The NS9 Report is the start to your week. Posted bright and early every Monday morning, I’ll break down the three things that I’m looking for each week in Pirates land.
Off Beat with Alex Stumpf
If you haven’t heard the news yet, shame on you for six weeks. But here it is again—Alex Stumpf is bringing his talents to the North Shore Nine. Pirates free agent beat writer has signed on to do a daily podcast on NS9 airwaves that will give listeners insight to all things Pirates, inside info to what he’s hearing and news and his reaction to everything that goes down with the Pittsburgh Baseball Club. Off Beat with Alex Stumpf starts later this week and will be a quick, 15-minute daily pod packed with news and expertise to get your day started with the Pirates.
Stumpf has quickly established himself as one of the best and most professional beat writers in the industry. He’s written for such outlets as DK Sports, MLB.com and his work has been featured on FanGraphs as well. Off Beat with Alex Stumpf launches this week so make sure you subscribe to our podcast and on our YouTube channel. We are thrilled to welcome Alex to the team, and I can’t wait for the first show later this week.
Pirates Make First Cuts
On Sunday the Pirates announced their first roster moves of camp as they option infielder Jack Brannigan and RHP Ryan Harbin to Triple-A Indianapolis. Neither of these moves are a surprise by any means and there will be many more moves over the next two and half weeks as we get closer to Opening Day.
Brannigan and Harbin come as no surprise because neither were expected to make the team and the moves likely come now because both players are currently injured.
Brannigan took a bad hop to the face from a grounder that broke his nose during a Grapefruit League game on February 22. After hitting 18 home runs at High-A Greensboro in 2024, Brannigan struggled last season at Double-A Altoona with a slash line of .225/.329/.358 and five home runs in 59 games before having season-ending shoulder surgery. Brannigan, who was added to the 40-man roster earlier in the offseason to be protected from the Rule 5 draft, will be sidelined again with another bout of bad injury luck and time will tell for when he’s back and ready for game action.
Harbin, who pitched three levels last season in the minors, will likely be headed for the 60-day IL as he was shut down from throwing for six weeks back on Febuary 23 as Colin Beazley reported below.
More moves will be coming and probably will be scattered from now until March 26. Of course the main move everyone is waiting to hear about is if Konnor Griffin will make the roster or not, but I believe that decision will come down to the wire. The Pirates now have 62 players remaining in Major League camp and will need to get down to the 26 players to go north with for Opening Day.
Good and Bad Performances at the Halfway Point
The Pirates are 11-5 and at the halfway point with 32 games scheduled in spring training so I figured it was a good idea to break down some of the top and worst performances of spring so far. Hey remember what I said about spring training stats? If a player is doing well, it’s a sign he’s in for a big year. If a player is struggling, the stats mean nothing and they were just working on some things. Those are the rules! Anyway, let’s get into it:
Hot Springs
Jhostynxon Garcia: .500/.583/.650 (10-for-20), 1 HR and 3 RBI
Yordany De Los Santos: .500/.545/1.500 (5-for-10), 3 HR and 8 RBI
Ryan O’Hearn: .438/.545/.875 (7-for-16), 2 HR and 8 RBI
Jake Mangum: .348/.375/.478 (8-for-23), 2B, 3B, 2 RBI
Mitch Keller: 1.23 ERA and 9 strikeouts in 7.1 innings
Braxton Ashcraft: 3.38 ERA and 8 strikeouts in 8.0 innings
Carmen Mlodzinski: 2.45 ERA and 9 strikeouts in 7.1 innings
Hunter Barco: 3.68 ERA and 9 strikeouts in 7.1 innings
Tom Harrington: 1.50 ERA and 2 strikeouts in 6.0 innings
Nick Gonzales: .538/.571/.615 (7-for-13) and 2 RBI
Cold Springs:
Joey Bart: 1-for-18 with 9 strikeouts
Henry Davis: 0-for-12 with 1 strikeout
Bubba Chandler: 10.50 ERA with 10 walks, 9 strikeouts in 6.0 innings
Enmanual Valdez: 2-for-21 with 7 strikeouts
The good news is there’s a lot more hot springs than cold ones at least. Again, it’s spring training. We’ve seen players lead the Grapefruit League in hitting during spring and then look like the coldest hitter in April. Obviously you want to see guys succeeding than not, but here we are. Also, Konnor Griffin is tied with De Los Santos with 3 HRs in camp, but is 4-for-20 overall.
Cruz, Rowdy and Skenes in WBC
Bonus coverage! The World Baseball Classic began last week and if you haven’t been watching, it’s been pretty lit. Here’s the Oneil Cruz pinch-hit HR into the second deck in case you missed it:
Not to be out done, former Bucco and lightning rod Rowdy Tellez legs out an infield single for Mexico. Yes, you read that right. Here’s visual evidence of said situation:
And one of the cooler things about the WBC is the players that have been out of the game for some time that come back to compete for their country. Like former Pirates pitcher Vance Worley. VANIMAL was back on the mound for Great Britain…
Oh, and this guy is pitching Monday night at 8:00PM against Mexico…
Paul Skenes is about as pumped to represent Team USA in the WBC than anyone I’ve ever seen do it. He’ll be on an obvious pitch count with only a couple outings so far this spring and we are hoping for a healthy outing, but Monday night is going to be must see TV for Pirates fans.
Until next Monday, this has been the NS9 Report.
Leave a Reply