8-31-23 – By Cody Flavell – @LetsTalkPit on Twitter
While the website publishing “Bucco Blasts” has changed, the content will be staying the same. That’s the cool thing about this lateral move that Gary and Co. have afforded me. I came to Gary asking if I could continue this weekly piece and he obliged.
If you’re unfamiliar with “Bucco Blasts”, let me introduce you. It’s very similar to Gary’s weekly “Five Thoughts at Five” except mine are typically only three or four and, of course, my own opinion.
Now to get into the actual meat of the content.
As it stands, the Pirates are coming off a fresh sweep of the Kansas City Royals. They stand at 62-73 on the season, slowly approaching their 67.5 win betting total on the season.
A 20-8 start slowly crept into nothing more than an anomaly for the remainder of the 2023 season. Injuries, underperformance, and flat out disappointment from a few players highlight what had the chance, at least through the end of April, to be a surprisingly special season on the North Shore.
Unfortunately, that will have to wait at least another year. But you didn’t need me to tell you that. If you’re reading this, you’ve kept up with these Young Bucs clear up to the point of reading this. The unofficial end of the Pirates season is just a week-and-a-half away as most of the city with forget the Pirates exist once that football flies through the air at 1 P.M. next Sunday at Acrisure Stadium. We here at Inside The Bucs Basement won’t leave the Buccos in the dark just yet.
Now, to actually begin the first edition of “Bucco Blasts” to be published on ITBB. Away we go…
Oviedo Has Makings of Legit Pitcher
We all watched Johan Oviedo dazzle the Royals this week. If you want to use the “take it with a grain of salt” approach by saying it’s just the Royals, I understand your line of thinking. However, pitchers don’t stumble into complete game shutouts against other major league hitters on accident.
The 25-year old has thrown 154.1 innings this season, nearly 100 innings more than he ever has at the big league level. Pittsburgh’s coaching staff said they were going to monitor his innings but we’re way past the point of that now. He’ll have 3-4 more turns in the rotation and he should make each one.
Look, he’s pitching with tons of confidence at the moment. He’s had stretches this season where he’s been un-hittable for a month straight and others where it was obvious why the Cardinals were willing to part with him for a rental in Jose Quintana last season.
He started seven games for the Pirates last season and another 27 this season. He’s got a 4.04 ERA across those 34 starts in a Bucco uniform. Considering the landscape of the Pirates’ pitching situation at the moment, I think anyone who’s a fan of the Pirates should be excited about that kind of consistency.
With just 16 dingers allowed this year, Oviedo has kept the ball in the ballpark and that’s great to see over the course of his first full season. His velocity isn’t suffering despite the heavy workload and he’s still effective this late season. Good on him and good on Ben Cherington and Co. for identifying him.
“What is a ‘Yute’?”
If you can’t name the quote the movie is from, shame on you. If you can, you’ll understand how it applies to this portion of the article.
Vinny Capra is a 27-year old baseball player cut from the same cloth of baseball players such as Josh VanMeter, Mark Mathias, and Dovydas Neverauskas. I don’t think I need to explain much here for you to get the point.
Yet, here we are, allowing him to play third base on nights when Ke’Bryan Hayes sits the bench as he inexplicably did Wednesday night. I know the Pirates said they’d limit him the rest of the season but with a day off Thursday and Hayes playing exceptionally good ball, that seems like coaching malpractice. However, I digress.
Capra has 20 career at-bats. His .200 batting average and .561 OPS in that time frame at 27-years old are indication enough that there is a reason he didn’t make his MLB debut until last season for the Blue Jays.
Jared Triolo, the 25-year old who made his MLB-debut this season and plays exceptionally good defense at the hot corner is being punished in Triple-A for being too good in Hayes’ absence. Not really, but come on.
I understand wanting him to play everyday. I don’t think Triolo is going to be a star in the majors but he also has the best batting average of any of the Pirates’ rookies. Don’t you think that’s worth keeping in the majors and seeing playing time on days when Hayes is out? Heck, let him rotate in at first base on occasion. There still is no true “guy” at that spot just yet. Let September be about trial and error.
Vinny ain’t no Yute and while Triolo doesn’t classify as a baby either at 25, he’s younger and has shown way more MLB promise than Cousin Capra.
Action Jackson a 2024 Starter?
