Kuhl will start Grapefruit opener vs. Orioles
BRADENTON, Fla. — Chad Kuhl certainly has started more important games.
Plenty that will last longer than this shortened affair.
A few coming outside of Xbox or PlayStation, too.
But as the Pirates look to open their Grapefruit League season Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, it will be the 28-year-old right hander who last season came back from Tommy John surgery to get the ball.
The start was not some sort of motivational carrot, manager Derek Shelton insisted. It really wasn’t anything beyond following instructions handed out by pitching coach Oscar Marin and bullpen Justin Meccage, who Shelton said have controlled who pitches and when in the first few weeks of spring training.
“Oscar told me he was going to pitch,” Shelton said. “[Marin] and [Meccage] set everything up, so, yeah, pitching at least through the first probably 20 games of spring training is all dictated based on work and need. [Kuhl] is pitching because Oscar said so.”
While Shelton typically won’t describe much in the way his lineup or workflow ahead of time, the following pitchers threw live batting practice on the same day as Kuhl and theoretically could be used: Mitch Keller, Tyler Anderson, Wil Crowe, Sam Howard, Geoff Hartlieb, Shea Spitzbarth, Carson Fulmer, James Marvel, Nick Mears and Clay Holmes.
Kuhl went 2-3 with a 4.27 ERA in 11 games (nine starts) last year. He struck out 44 in 46⅓ innings while throwing a greater volume of spin pitches. This spring, Kuhl said he’s trying to use his two-seam fastball more, so you can probably expect to see some of that in the inning or two Kuhl will work.
Changes coming
The game is scheduled to last seven innings, but there’s no guarantee it actually will go all seven. Major League Baseball sent out a memo Friday reminding teams of the new on-field protocols for spring training, which state that games could be shortened if both managers agree.
This applies only to games through March 13. After that, games until the end of spring training can be shortened from nine to seven innings. Shelton said he had yet to chat with anyone from the Orioles to see what they wanted to do.
Clubs looking to modify a game’s scheduled length must notify the commissioner’s office before 5 p.m. the day before the game. Spring training games also can end in a tie.
Lastly, innings this spring can end before three outs are recorded — following a plate appearance — provided the pitcher has thrown at least 20 pitches in the inning.
“It’s a kind of an old-school, minor league, extended spring training thing where you just roll the innings,” Shelton said. “Actually, I think it’s a great rule. I would bet that if you asked all 30 managers, they wish it would have gone in five years ago.”
The reasons for that are obvious. Not only are teams trying to travel with fewer players and limit exposure because of COVID-19, but nobody wants to get hurt. Once everybody has gotten enough work, just call it.
Which is why Shelton said he expects shortened games to possibly become the norm in spring, at least during the second half.
“I would anticipate — and this is a total guess, so don’t hold me to it — that like every fourth day you would play a nine-inning game, but the rest of them are probably seven-inning games, just because of volume early on,” said Shelton, who did not clarify whether this would be the same for seven and five innings early on. “The other thing is you don’t have the 25-30 minor league kids who are in camp that you can use on the backside of games. I think you’re going to see a lot of teams doing it, not only for pitching, but for position player volume early on.”
Extension announced
The Pirates and Entercom Friday announced a “multi-year radio broadcast and contract” extension that will keep games on KDKA-FM (93.7) while also expanding the team’s broadcast footprint.
As a result, Entercom now will air all Pirates weekday afternoon games on KDKA News Radio 100.1 FM and KDKA-AM (1020, allowing The Fan to stick with normal drive-time programming.
(There are a few exceptions for biggerdeal games such as opening day, the home opener or competitive/meaningful contests down the stretch.)
Entercom has been the Pirates flagship station since 2012.
Besides normal game programming, Entercom will use Pirates content to promote its newly acquired FM station, 100.1 FM.
Frazier delayed
Adam Frazier missed a second consecutive day of team workouts thanks to a minor groin issue. The second baseman did, however, hit by himself inside.
“He has a slight groin thing that we will be very conservative with,” Shelton said of Frazier. “It’s nothing that’s anything, but it’s the first week of spring training. Definitely err on the side of conservation.”
Shelton said outfielder Dustin Fowler, whom the Pirates acquired for cash Wednesday, was going through intake testing and should be on the field in a couple of days.