7-12-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
After yet another poor offensive showing, the Pirates will see a bullpen game in the second match of the weekend series with Cole Sands up first to face the bumbling Bucco bats with Travis Adams likely to follow in a bulk innings role.
Sands is typically a SIRP as just 3 of his 39 games this season saw him recording more than three outs. He features a fastball-heavy approach with a mid-90s 4-seamer paired with his cutter and splitter in the high-80s with a low-80s curve and a low-90s sinker.
Batters are hitting .286 against his cutter and .368 against his 4-seamer, which make up 57.2% of his total pitches thrown this season and which he typically locates up in the zone.
Looking at Adams, who made one appearance for Minnesota this season lasting 4 innings while giving up 5 runs off 9 hits and just one strikeout.
Adams is currently ranked the #21 prospect in the Twins system (per MLB Pipeline) and has a 3.68 ERA over 63.2 innings with AAA-St. Paul Saints this year.
He offers a 4-seam/slider/cutter/sinker mix with a lesser-used changeup and curve as well.
Small MLB sample size but he exclusively used the 4-seam against lefties and they were CRUSHING it for a .667 batting average and .833 slugging.
Even in the minors, lefties have been hammering Adams as they are batting .312 against him compared to .197 for righties.
Look to get to Adams early and attack elevated heat. These are not the best that Minnesota has to offer and the Bucs need to make it clear that they won’t lose against just anybody…though, time is running out for them to prove that.
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