Speaker 1: Episode three ninety three.
Speaker 2: Today we recap what's happening down on the farm and
Speaker 2: we have a special interview with Pirates pitching prospect Connor Wickriff.
Speaker 2: You're listening to the Bucco Banter Podcast, brought to you
Speaker 2: by the Just Baseball Media Network.
Speaker 1: Cue the music.
Speaker 3: I feel one on one. You see a couple of
Speaker 3: them in my taste with me and my limit ege
Speaker 3: because I let the wait taste best seats at the
Speaker 3: Pirates and he let me run the base. Yeah, my
Speaker 3: time is like my money because I can't afford to waste.
Speaker 3: Oh why see is a lawyers my date to my dates?
Speaker 3: Or to stick by the plate? Sydy Kate keep the
Speaker 3: case from my race at my pace cleared Grant That
Speaker 3: is Snake.
Speaker 4: Welcome back to another episode of Bucko Banner. Today. Like
Speaker 4: Scott mentioned, we're gonna be recapping what's happening down on
Speaker 4: the farm. Scott, the Parks has had a huge win.
Speaker 4: We're feeling pretty good on the Wolf game. Uh, we're
Speaker 4: riding high right now. We're gonna talk about some fun
Speaker 4: prospects today. They're gonna help us in a few years
Speaker 4: or down the line.
Speaker 5: There.
Speaker 4: I say, Uh, what's the bullpen arms in Indianapolis. But
Speaker 4: there's lots to talk about today, Scott.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean you're getting me post war game. I'm
Speaker 2: the vibes couldn't be any higher. We're two and zero
Speaker 2: Wolf games. We'll get into that probably midweek, but today
Speaker 2: is dedicated to the minor leagues, to down the farm.
Speaker 2: What's happening down there. And there's some things that are brewing, right,
Speaker 2: some promotions, some news.
Speaker 1: To discuss, to discuss. Let's let's start off with what
Speaker 1: happened in the beginning of the week.
Speaker 2: I'll field Carlos outfielder Carlos to hera a guy that
Speaker 2: we've talked about quite a bit, a guy that kind
Speaker 2: of blossomed in the DSL at the beginning of the summer,
Speaker 2: enters the MLB pipelines pirates Top thirty prospect lists as
Speaker 2: Maryland Valdez graduates. This is a guy that we're really
Speaker 2: high on, A guy that I think could be another
Speaker 2: is Maryland Valdez.
Speaker 1: Let's just say it with more speed, right.
Speaker 2: I think he's a guy that is, you know what,
Speaker 2: one of your not one of your multimillion dollar signings,
Speaker 2: but like someone that could emerge quickly and another positive
Speaker 2: note down in an international scouting market here, Jay.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they've done so well with these international prospects in
Speaker 4: the last couple of years, so I think that this
Speaker 4: is just another example of that you said. He mentioned.
Speaker 4: You mentioned already that he raked this year the complex
Speaker 4: and the DSL, I mean between both levels, twenty seven games,
Speaker 4: three homers, scot ten stolen bases. He walked exactly as
Speaker 4: much as he struck out and put up a four
Speaker 4: to eleven on base between both levels one nineteen WRC plus.
Speaker 4: This is a toolsy player they're going to be wanting
Speaker 4: to look out for in the coming years, and somebody
Speaker 4: that you should definitely keep keep on your radar.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: And then to Tuesday, we went into Chris Devenskin, Michael
Speaker 2: Darryl Hicks and to the FCL for rehabbits. I mean,
Speaker 2: they're working her way back up the Triple A. Maybe
Speaker 2: one of those guys can help at the big league
Speaker 2: level at some point or provide depth because they definitely
Speaker 2: need it. And then Thursday, Ryan Butcher Dylan mathieson a
Speaker 2: name that I've been wondering, where is he at? A
Speaker 2: draft pick from last year out of Liberty. I think
Speaker 2: thirteenth or fourteenth round. Him and Xander Meath were sent
Speaker 2: to the to the FCL for rehab appearances.
Speaker 1: We'll get into that a little bit later.
Speaker 2: The last day the FCL was actually this Thursday because
Speaker 2: the Pirates did not move on and then Friday. Ashton Kennedy,
Speaker 2: the Australian signee and the international signing market this year,
Speaker 2: will be activated off the restricted list at the end
Speaker 2: of this week and as signed to the DSL. This
Speaker 2: is the guy that's gonna get an opportunity to hit
Speaker 2: end pitch while beginning his pro career. A very exciting prospect.
Speaker 2: We've talked about Robinson Smith, We've talked about Brandon Badoad.
Speaker 2: This team has done really well in the Pacific RIM
Speaker 2: and this is just another name there. Let's go Tuesday,
Speaker 2: which is to which is the beginning of this week.
Speaker 2: Brandon Nick a guy that was a Rule five pick
Speaker 2: this past year from the Dodgers. Jay correct, Yeah, Lefty,
Speaker 2: He's done really well out of the bullpen. Promoted to
Speaker 2: Triple A Indy another interesting bullpen arm to keep an
Speaker 2: eye on.
Speaker 1: Jay. Why don't you tell us what's happening in Indianapolis
Speaker 1: this week? Any highlights here?
Speaker 4: Got a lot of fun stuff going on. I mean,
Speaker 4: we're catching Justin ce Garcia kind of in the middle
Speaker 4: of it here right here. Uh, he had double in
Speaker 4: a homer. It looks like this week duce Gorson four
Speaker 4: for twenty three in his first or is his first
Speaker 4: or second weekend triple a for him?
Speaker 1: That can probably gotcha first and a half. Yeah, something
Speaker 1: like yeah.
