4-29-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on X
There’s no sugar coating it, this offense is not working. There are signs of some guys starting to find it a bit here and there, but it almost feels like when one does another who was taking a step falls back.
I’d love to tell you the A’s will be a cure all, but the A’s just finished splitting a series with the Yankees and winning one against the Orioles. They may not be a good team, but they don’t seem all that interested in playing patsy in 2024, at least not yet.
This will mark the last series the Pittsburgh Pirates will ever play in Oakland as next year the A’s will temporarily relocate to Sacramento and ultimately on to Las Vegas.
4/29
A’s – Joe Boyle (R) – 1-4, 21.2 IP, 7.06 ERA, 24 Ks/16 walks, 1.80 WHIP
Pirates – Bailey Falter (L) – 2-1, 27 IP, 3.33 ERA, 18 Ks/7 walks, 0.89 WHIP
4/30
A’s – Alex Wood (L) – 1-2, 27.1 IP, 6.59 ERA, 25 Ks/13 walks, 1.98 WHIP
Pirates – Mitch Keller (R) – 2-2, 35 IP, 5.14 ERA, 32 Ks/13 walks, 1.49 WHIP
5/1
A’s – Ross Stripling (R) – 0-5, 34.1 IP, 4.98 ERA, 25 Ks/8 walks, 1.49 WHIP
Pirates – Quinn Priester (R) 0-1, 10.1 IP, 3.48 ERA, 8 Ks/2 walks, 1.16 WHIP
A’s:
Tyler Nevin has been on a tear. The outfielder in his last 15 ballgames has 2 homers, and is slashing .327/.375/.481. His expected batting average for the season is .239 while his actual average is .289, so he is the very definition of a hot player, his peripherals indicate this should come to a close before too long.
Pirates:
Alika Williams has really never stopped hitting this year. He’s slashing .314/.351/.457 with an OPS of .808 on the year, hardly the all glove no stick profile many of us expected to see this season. With how the Pirates have been hitting I wouldn’t be shocked to see him eat into Jared Triolo‘s second base time a bit, even if it’s just an effort to get a spark. Power isn’t his game, but let’s be real, trying to show power has been an issue for a ton of their hitting prospects and veterans alike, it’s kinda refreshing to watch a kid that just wants to make contact and run hard.
A’s:
Ryan Noda has been ice cold this season. He wasn’t spectacular in 2023, but he did hit for some power and got on base at a decent clip for the tanking A’s, but this year has been a different story all together. In his last 15 he’s slashing .105/.244/.237 and his OPS is .429 on the young season.
Ice Cold first basemen is going to be a theme.
Pirates:
Rowdy Tellez had a couple hits and a walk including his first two extra base hits (2B) since Easter Sunday in Miami where he hit a 3 run homerun, but one game does not a turnaround make. His last 15 games, .163/.229/.209 and his season long OPS is .561. The team will undoubtedly try to see if yesterday’s contest was the beginning of him breaking out, but Rowdy will only ever get so hot even if and when he does rebound.
Key Injuries
The A’s are missing J.D. Davis and Zach Gelof, it could be argued that Gelof was their best hitter so far in 2023 so obviously a bad development. Oblique strain, but it sounds like Davis could be back as early as this week, he’s rehabbing in AAA-Vegas as a DH.
We’re officially in Yasmani Grandal watch for the Pirates, the storms in the Midwest disrupted his rehab assignment, but a floundering Henry Davis and a need for just about any change to try to catch a spark would seem to have his reinstatement to the MLB roster imminent.
Ryan Borucki is expected to start a throwing program in the coming days, if everything goes well we could expect to see him back sometime close to mid May.
What To Watch
Local product Mason Miller is both an electric pitcher who regularly hits triple digits on the gun, he’s actually touched 104 this year with insane movement, but he’s also just an incredible story of a phenom coming out of nowhere. I put him under the what to watch section but if you’re a Pirates fan, and why would you be reading this otherwise, hope you don’t see him in this set, because if you do it’ll likely mean your team is about to lose.
Steel City Pirates 