North Shore Nine

I’m not seeing how Henry Davis doesn’t make this team. Not only did he launch his second homer in three days, but he also caught five innings without any issues. I just don’t see a scenario where he isn’t one of the top 2 catchers in this organization.

Pirates starter, Roansy Contreras went 2 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out 1, while walking 2 and giving up a single. His fastball averaged 94.7mph, which was down a bit from the 95.2 we saw in his first spring outing. He threw 24 strikes and 25 balls in 49 pitches.

Colin Holderman was unable to get through his inning of relief, throwing just 9 strikes in 27 pitches. After striking out both Andy Ibanez and Bligh Madris, he walked the next three batters, two of which came in to score.

Non-roster invitee, Chase Anderson tossed two scoreless innings as he tries to wiggle his way into the rotation discussion. Prospect Braxton Ashcraft was impressive in his inning of work, striking out two in a perfect 8th inning.

Jack Suwinski finally got going with a 2-run single off lefty Andrew Magno. Canaan Smith-Njigba, who is now fully in a battle for a roster spot with Joshua Palacios sidelined, walked three times and stole his 2nd bag of the spring. Matt Gorski added a 421 ft home run in the 9th.

The second base battle was in full effect today, too. Nick Gonzales went 1 for 3 with 2 GIDP while Alika Williams went 1 for 3 with an RBI single in the 5th to drive Gonzales in. Ji Hwan Bae started in CF and went 0 for 2 with a walk. Termarr Johnson, who is not in that battle despite a strong spring, added another hit to raise his spring slash line to .500/.538/1.083.

The Pirates face the Orioles on Sunday at 1:05pm. Martin Perez will make his spring debut against Grayson Rodriguez. The game will be televised on Sportsnet Pittsburgh and we here at NS9 will be providing our first Postgame Show of the spring following the game.