Speaker 4: Jack Brady get three for fourteen and Tamar John said
Speaker 4: three for twenty Scott Also Connor Wickgriff threw a pretty
Speaker 4: nice outing on Tuesday, five point two innings, pitched five hits,
Speaker 4: zero earned runs, one walk, four strikeouts. This is a
Speaker 4: guy that you're gonna hear from later in this episode
Speaker 4: that you and I could not be more fired enough
Speaker 4: to talk about, because he's somebody that's just dominated every
Speaker 4: single level this year. And it's not crazy stuff, but
Speaker 4: it just works every single time he goes out there
Speaker 4: on the mound. Clean mechanics, smooth, easy delivery, just somebody
Speaker 4: that's able to hide the ball pretty well and be
Speaker 4: kind of just a weird look for lefties and right
Speaker 4: he's alike, but especially left handers.
Speaker 2: Something I want to talk about with Indianapolis has Mitch
Speaker 2: jeb like figured out how to do he might have. Yeah,
Speaker 2: put impact to ball like it's incredible. He's got four
Speaker 2: hum runs in Triple A and he just got back
Speaker 2: this week and has hit two already, which has been
Speaker 2: really impressive to see.
Speaker 1: He's hitting four twenty four in Triple A. Unbelievable. Some
Speaker 1: bad news Christian Curtis at the IL.
Speaker 2: I don't know the reasoning exactly at this juncture, but yeah,
Speaker 2: they haven't said just yet, but he was he was
Speaker 2: placed in the IL. We saw Antoine Kelly pitch some
Speaker 2: no hit, no run ball on Saturday. Derek berg Is
Speaker 2: back up to Triple A as Sean Ross made his
Speaker 2: way to the big leagues.
Speaker 1: Later got DFAD today.
Speaker 2: But other than that, Jay, I think that's that's all
Speaker 2: that's happening. Oh, jose a Erri Kty, let's talk about
Speaker 2: Jose Aero Kitty. Jose Aero Kitty was tricked.
Speaker 1: To the White Sox after being dffade.
Speaker 2: We got back an interesting arm from the White Sox,
Speaker 2: a six to six arm with some projection already up
Speaker 2: to ninety five on the complex.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I feel like anytime you can get an arm
Speaker 4: back like that's just projectable and you can see what
Speaker 4: you have there. I immedily got a text from one
Speaker 4: of my White Sox guys, Adrian from Just Baseball, who
Speaker 4: was telling me about how he's a guy that caught
Speaker 4: his He caught his eye earlier this year as somebody
Speaker 4: to watch and there's lower levels, a little bit older
Speaker 4: for the level. I'm pretty sure he was like what
Speaker 4: twenty one years old down in the complex leagues, but
Speaker 4: still nonetheless somebody that you can keep an eye on.
Speaker 4: And again, I feel like that your kid's time here
Speaker 4: was kind of coming to an end, and that writing
Speaker 4: has been on the wall since that first series at
Speaker 4: the end of the season. So just being able to
Speaker 4: get a prospect back for him period is going to
Speaker 4: be something that you should be excited about. Not much
Speaker 4: else to really say there, though, Let's.
Speaker 1: Go to Double A Altoona near and Dear to your
Speaker 1: heart Jay. They were in Akron, though they weren't at home.
Speaker 2: They were playing the rubber Ducks of Guardians Double A affiliate.
Speaker 2: I feel like we saw some slug from murfh and
Speaker 2: Lonnie this weekend, especially Lonnie. Lonnie had three home runs
Speaker 2: a double six RBIs. Murph hit two home runs as well.
Speaker 2: But I want to talk to you about Connor Oliver.
Speaker 2: I bet you didn't expect me to say that.
Speaker 4: I did not. I really didn't.
Speaker 2: What do you see in Connor Oliver? This guy wasn't
Speaker 2: drafted by the parts. I believe he was drafted by
Speaker 2: the Raid Royals and we acquired him elsewhere. But he
Speaker 2: has been very productive, one of the more productive arms
Speaker 2: in the system this year. Wednesday, six innings, two hits,
Speaker 2: no earned, three walk, six k's. I know the era
Speaker 2: is four or five nine, but the results speak for
Speaker 2: themselves in Greensboro and for the most part now Tuna,
Speaker 2: since these men moved up, what have you seen from
Speaker 2: him so far?
Speaker 4: The biggest takeaway on Connor Oliver is that loopy curveball
Speaker 4: that he has. It doesn't dialod up eigh in the
Speaker 4: velocity rusty area, but he doesn't really have to. I
Speaker 4: talked to him a lot one day just about how
Speaker 4: it seems to be a really tough pitch for lefties.
Speaker 4: Is se in his double he got so many whips
Speaker 4: curveball just because he basically throws it from behind these
Speaker 4: lefties and it ends up finishing over the hard so
Speaker 4: they either have to swing or just end up taking
Speaker 4: it for strikes all the time. And I mentioned to him,
Speaker 4: this curve ball is so good, like how many lefties
Speaker 4: with it just all the time because I don't know
Speaker 4: anybody can see that arm slot and all these things.
Speaker 4: And he's like, like I do, but it's I feel
Speaker 4: like it's almost more right to swing over, which I
Speaker 4: found it'd be pretty interesting because this is a pitch
Speaker 4: that I feel like is almost designed to get out lefties.
