Pirates insider Jason Mackey from NY before Opening Day
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Bob, it's time for Pirates Insider Jason Mackey. Social media's biggest loser brought to you by Awaken 180 Weight Loss. Visit them at awaken180weightloss.com. Before we get to Jason, who is social media's biggest loser? Limits today.
Oh, man. It might be me with the team that I picked, Joe, for the best Pirates of the 21st century. Have you put it up on Twitter yet? No, you said you were going to do it.
Oh.
I didn't say that. You did say that. You said you were going to do it.
All right, then I will. Yeah, you're right. I think I'll run out of characters. I don't have enough characters. Bob should put it out there because he pays for Twitter. So, Bob, you should put it out there.
Yeah, Bob, you should put it out there.
I don't have enough characters. You have more characters than us. What do you mean you don't have time? I leave here. I take a shower. I go to the TV all day. Do it right now. All right. I'm as busy as Jason is, running around every which way.
Jason, tell us about Connor Griffin. He had trouble hitting the fastball, according to John Wainer, and he's starting in the minors. What was the precise problem, do you think? How does he fix it? When do we see him?
Yeah, I talked to Connor about this yesterday, Joe. Pitchers adjusted about midway through spring and started throwing him a lot more spin stuff, and he started chasing it, and I don't know if that impacted him hitting the fastball. I mean, last year, he hit the fastball a heck of a lot better than he did this year. I mean, my own personal opinion is that he was trying entirely too hard, something I also talked to Connor Griffin about yesterday. I mean, I don't have any issue with them sending him down. I do think there are baseball-related reasons for it, and I think the solution is simply to just kind of get away from the spotlight and get back to being him. That's something he's really eager to do.
I don't think there's any sort of magic swing fix. I think it's a little bit of pitch selection and just not being so kind of overeager on the breaking stuff they were throwing. But he has the ability to do it. It's a matter of a less pressurized situation and actually going and doing it.
So what would be the game plan, Jason? I know he's going to go down there and try to fix this stuff or just get some at-bats, but what's your best guess on when we may see him up here?
Yeah, I mean, I think when he figures some of that stuff out, I think if you see him go down there and play lights out and solve sort of the problems that he encountered in spring, I think it'll be sooner than later. I don't think they have a definitive timeline on it.
What insights does Jason Mackey share about Connor Griffin's performance?
I know when I talked to Connor yesterday, I said, kind of, what did they tell you in the exit meeting about, you know, what might be next or whatever? And he said they didn't really tell him much that was firm. And that's not in a bad way.
What specific challenges has Connor Griffin faced with fastballs?
It's kind of just go down there and play and let's see where this takes us. I don't think there's a magic answer, Bob. I mean, it's wanting to see better results. It's wanting to see more confidence at the plate. I know they went into this spring perfectly amenable to him earning a major league job. If he would go out and do it, I would argue that he didn't do that. He certainly teased us and showed what he's capable of doing. I think they just want to see that consistent production.
How can Connor Griffin improve his hitting mechanics?
They want to see him hitting fastballs. They want to see him be an offensive force. And if that happens for a couple of weeks, I think you probably see him.
How much does the PPI incentive to have him up by April 9th matter to the pirates?
I mean, not a ton. I don't want to say it doesn't matter limits, but I mean, it, it matters in conjunction with everything else. Like he needs to play baseball well, and not that he didn't play baseball well in spring, but like, If there are holes in his game, then the Pirates are doing a disservice to him by bringing him up before he's ready. And the argument can absolutely be made that he's just simply not ready. And so you sort of put everything else there on the shelf.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:23
2
What insights does Jason Mackey share about Connor Griffin's performance?
2:23–2:33
3
What specific challenges has Connor Griffin faced with fastballs?
2:33–2:58
4
How can Connor Griffin improve his hitting mechanics?
2:58–7:54
5
When can we expect to see Connor Griffin back in the majors?
7:54–10:10
6
What factors influence the Pirates' decision on Griffin's promotion?
10:10–10:53
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from The Pomp And Joe Show
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