Thinking about the possibility of Andre Jackson starting for the Pirates in 2024 isn’t the sexiest thought for their contending credentials. But he’s actually pitching better than anyone could’ve imagined.
On Wednesday, he struck out seven batters across 5.2 innings including the first five he saw to open the game. He’s got 15 strikeouts across three starts and has a 2.92 ERA in six total appearances in Pittsburgh since being claimed by the Buccos. That’ll play.
Following the game, Derek Shelton was asked if Jackson could just become a starter for the Pirates. He eluded to the fact that such an occurrence is possible, if not likely. If this continues, why can’t he be in the Opening Day rotation?
After Roansy Contreras and Luis Ortiz flamed out and are looking to come back to relevancy, the Pirates really only have Mitch Keller and Oviedo as part of their true rotation at the moment. Everything else has been a “roll with the tide” kind of deal.
If he continues to pitch well over his final few appearances, there is no reason to think he’ll set himself up as a front-runner to at least begin 2024 in the starting rotation with a strong Spring Training next year.
Again, this isn’t a sexy outcome. But if it works, it works. No use messing with a good thing while it lasts. If he is just a place holder that can easily be relegated to the bullpen when Paul Skenes makes his MLB debut next year, what is so wrong with that?
Steel City Pirates 
Agree on Oviedo and definitely Triolo, who should absolutely be playing for the Pirates. By the way, the Pirates are 61-73, not 62-73.
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Good story Cody. I love hearing stuff about the Pirates. Triolo should be here playing first. Rivas won’t be back and thats a good thing. You know hez playing his best so as to be noticed and it’s working, hez being noticed for all the wrong reasons. Then to Andre Jackson. I watched him pitch for Indy a couple times and liked what I saw and I’d love to see him in the starting rotation next year. Once Skenes gets settled in we’ll have openings for a 4 and a 5. So Jackson, Contreras and Velasquez if
hez resigned can have at it and I suppose Priester too.
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0. I’m not a gambling man, but a tiny part of me does wish I had taken the over on that preseason win projection, easy money.
1. Oviedo led the league in HBP with 10, last I checked, and while those are relatively few singular mistake pitches not covered by WHIP, cutting down on that stat can make a difference like cutting down on walks. But that’s a nitpick; it’s pretty hard to deny he’s been a consistently solid starter. I’m glad the hopes some of us got up last year have been answered.
2. It’s tough, and to underscore your point, B-R has him 12th on the team (including departed Santana) in bWAR–not a good look to send such a player down. That said, he also has only three XBH in MLB this season, a pretty paltry SLG that as a result has him at 82 OPS+, which is lackluster always. But I do feel like at this point in the calendar I’d prefer Triolo to get starter’s reps. If that can’t happen in Pittsburgh, then it must be Indy.
The baseball operations team created this glut and therefore has to make it work. I imagine Capra gets the DFA once the AAA season ends and Triolo takes his place, so I’m not ready to make this an issue yet. If Triolo doesn’t get recalled for September at the expense of guys like Capra (no offense, all the best to him), then yeah, that’s most definitely an issue.
Excluding the catchers (i.e., Rodriguez and whomever else–maybe Davis in part), they need to find ways to get playing time next season for, presumably: Hayes, Triolo, Cruz, Williams, Peguero, Gonzales, Bae, Reynolds, Suwinski, Joe, Davis, McCutchen, and anyone else who’s either retained or otherwise acquired. Those 12 players plus Rodriguez *maybe* could comprise the entire position half of the 26-man roster, but I’m doubtful Davis could catch enough to make that work, and (to your point) who other than Joe plays first base in this frankly unsatisfactory hypothetical scenario? I will say the likelihood is strong that at least one of those players struggles in ST and goes to Indy, but they’ve kicked the can aplenty and are running out of road. This offseason is clearly time to make more decisions like Rodolfo Castro.
3. Totally agreed. It reminds me of Juan Nicasio in 2016: They gave him the chance to prove he could start in ST, and he was legitimately lights out–I saw it firsthand from the press box. It ended up not really translating to the regular season, so he became a strong reliever the rest of his time with Pittsburgh–a great consolation prize. I foresee something similar with Jackson but of course would be thrilled if he surprised and became a viable starter. Just don’t flame out like fellow young Dodgers would-be SP acquisition James McDonald.
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