Speaker 4: If he's able to get out some of these right
Speaker 4: handers as well, that's that's just something else to keep
Speaker 4: in mind with him, it's gonna be super interesting. But
Speaker 4: another arm is like very in that Connor Wick Griffy
Speaker 4: tier of just not guys that don't have crazy stuff,
Speaker 4: but they're able to blow you away just because the
Speaker 4: delivery and arm slot and some of the pitch ability
Speaker 4: is kind of what takes this game to another level. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I was gonna say, could he be another Caleb
Speaker 2: Ferguson type of arm in the big leagues? Positively, if
Speaker 2: not a long man, But the results speak for themselves
Speaker 2: and Easton Carmichael made his double a debut on Friday,
Speaker 2: went two for four with one k this week two
Speaker 2: for seven total and Altoona Anything in terms of other
Speaker 2: arms like Matt Aiger Kyle Robinson was required for Alica
Speaker 2: Williams from the A's Anything of note there because they've
Speaker 2: had interesting results so far this season.
Speaker 4: Matt Ager has really impressed me. I mean, the same
Speaker 4: thing goes for him as a lot of these guys,
Speaker 4: just kind of a funky delivery, also doesn't dial it
Speaker 4: up too much with the velocity. He's like a left
Speaker 4: handed version of the two starting pitchers. I feel like
Speaker 4: we've keyed in on in this episode, Scott, but somebody
Speaker 4: to definitely keep an eye on. And I want to
Speaker 4: bring this up real quick in case you're about to
Speaker 4: go in the mrth Gray direction, because I feel like
Speaker 4: we almost have to before we get into Lonnie White.
Speaker 4: I'm just looking through the data right now as we're
Speaker 4: talking about this. Looks like he only hasn't gotten on
Speaker 4: base in one Double A game so far, which is
Speaker 4: just ridiculous, and he's still slugging. This is somebody that
Speaker 4: I remember talking to arm about at Just Baseball as well,
Speaker 4: and he was saying about how like, I don't want
Speaker 4: to be super pessimistic on Murph Gray, But I feel
Speaker 4: like I got to see him do it at double A,
Speaker 4: and I feel like we're seeing him do it a
Speaker 4: double A, Scott.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's absolutely doing a double A. He continues
Speaker 1: to slug.
Speaker 2: He's got what twenty five plus homer's already this he's total,
Speaker 2: Like that's absurd.
Speaker 1: Like the first full.
Speaker 2: Season he's produced or performed at in Major League baseball
Speaker 2: has been quite impressive for a Mountain West guy at
Speaker 2: of Fresno State, right, And that's not a program to
Speaker 2: laugh at by any means.
Speaker 1: But you know, I don't think we expected this.
Speaker 2: I don't think you can expect this from SEC guys
Speaker 2: necessarily in their first full season. So he continues to
Speaker 2: produce and continues to slug. What do you see defensively?
Speaker 2: I think that's gonna be the big question mark for me,
Speaker 2: because we see the batting average, we see the home runs,
Speaker 2: we see the offensive outputs as outsiders in Pittsburgh here
Speaker 2: looking at the farm system, But defensively, is he gonna
Speaker 2: be able to manage third base at the big league level?
Speaker 4: So admittedly I haven't got my first live looks at
Speaker 4: Earth Grade just yet. I'll get to see him tomorrow
Speaker 4: and hopefully be able to give you a better answer
Speaker 4: of this next time. I'm on down on the farm.
Speaker 4: But I feel like that this is a guy that,
Speaker 4: even if his glove isn't super impressive, you can kind
Speaker 4: of almost hide him at third base, just because that's
Speaker 4: kind of the nature of corner infield positions, right, and
Speaker 4: especially if he just is able to hit like he has,
Speaker 4: you're gonna be able to find a place for him defensively,
Speaker 4: regardless of how strong the glove is, even if it's
Speaker 4: maybe more average or slightly below average in the long run.
Speaker 1: For sure.
Speaker 2: For sure, let's go to Greensborough. They are playing the
Speaker 2: Winston Salem Dash the High a affiliate of the White Sox.
Speaker 2: As always just some slug. There's some offense here in
Speaker 2: North Carolina. But they're in Winston Salem and we have
Speaker 2: Sammy Sefira continuing to slug. He's got seventeen home runs
Speaker 2: on the year this year. Jay, Like, that's not something
Speaker 2: that we scripted, right.
Speaker 4: He missed like a good bit of time there.
Speaker 1: He missed a good bit of time.
Speaker 2: I feel like he was rehabbing for most of the
Speaker 2: first two months. Jack Anchor had a really good outing
Speaker 2: on Tuesday, five innings, three hits, one earned, two walk,
Speaker 2: six k's. You had some Seth Hernandoz on Friday before
Speaker 2: he bad news went on the IL with obleique entry
Speaker 2: prayer circle for Seth Hernandez. Obleaque better than arms, shoulder, elbow, right,
Speaker 2: But you've got to be.
Speaker 1: Impressed with his first full season as a pro. If
Speaker 1: that is the end of it.
Speaker 2: Three innings, one hit, no earned, no walks, five k's.
Speaker 2: On Friday, Tony Bloco Junior returned as well from the IL.
Speaker 1: Had a mammoth and a shot.
Speaker 2: A friend of mine, who is a hitting coach for
Speaker 2: the Winston Sale La Dash, texted me it was just
Speaker 2: like Tony Blanco just hit the furthest ball I've ever seen.
Speaker 2: That was his thirteenth home run as a grasshopper. And
Speaker 2: then Johnny Severino is a guy I think we need
Speaker 2: to highlight fangrafts to have. Yeah, absolutely, all.
Speaker 1: Right, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: We'll spend some time on Johnny Severino because this is
Speaker 2: a guy that we acquired for Carlos Santana to trade
Speaker 2: deadline two years ago. Was a lottery pick, a great trade,
Speaker 2: probably one of Ben's best. He has twenty four home
Speaker 2: runs in Greensboro this year. Is that a product product
Speaker 2: of Greensboro or is that a product.
