What Pirates Scouts Are Saying

May 25th, Yusei Kikuchi,  Tom Gillespie

No comment

June 19th, Randy Messenger, Tony Harris

Harris checked Messenger with Cubs scout Jason Cooper.

"(despite 34-year-old) He has young body and is very smart. Excellent control on his fastball, and good breaking ball there. Very good pitcher."


September 6th, Tetsuto Yamada, Tom Gillespie


"Do I come to see him (Yamada)? All of them."
"(Yamada is a) Really good player. Has speed and power. No doubt in his abilities. Tell me when he become a free agent."

Which Jerseys Did Pirates Starters Choose? [2016 Edition]

	Home				Away
	White	Black	‘79	Camo	Gray	Black
Gerrit Cole	1	0	0	1	2	1
Francisco Liriano	2	0	0	0	2	2
Jon Niese	2	1	0	0	2	1
Jeff Locke	1	0	0	1	1	2
Juan Nicasio	3	0	1	0	1	1
Ryan Vogelsong	1	0	0	0	0	0

What Pirates Scouts Are Saying

September 19th,
Tom Gillespie on Miles Mikolas (RHSP, Giants):

"(He) Kept his team in the game even not at his best stuff. His success of this season would give him big chance (to be back in the bigs). He has the ability to stick in a major league rotation."



September 4th,
Tony Harris on Shintaro Fujinami (RHSP, Tigers):

"With those long legs and arms, it's difficult to control of his body.  That's why there's ceiling. Great potential. He is the best young pitcher (in Japan) comparable to Otani." 


April 8th,
Fu-Chun Chiang on Sho Nakata (１B, Fighters):

"There's no doubt that he has great power.  It's comparable to （Yasiel) Puig's."


on Shohei Otani (RHSP/RF, Fighters):

"Terrific player. He put up great numbers as both pitcher and position player last season. However, it's difficult to be a two-way guy in the bigs. We are seeing him as a pitcher. I would continue to keep my eyes on him."
 

Which Jerseys Did Pirates Starters Choose?

	Home				Away
	White	Black	70’s	Camo	Gray	Black	Throwback
Gerrit Cole	11	1	3	0	10	7	0
Francisco Liriano	1	11	4	1	0	14	0
Jeff Locke	1	10	2	2	1	14	0
A.J. Burnett	0	8	2	3	2	11	0
Charlie Morton	3	5	2	2	9	2	0
Vance Worley	0	3	0	0	1	3	1
J.A. Happ	0	5	1	0	0	5	0
Casey Sadler	0	0	0	0	1	0	0

*5/25: Morton wore the black jersey with camo logo and number.

*7/4: Locke wore the Stars and Stripes jersey.

*7/18: Worley wore the Pittsburgh Crawfords jersey for Milwaukee’s annual Negro League tribute game.

Melancon to Pitch for MLB on Japan Tour

MLB finally announced the roster for the upcoming the MLB-Japan All-Star Series.
Closer Mark Melancon is the only Pirates player on the roster.

No surprise Melancon will participate in the Japan tour. He has traveled to China, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa as an MLB ambassador.

Also, this the second time Melancon visit Japan as a baseball player. He pitched for the U.S. Collegiate National Team in 2005.

I'm thrilled to be representing @MLB in the Japan All-star Series! Do you have any fun ideas for me while in Japan? pic.twitter.com/2PsJbmBVvS
— Mark Melancon (@Mark_Melancon_) November 8, 2014

Pirates players who played in NPB-MLB All-Star Series.
2004 Jack Wilson
1998 Jason Kendall
1992 Bob Patterson
1990 Barry Bonds, R.J. Reynolds
1988 Bobby Bonilla
1986 Rick Rhoden, Tony Pena


All games will be available on MLB.tv. Here is the schedule.

Nov. 11: Exhibition  @ Hanshin Koshien Stadium (6 p.m. JST/ 4 a.m. ET)
Nov. 12: Game 1 @ Kyocera Dome Osaka (6 p.m. JST/ 4 a.m. ET)
Nov. 14: Game 2 @ Tokyo Dome (6 p.m. JST/ 4 a.m. ET)
Nov. 15: Game 3 @ Tokyo Dome (6 p.m. JST/ 4 a.m. ET)
Nov. 16: Game 4 @ Tokyo Dome (6 p.m. JST/ 4 a.m. ET)
Nov. 18: Game 5 @ Sapporo Dome (7 p.m. JST/ 5 a.m. ET)
Nov. 20: Exhibition @ Okinawa Cellular Stadium (6 p.m. JST/ 4 a.m. ET)

EdVol vs. MadBum..#AceOff

I think this photo is one of my worst photoshop works. BUT it was fun to edit.

I'm not really a fan of MLB.com's #AceOff things.
Also, I don't mean Edinson Volquez is the Pirates' ace. Frankie or Cole should be your choice.

Volquez need to pitch like an ace tonight. At least this is certain.

Don't be wild, Eddie. Throw baseball like past two weeks.

Let me raise the Eddie flag to celebrate tonight's win.

Uehara on His Pitchig vs Pirates

It's rare that Japanese baseball players talk about their performance on their blog or Twitter. Usually most of them write about daily life.

Koji Uehara wrote about his pitching and Pirates hitters' approach on Tuesday's game on his blog.

In beginning of his blog, Uehara said that it was lucky that he didn't gave up a home run.

"If you try to get a strike easily on a first pitch against a clean-up hitter, the result would be like this."  - Koji Uehara

vs. Neil Walker
"First batter, a double to right on fastball. I tried too much to get a first strike."

vs. Russell Martin
"Second batter, strikeout on a splitter. I knew he waited (the splitter), but I think it drop well to the inside."

vs. Starling Marte
"Third batter, strikeout on fastball. Apparently, he was waiting for split based on his swing. He had late swings on not-so-fast fastballs."

I thought Marte took late swings because of Uehara's deception. Uehara has a different perspective.

vs. Gaby Sanchez
"Fourth hitter, strikeout looking on splitter. The movement of the final pitch was like a slider. It was not intentional, but I wish I could throw baseball like that (intentionally)."

Uehara said that he is not at his best.

It is very interesting to see that when a opponent pitcher talks about his pitching approach.