chance to shine at the beginning of last season, before his injury, and showed up hitting .359 with a home run and nine RBI. On the other hand, the Pirates recently picked up Duane Underwood Jr. in a trade with the Chicago Cubs for infielder Shendrick Apostle. He was brought in as a bullpen depth piece, but through his first two appearances, he has been lights out. Both of these players are looking to make their marks on the 2021 Pirates and get going from Opening Day.
Hitter of the Week Phillip Evans
One of the most intriguing young stars from last season, Phillip Evans burst onto the scene for the Pirates at the start of the 2020 season. He was signed as a Minor League Free agent prior to the 2020 season, and his track record in the MLB had not been good. He had hit just .241 in two seasons with the New York Mets with two RBI and had never really been given a shot. Because of this, when the Pirates signed him it was thought that he would be nothing more than an infield depth/utility guy. However, he ended up making the Pirates Opening Day roster and performed well through 11 games. That is when his jaw met Gregory Polanco's elbow ending Evan's season.
However, he has bounced back nicely this spring and is once again in talks to make the Pirates Opening Day roster. Over the last week, Evans has almost made himself a lock with one of his most productive weeks of the spring. He ended up hitting .615 (8-13) over the course of the week with six RBI in his four games played during the week. It helped raise his batting average to .406 this spring and put him ahead of veteran Todd Frazier, who opted out of his contract. His week started out pretty routine as he went 1-3 with three RBI and followed that up with a pinch-hit single against the Atlanta Braves on March 24th.
However, his big game came on March 25th against the Baltimore Orioles as he got the start in right field. He went 4-5 in the game with two RBI in what has probably been the single best performance in a game by a Pirate this spring. Every hit he got in the game was a single, but they all came at the right time with runners on base. He helped push across the first run of the game in the top of the first scoring Anthony Alford and nearly scoring a second run if it wasn't for a strong throw. He also drove in the Pirate's final run of the game in the top of the eighth with an RBI single that made it a 10-9 ball game, the score the Pirates would eventually lose by. He finished the week with a 2-4 effort against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday putting a cap on his strong week at the plate and probably guaranteeing himself a spot on the Opening Day roster.
Pitcher of the Week: Duane Underwood JR.
The Buccos Cove Pitcher of the week is a guy who doesn't nearly have as long a track record with the Bucs but has been making a big impact. The Pirates acquired Duane Underwood Jr. in a trade with the Chicago Cubs back on March 7th, 2021, and he made his Pirates debut this week on March 22nd. Underwood Jr. has spent parts of the past three seasons with the Cubs and went 1-1 with a 5.20 ERA over 30 relief appearances. Up until last year, Duane Underwood Jr. had been a fill-in and a September call-up for the Cubs. However, he got his full-time shot in the bullpen in 2020 and made 17 relief appearances for the Cubs. He went 1-0 with a 5.66 ERA in 20.2 innings while striking out 27 batters, but allowing a .313 opponent batting average.
Right from the start, Underwood Jr. shows he meant business when he made his spring debut on March 22nd against the Baltimore Orioles. He entered the game in the top of the seventh and had no easy task as he had to face the top of the Orioles lineup, Cedric Mullins, Anthony Santander, and Trey Mancini. After falling behind 2-0 to Mullins he forced a ground out and then went to work on the next two hitters. He used his mid-90s fastball to pound the strike zone and used that to his advantage. He punched out Santander on three straight pitches and then got in a battle with Mancini. The count went even at 2-2, but Underwood Jr. would sling in his curveball and got the swing and miss to end the inning giving him two strikeouts.
However, his next outing showed off his stamina as he lasted two innings on March 26th against the Detroit Tigers. After getting the first two outs of the top of the seventh, Underwood Jr. allowed his first two hits of spring, a single and a double, and he was in his first jam of the season. He was able to get out of it, however, with a three-pitch strikeout to Wilson Ramos to end the inning. He came back out for the eighth inning and retired all three batters that he faced, with a strikeout. In his first three Spring Training innings, Underwood Jr. has struck out five batters in three innings and has been using his off-speed stuff to balance out his fastball. He is hoping that it is a winning recipe and one that gets him a full-time spot in the Pirates bullpen.
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