Speaker 1: Of him making an adjustment or is it a little
Speaker 1: bit of both.
Speaker 4: I feel like that's the question. Yeah, I feel like
Speaker 4: it can absolutely be both. I don't mean to cut
Speaker 4: you off right there, by the way, but it seems
Speaker 4: like he's never hit more than sixteen home runs in
Speaker 4: a season in his minor league career, So this is
Speaker 4: something that you're definitely seeing a lot more power from.
Speaker 4: And I mean, you bring up a good point with
Speaker 4: that being potentially an effective greens Row just because that
Speaker 4: ballpark in that league as a whole is so hit
Speaker 4: or friendly that you almost want to be scared of that.
Speaker 4: And I alo just want to say this too. I
Speaker 4: feel like that Separino is one of those guys that
Speaker 4: could just be like one small adjustment away from really
Speaker 4: breaking out and taking his game to another level. Because
Speaker 4: this is somebody that just doesn't walk very much. There's
Speaker 4: a lot of power in this profile, but only walks
Speaker 4: five point nine percent of the time. The on base
Speaker 4: right now is only at three ZHO three Scott, which
Speaker 4: I mean has ended up making the WRC plus just
Speaker 4: above league average. But if he's able to hit for
Speaker 4: power and maybe find his way on a little bit
Speaker 4: more often just via free basis, this is something that
Speaker 4: you could be looking at as a potential top prospect
Speaker 4: of the system going into next season or even at
Speaker 4: this point next year.
Speaker 1: I know they started to deploy him in the outfit
Speaker 1: a little bit.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's a route that he could take to expedite
Speaker 2: his his path the big leagues, right because you know,
Speaker 2: there's there's ample amount of shortstops in this in the
Speaker 2: system right now, or middle infielders, or or just infielders
Speaker 2: in general. Because I think this is a guy that
Speaker 2: was eventually going to grow off a short stop anyway
Speaker 2: and maybe be at third basement. But I think he's
Speaker 2: got the positional flexibility is going to be huge for him.
Speaker 2: And I would like to see that power output translate
Speaker 2: to oultuna for me to really buy in. But twenty
Speaker 2: four home runs, nonetheless, is nothing to sneeze at. Let's
Speaker 2: go to Bradenton. They were home or they were home
Speaker 2: against the Danean Blue Jays. Blue Jays low a affiliate.
Speaker 2: We had a tremendous series from Richard Ramirez, and no,
Speaker 2: not that Richard Ramirez the Bradenton Marauder.
Speaker 1: Richard Ramirez seven.
Speaker 2: For twenty this week, two doubles, three home runs eight,
Speaker 2: RBIs hitting two eighty six on the season. Great series
Speaker 2: from him, you got Breyln Berzobin, Johan delos Santo's up
Speaker 2: from the complex full time. I feel like Braylon Beersobin
Speaker 2: is definitely going to have to fix the approach because
Speaker 2: he's can quite a bit. And that's nothing I'm concerned about,
Speaker 2: because I think there's some electric upside there in terms
Speaker 2: of bat speed and power.
Speaker 1: But something to note. And then rain On Navarro continues
Speaker 1: to stay hot.
Speaker 2: Tuesday, he went two and two third, four hits, three earned,
Speaker 2: two walk, six k's. I mean, it's just the k's
Speaker 2: are coming in on one and after another. Sunday in
Speaker 2: the doubleheader, two and two thirds, three hits, one earned,
Speaker 2: three walk, six k's, another six k's. This guy just
Speaker 2: misses bats. He is a feel for missing bats.
Speaker 4: I gotta say, two man, I feel like even though
Speaker 4: there's still like four walks between those two outings and
Speaker 4: like what six ish innings, I feel like there's still
Speaker 4: trending downward just a little bit, which I feel like
Speaker 4: is all you were kind of asking for at the
Speaker 4: end of the season from a guy like this who
Speaker 4: has already impresses plenty with his stuff. I mean, we
Speaker 4: talk about the fastball so often being this kind of
Speaker 4: unicorn pitch for him. So if he's just able to
Speaker 4: keep guys off base a little bit more via free passes,
Speaker 4: this is somebody like I think has closer upside in
Speaker 4: the long run. Like I think that he's going to
Speaker 4: be a pretty strong relief option, but if he's able
Speaker 4: to stop walking some guys and get some length on
Speaker 4: his outings, this could be a really nice starter for
Speaker 4: them too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And then let's let's look at a
Speaker 2: guy like Levi Sterling. Levi Sterling is a guy that
Speaker 2: I think could be that pitcher to take the next
Speaker 2: step forward. Five innings, three hits, one earn, three walks,
Speaker 2: seven k's on Sunday in the first game of the doubleheader,
Speaker 2: works really well north to south with that fast wap
Speaker 2: in the zone and that true swell twelve to six
Speaker 2: curve ball. And then you look at a guy like
Speaker 2: Erwin Ramirez, an arm out of the international market. He
Speaker 2: pitched on Saturday. The fastball touches one hundred plus. He
Speaker 2: has two secondary pitches that generate plus rooughway with rates.
Speaker 2: I think this is an arm that is going to
Speaker 2: be on our radars even more next year, right, and
Speaker 2: a name that we're gonna circle. But four innings, two hits,
Speaker 2: two earns, two walks, five or four k's on Saturday
Speaker 2: and a seven to five win raw. But like the
Speaker 2: stuff is hard to ignore as it is with like
Speaker 2: a Raino Navarro and some other of these young arms
Speaker 2: like Carlos Matteo, Right, Jay, any anything else from Bredonton
Speaker 2: that you want to highlight before we move on to
Speaker 2: the rookie levels.
