The Pittsburgh Pirates’ discussions with right-hander JT Brubaker have revolved around his pitch selection and execution, though Derek Shelton has a deeper issue in the back of his mind at all times.
Brubaker (4-9, 4.68 ERA) is scheduled to make his 18th start of the season against Alex Wood (8-3, 3.77) when the Pirates conclude their three-game series at the San Francisco Giants on Sunday afternoon at Oracle Park. That would tie Brubaker with lefty Tyler Anderson for the most starts this season by a Pirates pitcher.
Having already thrown 1,398 pitches in 92 1/3 innings this season, Brubaker is closing is on some numbers that have the Pirates’ coaching staff concerned, Shelton said. After missing most of the 2019 season with Triple-A Indianapolis because of a forearm strain, Brubaker threw 47 1/3 innings in 11 games (nine starts) last season.
“We really have to make sure with JT that we’re going to monitor what his work is,” Shelton said Saturday, “because he was down in ’19 (and) ’20 the pandemic, and he’s reaching some innings limits and pitches limits that we’re going to have to start working through that moving forward.”
Shelton has expressed concern all season about protecting pitchers amid the covid-19 pandemic, with concerns their regular routines were disrupted by baseball’s shutdown last spring and the shortened training camp last July. What he hasn’t decided is how to handle the limitations. Brubaker hasn’t thrown 100 pitches in a start this season – he’s hit 93 twice – and it’s possible his pitch counts will be limited or he could skip a start.
“I don’t think there’s a blanket strategy at all,” Shelton said. “Everybody in the game is in the unknown of what they’re going to do. I think we could see starts that get shortened. I think we could see guys get skipped through. You could see a little bit of both.
“Sometimes, having off days are an advantage or disadvantage. But I think you could see a combination of things. It’s something that we’re talking about on a daily basis because, as we talked about mid-May, once we got after the All-Star break is when we were really going to have to start to monitor things like this.”
Just perfect
As the Pirates keep an eye on pitch and inning counts, they know help soon could be on the way from Triple-A Indianapolis.
Left-hander Steven Brault, out since spring training while recovering from a left lat strain, threw 39 of his 58 pitches for strikes while fanning six batters in four perfect innings in a 2-1 win over Toledo on Friday night. It was Brault’s first rehab start with Indianapolis since being transferred from Bradenton on July 17.
Shelton said the report on Brault’s start “was really good,” adding he watched video of the game Saturday. Shelton warned the most important things following a rehab start are how Brault’s arm responds to an increased workload in the next two days.
“The reports were very similar to the stat line: He commanded the zone. Pounded the zone with all of his pitches and really encouraging,” Shelton said. “Like we’ve pointed out, getting guys back who can fill innings for us is going to be important.”
The Pirates also are keeping close watch on right-hander Mitch Keller, who made his sixth start for Indianapolis on Saturday, though Shelton said he had no timeline for when Brault or Keller will be ready to return to the major league roster.
Base-stealing machine
Gregory Polanco’s career took a turn for the worse with an awkward slide that led to season-ending shoulder surgery in September 2018, and the Pirates right fielder’s left arm hasn’t been the same since.
But Polanco is showing no fear running the bases, as he is 11 for 11 on stolen bases this season – and has yet to get caught stealing. Only two other players have double-digit steals this season without getting caught: Toronto’s Bo Bichette (13) and Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper (12).
“He’s really aware of what’s going on. He pays a ton of attention to pitchers and he trusts the keys that he has,” Shelton said of Polanco, who had a career-best 27 steals in 2015 but was caught 10 times. “We really see the veteran portion of Gregory come out when it comes to that because he really trusts himself on the bases.”
Reynolds rap
The Pirates moved Bryan Reynolds to center field for his defense but have benefited from his bat in the 75 games since the switch.
Reynolds ranks second among center fielders with 87 hits (Baltimore’s Cedric Mullins has 92) and 17 home runs (Texas’ Adolis Garcia has 18). Reynolds, who started 17 games in left field, had 107 total hits entering Saturday’s game at San Francisco.
Only one of them was a home run.
Reynolds hit his 18th homer of the season in Friday’s 6-4 win over the Giants, sending Johnny Cueto’s 2-2 slider 413 feet into the right field seats for a two-run shot in the third inning.
“I was just looking for something elevated because I’d been chasing down that at-bat,” said Reynolds, who leads the Pirates in home runs and RBIs (56). “Was trying to get something up. The slider was up.”
Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email at kgorman@triblive.com or via Twitter .
"close" - Google News
July 25, 2021 at 07:27AM
https://ift.tt/3zwkBB3
Pirates notebook: Derek Shelton keeping close watch on starters' pitch, inning counts - TribLIVE
"close" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2QTYm3D
https://ift.tt/3d2SYUY
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Pirates notebook: Derek Shelton keeping close watch on starters' pitch, inning counts - TribLIVE"
Post a Comment