Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What insights does Michael McKenry provide about the Pirates' 1-3 start?
You know what time it is? Every Tuesday during baseball season, this time of year, Michael McHenry, Sportsnet Pittsburgh, joins the broadcast. Michael, good to see you. Looking well, doing well.
Good to see you and good to be seen. Appreciate it.
Yeah.
Heard the guys just gave up on you today.
Well, Joe is under the weather and Tuesdays are not Pompey any days.
Oh, I thought he was like in and out. Sorry.
My bad. Well, yes, he is in and out.
I didn't want to throw Joe under the bus because he's supposed to work every day.
Yes. Bob only works Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays typically unless there's a change in the schedule.
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Chapter 2: How has Jared Triolo's performance impacted the team's strategy?
The typical starter catches well over a thousand. So he's never had this opportunity where he's going to get into that territory where he may have a run like he has in the minor leagues for two, three weeks where he's harder than fire. He's never had that opportunity in the big leagues at all.
I thought Braxton Ashcraft was really good last night. Career high six innings, spun the curveball well, did allow two runs in the fourth that came across. But, Michael, you give up two runs over six innings. You should expect to win those games a fair amount of times. What did you make of Ashcraft, and what's his ceiling? What's his potential? Was that just the beginning of what he can unlock?
Yeah, I'll tell you something that Jacob Wilson told Jack Wilson, and obviously Jack came to me because we're really close. Out of all those guys outside of Skeens, Ashcraft was the toughest guy. All those guys. Like every ā across the board, Oakland said Ashcraft has deception. The ball jumps on you. The spin is different. So that's even including Bubba. That's including Majinski and ā
Most of those guys have faced Keller. So that says a lot, right? Because we're going to watch Bubba today. It's electric. I think what impressed me the most yesterday kind of speaks to your question about what's the ceiling. He shouldn't lead with this curveball. He did a Paul Skeens and a Mitch Keller. He said, this is my best breaking ball.
And him and Henry kind of flipped the entire game plan. The Reds do hit the fastball well. But what an incredible job by him seeing what is available for him that day, utilizing it a ton, and then getting deep in the ballgame because a lot of times when that happens, you don't get deep because that's not necessarily just a strike pitch. His slider is usually his go-to off-speed in the zone.
That curveball was nasty, and I'm excited if he can continue to build on that. This guy could flash being a one at times, but he is a two-three in a lot of rotations across the league.
Skeens is going to go tomorrow, the first time we've been able to talk to you since opening day. Just evaluating the 40 or so pitches that he threw in that game against the Mets, what do you think went wrong and how much can it spiral for a pitcher when the O'Neal-Cruz, two errors that were not deemed errors but were errors, ultimately happen in an inning?
Yeah, it can spiral on most people. Skeens is just not most people. So, you know, he really was pitching exactly like he was in spring. He just didn't have any good fortune. We saw this last year. His kind of ramp up, it takes him a minute to get that timing. And when he's driving the ball inside to right, he's away from lefties. He never gets to that extension side.
And I think because of World Baseball Classic, he'll never say this, and I don't expect him to. But because of those amped up innings, and even last year, you know, You look at how he kind of approached it. He was working on things. I think the World Baseball Classic just didn't allow him to get all that time in. But he pitched the same way last year, early in the season.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of moving Triolo in the batting order?
Wow. Roger Hornsby, highest career slugging percentage by a second baseman. Len Ronco.
Yeah, he knows what he's trying to do when he gets up there. That's the cool part. Him and O'Hearn, two different guys. You have Lau trying to go deep and create it. You should look up the fly ball conversion to home runs. It's almost perfect. I think it was 127 fly balls and 30-something home runs last year. Everybody in America would love to be able to do that. Most guys can't.
But he's been able to maximize his potential by creating loft in his swing. And I think he's going to help the Pirates in so many ways.
Michael, why do you think that O'Neal Cruz and Brian Reynolds are getting off to slow starts? And who would you be more concerned with moving forward?
Reynolds, I'm never really concerned with. He's going to hit. He's always fiddling with the swing right now. He's not... sinking down into his legs, kind of loading back into that hip. And maybe that's because the ABS, because it measures height. So he's trying to stay a little bit taller. I don't know. I'm looking forward to talking to him, but it's going to come together for him.
It always does. He always has that run or two. If he has three, he's usually an all-star where he just absolutely dominates the baseball. O'Neal Cruz, I think he just looks uncertain. I think it's all in his head. I think he wants to be great. People think he doesn't care. That's not the truth. He actually is really disappointed when he makes mistakes.
But I love how he's owned every mistake this year. Even that first game made a mistake, and then ā
it kind of came back to him with the sun and he owned it and we would have seen maybe in years past where his head would have been tilted down he wouldn't have said you know all of it but he walked us through the entire situation with no excuses so i think having azuna there and someone to rely on like he did in 23 with santana i think it was no 24. um he raked that year i mean he was a three-word player that year and i think we're gonna see that guy if not better this year
How do you unlock that out of him? What does Johnny Kelly have to say to try to flip that switch? Because I felt like his at-bats yesterday were not nearly as good as they were on opening day.
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Chapter 4: How does Henry Davis' early performance affect the team's outlook?
It's tough to do when they haven't established themselves. But I think we're in this area of not understanding this giant avatar that can run like the wind, that can throw a ball a thousand miles an hour and hit it 5,000 feet. And at times we've seen him hit lefties at a 400 clip for six weeks. So like everything that people say, it's in a small sample size.
When we've seen them do everything of greatness in small sample size, how do we untap that? I think we say, it's yours, go. You're in for 162, good luck. And it may be the worst decision in America, but I think it could be the best.
It could. I just wonder, where's that tipping point? I don't know.
That's the thing. That's why those guys over there get paid the big bucks to make those decisions. Because it is tough. And there's a lot that even the fans don't know. There's things I will never know. I do know O'Neal Cruz is a joyful guy. And when he's... kind of jumping around being that kid on the field, you're getting the best version of him. I know that for a fact.
And I know the coaching staff over there is literally teaching and teaching and teaching. He knows what to do. It's just learning. And you got to think it's always changing left and right field. And this guy is always changing. So the communication the other day on that relay, the play he did, and he took over that shows huge growth for me.
How do you feel about their defense through the first four games?
Um, the way they bounced back after the first game, uh, I think it was awesome. I mean, there's some things that maybe went unnoticed for fans, but I thought the communication was a little off, but, um, and guys out of position, but I think it's been pretty good. I think we, uh,
going into the season if you looked at our team on paper defense was probably the question mark of like guys playing in different positions um and whatnot but i think they've also kind of set it up that way it'll be interesting to see the lineup today with the lefty going for cincinnati do they go back with joey bart behind the plate do you put uh mangum in for cruz does i'm sure o'hearn's going to come in and play first um so it's going to be interesting how that all unfolds because that makes a better defense but you take away some of the offense
Yeah, that's where I feel like, and Nick Callis and I were going back and forth on the McCutcheon topic, and I know you and I have talked just in text back and forth about McCutcheon. That's where I feel like he would have fit into this team, Michael. I mean, there's not a lot of left-handed pitchers in all of Major League Baseball, but pinch hitting for Triolo last night.
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Chapter 5: What are the expectations for Braxton Ashcraft's pitching potential?
Absolutely. Appreciate you guys and take care of yourself.