Speaker 4: It really feels like if there's just one big takeaway
Speaker 4: from this level in general and the pitching at this
Speaker 4: level especially, it's just that the Pirates have so many
Speaker 4: guys with such electric stuff in this rotation in Bradenton
Speaker 4: right now. I mean, you just talked about like three
Speaker 4: separate arms including Navarro and Sterling and some other guys
Speaker 4: here that just have crazy stuff. They just need to
Speaker 4: learn how to harness it. And I feel like that's
Speaker 4: what you're starting to see guys like Levi Sterling start
Speaker 4: to do. I mean, this season's starting to rack up
Speaker 4: k's like we haven't seen before and previously from him
Speaker 4: ninety four and eighty four innings on the season while
Speaker 4: keeping walks to a relative minimum, which Scott, if you remember,
Speaker 4: that was like the biggest that was like the biggest
Speaker 4: problem for him in years past, which is that he
Speaker 4: couldn't keep guys off base. And if he's able to
Speaker 4: start to control his pitches, learn to pitch ability a
Speaker 4: little bit better, he could end up taking that turn
Speaker 4: like you mentioned.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean absolutely absolutely, and I think that the
Speaker 2: characteristics that they are buying in on in these young
Speaker 2: arms is fair evident at the lower levels and it's
Speaker 2: been fun to watch.
Speaker 1: Carlos Mateo is a name that you need.
Speaker 2: To circle too, Like this is a guy that's got
Speaker 2: elite fastball characteristics, a guy that's got you know, you know,
Speaker 2: high leveragep side, if not more if the command really
Speaker 2: figures itself out.
Speaker 1: But he's still young. A lot to dream on.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of these arms at the lower levels
Speaker 2: that we're going to continue to watch. Jay, Let's get
Speaker 2: to the Complex because the FCL season is now done.
Speaker 2: We had the Complex, the Florida Complex League. They finished
Speaker 2: twenty six and thirty let's take take us through this
Speaker 2: final week here of the season.
Speaker 4: Jay, Really quickly, you have Hazus Travisio making his first
Speaker 4: rehab appearance, I saysur Rebay rehab as well on Monday.
Speaker 4: Later in the week, Xander Meath goes two innings, no hits,
Speaker 4: one walk on Thursday, or your Rebay goes another inning
Speaker 4: there with no hits, no walk or sorry, two walks
Speaker 4: in one strikeout. How does it get up a run?
Speaker 4: It looks like in his time in on rehab, I
Speaker 4: should say you got matheson as well, going one inning,
Speaker 4: no hits, two k's, and at Trevisio again on Thursday,
Speaker 4: going one point one innings pitched, one hit, zero earned run,
Speaker 4: two walks, three k's. Scott, I feel like the forres
Speaker 4: one takeaway down here too, is that this this baseball
Speaker 4: is electric. I don't know if you saw the videos
Speaker 4: circling from the FCL Championships down there, those guys were
Speaker 4: going nuts, like I don't even know if I've seen that.
Speaker 4: Whatever the curve were good back in like the twenty
Speaker 4: seventeen and eighteen days, they just were. They were like
Speaker 4: ready to throw their bodies on the line for some
Speaker 4: of these these FCL Championships.
Speaker 2: Dude, Yeah, complex level baseball is psycho stuff. You gotta
Speaker 2: be a real sicko to really get into that. And yeah,
Speaker 2: I did see the videos. It's awesome. It's love being
Speaker 2: on the backfields and love seeing that energy there. There's
Speaker 2: a lot a lot of positive takeaway from this complex
Speaker 2: level season, even though the record didn't show it. But
Speaker 2: let's go into the DS because the DSL two teams,
Speaker 2: DSL pirates Gold, DSL pirates.
Speaker 1: Black as very big positive.
Speaker 2: Probably the biggest positive out of this DSL season is
Speaker 2: Wilton Guerrero Junior, a recent signing in the international market.
Speaker 2: This week he went nine for twenty two, two doubles,
Speaker 2: three RBIs, three walks, two k's four style and basis
Speaker 2: hit three thirty three.
Speaker 1: So far on the season, he's been tremendous.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 2: I think this is a guy that could take the
Speaker 2: Johann de Los Santos type of.
Speaker 1: Mold going forward.
Speaker 2: As a guy that has elite at the ball skills
Speaker 2: and plus speed. Can he generate more power That's to
Speaker 2: be seen, but he's still really young, right. And then
Speaker 2: DSL pirates Black, Johandro Santos and Janser Custodio. Young guys
Speaker 2: who have struggled with some swing and miss early on,
Speaker 2: especially Santos Custodia start off injured right started like one
Speaker 2: for twenty five, had a good week last week, but
Speaker 2: this week was over eight with one walk, three ks
Speaker 2: Antos again three for twelve, a walk five k's two
Speaker 2: still on bases. They shows plus speed, but they need
Speaker 2: to be able to work to enhance those bat the
Speaker 2: ball skills. Not something I'm worried about this juncture, right Like,
Speaker 2: I think they show that the raw traits at a
Speaker 2: very young age, and they've had a season that you
Speaker 2: can be that you can dream on going forward to
Speaker 2: probably start next year in the DSL as well and
Speaker 2: work their way up the complex.
Speaker 1: To get the state side.
Speaker 2: But it's been a fun season in Dominican Center Late
Speaker 2: Summer League, Jay, he really has been.
