Kovacevic: Another awful April not an option

BRADENTON, Fla. -- "Just think about this," Jordy Mercer was musing my way Thursday morning inside the Pirates' McKechnie Field clubhouse. A few feet away, Andrew McCutchen and Josh Harrison were carrying on. "You think about those two guys and myself, and what would have happened last year if we hadn't gotten off to those starts."

Hm. Yeah, it really could be condensed to something so simple:

Through May 6 of 2015, McCutchen was batting .188 with two home runs in 96 at-bats.

Through May 10, Harrison was batting .173 with two home runs in 110 at-bats.

Through May 22, Mercer was batting .171 with no home runs in 111 at-bats.

And on that last date, the Pirates launched a seven-game winning streak that would send them toward 98 wins and a third consecutive playoff berth.

That's not exactly the stuff of coincidence.



"I think about it a lot," Mercer continued. "I mean, what if just I had been able to contribute another big hit here or there. What if all three of us did? Seriously, how many wins would be talking about, 110 or 120?"

Well ...

"Yeah, I know that's a lot. But for sure, we'd be talking about first place."

No question. And since that's the preeminent goal for 2016, the only one even being bandied about in this setting, it would appear nothing less than mandatory that all three of these players are set straight well before the charter heads north at month's end.

To that end, for whatever Grapefruit League performance is worth, all are faring mostly well.

McCutchen belted his third home run in four games in the Pirates' 7-2 loss to the Yankees on St. Patrick's Day, this one yet another moon shot high into the grandstand above McKechnie Field's left-field boardwalk. He sized up Masahiro Tanaka's first-pitch fastball, went full-torque and cracked the ball loud enough to be heard across the nearby Manatee River:



He's off to a 6-for-22 spring.

And did I mention that all three of these blasts have been pulled?

Remember how often Cutch pulled anything early last season?

And remember that knee injury that he adamantly told me was no big deal, even after I learned that there was a specific incident when shooting a TV commercial earlier that spring?

Well, it turns out it absolutely was a big deal, based on a bit that Cutch finally shared Thursday. "It hurt. It hurt a lot," he acknowledged Thursday before the game. He still wouldn't specify what exactly it was -- the Pirates have never done so, either -- but he fessed up for the first time that it did, in fact, affect his performance in those first six weeks, saying, "I wasn't myself. I didn't have my legs. And then I couldn't get back to it through the season because it's tough to do that kind of conditioning when you're playing."

In almost the same breath, though, he sat up at his stall and beamed, "I feel great now. My legs feel great. My legs are back. That's where my power has always come from."

And now?

"I'm feeling pretty good. You can see that."

See for yourself his reaction when I asked about his spirits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NenaIbJn8MQ

At the next stall, Harrison silently, playfully nodded.

So what about him?

Harrison didn't have any publicly disclosed injury -- though I had heard at times last summer that he had some nagging issues -- so his nosedive from the All-Star J-Hay to the J-Hay of 2015 isn't as easy to explain: His average shrunk from .315 to .287, which wasn't awful, but his OPS dropped 120 points, his home runs by nine, his RBIs by 24, and he just flat-out wasn't the same hitter. He didn't exude that same energy.

"I was tired," J-Hay told me, and I'd never heard him say anything of the sort previously. He might have deduced that when seeing my eyebrows raise. "No, really, I was tired. I don't know how else to put it. I was moving around. I wasn't focused. It felt like there was a lot going on. And I know I needed to just focus."

And now?

"I feel good, man," he said. "I'm out there swinging the bat like I used to. I'm hitting it hard."

He credited, in part, management's decision to make him the everyday second baseman in the wake of the Neil Walker trade.

"That's my position, and I know that, so I can just lock in on what I need to do there, what Jordy and I need to do together, and go about my business."

Part of his business, it should surprise no one, was to come up with a nickname for the duo.

"You know it: Salt N Pepa!"

Oh, my. As in ... ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCadcBR95oU

"Yeah, push it real good! Want to hear it on the speakers at PNC!"

Um, OK, back to relevance: Harrison is off to a 6-for-27 spring, which is OK, but four of those hits were doubles and, in general, he's stinging the ball again. His first two at-bats Thursday saw lasered outs, one of which New York's Chris Denorfia snagged with a running, leaping catch on the left-center track.

Mercer is off to a 7-for-26 spring, and that's OK, too. In this game, he smartly tomahawked a single the other way, then was frozen by inside heat and ... eh, it's early. But he looks like nothing like the poor kid who was tormenting himself for two months and, probably more than most people know, came close to losing his job.

"The biggest thing is to just focus on the start. That's how I'm approaching it," Mercer said. "I wouldn't say it's about anything more than understanding how important it is to start well. It's got to happen this year. And it will."

Clint Hurdle isn't exactly underplaying it, either. He's described it as "huge" that all three avoid a repeat, and he's backed that with action: All of the team's regulars -- not just McCutchen, Harrison and Mercer, though with extra emphasis there -- have worked with Hurdle and the staff to influence their own schedules, to some extent. For example, they're discussing select road trips, possible activities on days they aren't playing, that sort of thing.

"Spring is a grind, man," Harrison said. "And it's different for everyone, so we're just trying to do what's best for each guy. Even with the double plays, when Jordy and I talked about wanting to play in games together, they were cool with that. It's been great. Really. I can't wait to get started."

He meant April 3. When it'll be time to push the issue. Real good.

Sorry.