Speaker 4: And I feel like people need to remember too, whenever
Speaker 4: you're evaluating this type of talent down here, you're just
Speaker 4: looking for little improvements, right son, Even if you guys
Speaker 4: swing and missing quite a bit, if he's still showing
Speaker 4: those loud tools over a long period of time and
Speaker 4: starting to see some of these, you know, maybe he's
Speaker 4: chasing at breaking balls as much as he did early
Speaker 4: on in the season, or these little growth These are
Speaker 4: things that the pirates and especially the players themselves can
Speaker 4: build on as they go state side, which I think
Speaker 4: you're going to see from a lot of these talents here.
Speaker 4: And I want to touch this really quickly before we
Speaker 4: move on completely. Wilton Guerrero Scott. I feel like whenever
Speaker 4: he signed, he was somebody that you and I were
Speaker 4: just texting back and forth about the swing, like we
Speaker 4: couldn't get over. I feel like we were kind of
Speaker 4: in love with that swinging, that profile, and the tools
Speaker 4: that he brings to the table. So it's been nice
Speaker 4: to see him put together a nice season for down
Speaker 4: here in the Complexes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's got the bloodline right that, yeah, of course
Speaker 2: should translate, But for sure, it's been great to see
Speaker 2: him to evolve throughout this DSL season, this DSL summer.
Speaker 2: Let's get to our players of the week, Jay, before
Speaker 2: we get onto our interview, I'm going to start us
Speaker 2: off with the pitcher of the week. I'll let you
Speaker 2: take care of the hitter of the week. The pitcher
Speaker 2: of the week for the minor leagues is going to
Speaker 2: be Levi Sterling. Levi Sterling is a name that I've
Speaker 2: been talking a lot about a lot recently. A guy
Speaker 2: that I want to highlight, a guy that I think
Speaker 2: is going to take that next step forward. Five innings,
Speaker 2: three hits, one earned, three walk, seven cases week against
Speaker 2: the Danean Blue Jays, A guy that I think is
Speaker 2: really going to be on a lot of people's radars.
Speaker 1: Next he's in. Who is our hitter of the.
Speaker 4: Week, It's Lonnie White Junior, man our guy eight for
Speaker 4: nineteen this week, three runs, a double, three homers, six RBI,
Speaker 4: three walks, five k's, two stolen bases on the season, Scott,
Speaker 4: He's one homer shy between both levels of reaching nineteen
Speaker 4: twelve so far this season in nol Tuona. By the
Speaker 4: way strikeout rate, I feel like he's starting to come
Speaker 4: back for him into a more manageable place. We're seeing
Speaker 4: Lonnie White Junior in a really good spot right now,
Speaker 4: probably the best spot we've seen him in. And it's
Speaker 4: nice to see him get hot because after his twenty
Speaker 4: some game on base streak ended, he started to cool
Speaker 4: off a little bit, but it started to find himself
Speaker 4: again here in the last week.
Speaker 1: I love that man.
Speaker 2: Well, this has been a fun recap of the past
Speaker 2: week down on the farm. Jay, We're gonna kick it
Speaker 2: off right now with a really fun interview from a
Speaker 2: guy that we are very high on, Pirates left handed
Speaker 2: pitcher Connor.
Speaker 6: Wigriff, joining us now on Buco Banter is current pitcher
Speaker 6: in the Pirates organization, Connor Wickgrift. Connor, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 7: Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Connor Man, it's a pleasure to have you on. You've
Speaker 2: had a great season so far, but I want to
Speaker 2: take a step back. You were the seventh round pick
Speaker 2: in twenty four out of Minnesota. How did the program
Speaker 2: in Minnesota prepare you for pro ball?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 5: At Minnesota, had a great time, learned a lot there.
Speaker 5: I kind of got to do my own thing at Minnesota,
Speaker 5: which was kind of led me to Pro ball of
Speaker 5: like routines and stuff like finding routines from everywhere I've been,
Speaker 5: so I think that helped the transition to pro ball
Speaker 5: a lot. Obviously, everyone's here to help you with routines,
Speaker 5: but you kind of got to make sure you get
Speaker 5: your routine in because no one's here to tell you, like, hey,
Speaker 5: get your routine in like it's kind of expectations. So
Speaker 5: having good routines coming in I think was the biggest
Speaker 5: thing that I learned from there.
Speaker 4: For sure.
Speaker 6: You think you have a little bit of a chip
Speaker 6: on your shoulder coming out of Minnesota, and not a
Speaker 6: lot of people talk about the talent that comes out
Speaker 6: of there. I know, we know a lot of people
Speaker 6: that are very talented in pro ball from Minnesota, but
Speaker 6: you feel like it's overlooked a little bit.
Speaker 5: Yeah, definitely, uh, being a northern state, Like I remember
Speaker 5: going to Minnesota, like people telling people I'm from Minnesota
Speaker 5: that are like, where's that like, so like that kind
Speaker 5: of fuels it a little bit. So definitely a lot
Speaker 5: of good talent up there, and yeah, just trying to
Speaker 5: represent that.
Speaker 2: When you look at yourself now compared to uh, compared
Speaker 2: to draft day, where do you think you've improved most
Speaker 2: as a pitcher?
Speaker 5: I would say overall mentality and like game plan going
Speaker 5: into games, like within scouting reports and practice like all that.
Speaker 5: So having a game plan going into each outing a
Speaker 5: lot more in depth than I have in the past,
Speaker 5: I'd say that's probably the biggest thing.
Speaker 6: What was the biggest jump from college ball to pro ball,
Speaker 6: it could be in spring training Bradenton, What did you
Speaker 6: first notice that really stood out?
Speaker 5: I would say the overall frequency, Like just the long season,
Speaker 5: especially that first full season, Like normally we go from
Speaker 5: February to maybe June at the latest in college ball,
Speaker 5: but then June, like when you get to June from
Speaker 5: February in pro ball, like you're not even halfway. So
Speaker 5: just kind of managing that and finding the right workloads
Speaker 5: and all that to be able to perform for the
Speaker 5: whole season was kind of the biggest thing jumping into.
Speaker 7: Pro ball for sure.
Speaker 2: Going into your second full season here in the Pirates organization,
Speaker 2: what has been the biggest emphasis or focus on you
Speaker 2: as a player with the Pirates development staff.
Speaker 5: Yeah, for sure, I'd say adding a little bit of
Speaker 5: v low would be great, But just dialing in command
Speaker 5: as VLO is not the highest of thing in my bucket,
Speaker 5: I would say, as kind of everyone knows, but just
Speaker 5: making sure that command is extra pinpoint and just dialinging
Speaker 5: that in with all the pitches and being very adjustable
Speaker 5: week to week.
Speaker 7: I'd say that's a big thing since I've been.
Speaker 5: Here in Triple A Indie, Like the week to week
Speaker 5: changes that we make like I mentioned, with the game
Speaker 5: plan and stuff, that's kind of the biggest thing that
Speaker 5: I've noticed that we're.
Speaker 7: Trying to work on. So it's been great so far.
Speaker 6: I was watching a video of you on YouTube kind
Speaker 6: of in the lab working on pitch shape and design,
Speaker 6: and it's fascinating stuff because like after every single picture,
Speaker 6: you're either looking at a screen or changing the grip
Speaker 6: and trying to see what works, or picturing the lefty
Speaker 6: righty batter, especially with your arsenal and the type of
Speaker 6: picture that you are. How important is that stuff in
Speaker 6: the off season and then understanding how your pitches play
Speaker 6: off each other.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's very important. Take a lot of pride in
Speaker 7: that throughout the off season. Just dialing in things.
Speaker 5: Obviously, command is the number one, proper, number one thing
Speaker 5: that we got to work on.
Speaker 7: And then once you.
Speaker 5: Dial in that, we can go to the iPad a
Speaker 5: little bit more. And so I always start with dialing
Speaker 5: in the command, and then once I feel like the
Speaker 5: command's in a good spot, then I like.
Speaker 7: To go work in the.
Speaker 5: The actual metrics and try to dial in that the
Speaker 5: shape is a little better, to fully emphasis the all
Speaker 5: the pitch shapes.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'd say that's the biggest thing.
Speaker 2: And this might be a good segue off of that,
Speaker 2: and this sort of a similar question, but for a
Speaker 2: guy that doesn't live in the upper nineties, like you
Speaker 2: said on the Velo side, how important is sequencing your
Speaker 2: pitches when you're important the game?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 7: Yeah, for sure, it's very important.
Speaker 5: Learning how pitches tunnel off each other has kind of
Speaker 5: been the biggest thing, definitely since I've been in pro ball.
Speaker 5: That's another thing I've really worked on, is tunneling pitches
Speaker 5: and knowing what pitches kind of go together. And it
Speaker 5: just keeps getting more emphasized every level and keep learning
Speaker 5: more and more from the catchers, pitching coaches, everyone, So
Speaker 5: it's been a full team effort and working on that
Speaker 5: tunneling as specifically as possible.
Speaker 4: For sure.
Speaker 6: Is it as simple as something is like looking at
Speaker 6: a batter in the box and maybe threw a ball,
Speaker 6: but he jumped a certain way at a pitch, or
Speaker 6: he saw his hands moving in a certain direction, then.
Speaker 1: Allows you to kind of dive a little bit more
Speaker 1: to the arsenal.
Speaker 7: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 5: That That's literally all it is, is kind of watching
Speaker 5: how hitters react in game, Like while I'm out there. Obviously,
Speaker 5: the catcher and I are working very closely together. After
Speaker 5: every inning, they're coming up to me, all the catchers
Speaker 5: in this order grade, so they're coming up to me
Speaker 5: working with me, like based on what they saw, kind
Speaker 5: of talking to what I saw, and just kind of
Speaker 5: doing a full team effort.
Speaker 2: It's been good color how much you rely on analytics
Speaker 2: technology and there's so much out there nowadays in baseball,
Speaker 2: how much you rely on that versus just natural feel
Speaker 2: on the mound.
Speaker 7: I'd say it's a mix of both.
Speaker 5: During the middle of the weeks we look into a
Speaker 5: lot of analytics and all that kind of stuff in
Speaker 5: bullpens and stuff. But once I'm out there, I'm just
Speaker 5: trying to compete, get guys out as fast as possible,
Speaker 5: and like I said, fill up the zone as much
Speaker 5: as possible with the stuff I got. If they see
Speaker 5: something drastic on the analytics side while I'm out there,
Speaker 5: they might say something, but it's got to be pretty
Speaker 5: drastic right now for them to say something.
Speaker 7: In the middle of the game.
Speaker 4: Normally we just take that to the.
Speaker 7: Middle of the week and work on that in the
Speaker 7: middle of the week.
Speaker 6: You mentioned the catchers in the organization. Scott and I
Speaker 6: talked about it constantly. It seems like there's two guys
Speaker 6: at every level that are just dogs. Who are some
Speaker 6: of the guys that you worked with and have really
Speaker 6: stood out to you?
Speaker 7: Yeah, for sure. Derek Berg and I obviously came into
Speaker 7: the org at.
Speaker 5: The same time and have spent a majority of our
Speaker 5: time together, so him and I have grown to be
Speaker 5: very close. Were roommates the whole season before I got
Speaker 5: called up here, and then the previous year as well,
Speaker 5: and then he left for All Tune a little.
Speaker 7: Bit early with the previous year, so we.
Speaker 5: Were roommates as long as we could be super close,
Speaker 5: and he sees my arsenal very well and helps me
Speaker 5: a lot.
Speaker 7: When I first got here with Rafa.
Speaker 5: Flores here, he was very helpful with the working together
Speaker 5: in the game.
Speaker 7: No matter what happened.
Speaker 5: In the game, he's out telling me what he saw,
Speaker 5: what he's seeing in between any innings, how we can
Speaker 5: do things different. So that was super good when I
Speaker 5: first got here to learn from him, And obviously he's
Speaker 5: in the big leagues now, but and now we're working
Speaker 5: with Sean Ross and Cameron bar said they're both very
Speaker 5: good as well helping me with that same stuff. So,
Speaker 5: I mean, all the catchers in the order have been
Speaker 5: great and working with the pitchers, taking a lot of
Speaker 5: pride in that part of their game too, So it's
Speaker 5: been good.
Speaker 2: Along with the catching depth, there's also a lot of
Speaker 2: pictures in the system, especially recently at the upper levels.
Speaker 2: You got you, Christian, Curtis, Wilbert, Hoteil, Antelin, Kelly, The
Speaker 2: list goes on and on talk about how what it's
Speaker 2: like pitching with all those guys. You guys feed off
Speaker 2: each other. Is there a friendly competition?
Speaker 1: What's that like? Yeah?
Speaker 4: For sure.
Speaker 7: Specifically Curtis and I were really close.
Speaker 5: He was also one of our other roommates, so him
Speaker 5: and I have quite a bit of friendly banter that
Speaker 5: we just shoot off each other, just competing against each other,
Speaker 5: and we're also all trying to help each other get better.
Speaker 7: So they've been great to me.
Speaker 5: I've been trying to be helpful to them with whatever
Speaker 5: they have, but they've been definitely helping me a lot
Speaker 5: just in between outings and kind of the midweek stuff.
Speaker 5: So it's been good having a lot of depth in
Speaker 5: the pitching side, for sure.
Speaker 6: You've been able to talk to Christian since he debut
Speaker 6: in Cleveland.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I actually hung out with him the day after,
Speaker 5: so it was it was pretty cool.
Speaker 7: He was pretty stoked. I was stoked for him, obviously.
Speaker 4: But yeah, he was.
Speaker 7: It was awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we were go ahead.
Speaker 6: I was just gonna say, like, he was the first
Speaker 6: guy we ever had on the show, like a couple
Speaker 6: of years ago, and to see like what he's come
Speaker 6: from and where he's now is crazy.
Speaker 5: It's an incredible story, and yeah, it's it's awesome to
Speaker 5: see super pumped for him and his family for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was just gonna echo that. It was really
Speaker 2: cool for us to be in attendance to see that too.
Speaker 2: So Connor, I love to talk about the mental side
Speaker 2: of the game, especially as a former pitcher myself. How
Speaker 2: important you're out there on an island in the middle
Speaker 2: of the field. How important is the mental side of
Speaker 2: the game. And is there any kind of you know,
Speaker 2: rituals or superstitions that you have to get your mind
Speaker 2: back into place if it starts to wonder.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think the mental side is very important. We
Speaker 5: had our mental performance coach here, Andy Bass. He was
Speaker 5: here a couple of weeks ago and literally talking to
Speaker 5: him for almost two whole games straight about the mental
Speaker 5: side and like my routines that I've come from. And
Speaker 5: when I was growing up, I worked with a mental
Speaker 5: performance coach back in Minnesota and he helped me since
Speaker 5: I was like sixteen, and I think that was one
Speaker 5: of the biggest things that helped me get to where
Speaker 5: I'm at, is the mental side and like learning all
Speaker 5: that kind of stuff because the mental side is definitely
Speaker 5: like a huge part of it.
Speaker 7: And so yeah, that's the biggest.
Speaker 1: Thing, Connor.
Speaker 6: For Pirates fans that don't know you or there, they
Speaker 6: want to know the type of player that you are.
Speaker 6: Can you describe what you bring to the table.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm gonna be here.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna fill it up and try to get out
Speaker 5: as quickly as possible. Like I mentioned, probably not gonna
Speaker 5: overpower too many people, but I'm gonna.
Speaker 7: Try to fill it up and get guys out.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Last question for me, Connor, What's what's one thing PIREDS
Speaker 2: fans would be surprised to learn about you? Any interesting
Speaker 2: hobbies or stuff that you like to do off the field.
Speaker 7: I like to spend a lot of time on the
Speaker 7: lake in the summers, all.
Speaker 1: Right, Minnesota.
Speaker 7: Yeah, not really anymore, but yeah, that's kind of something
Speaker 7: interesting I like to do back home.
Speaker 5: A lot of lakes back home, So just spending time
Speaker 5: on the lake with friends, family, that's probably the most
Speaker 5: interesting thing.
Speaker 1: Love that man.
Speaker 6: Well, hey, we appreciate you jumping on the show. Best
Speaker 6: of luck the rest of this season and we hope
Speaker 6: to see you in Pittsburgh soon.
Speaker 7: Awesome, thanks for having me, guys.
Speaker 1: Thanks honnorh Oh rocking.
Speaker 3: One on one. S you see a couple of them
Speaker 3: in My Taste with Me and my lemon egg because
Speaker 3: I like the way it tastes. Best seats at the parents.
Speaker 3: Can't he let me run the base?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 3: My time is like my money because I can't afford
Speaker 3: to waste. Oh why see is a lawyer take my
Speaker 3: date to my dates? Or to stick by the plate?
Speaker 2: Synick