Below Deck: Kramer, Newman look to make mark with Curve taken in Altoona, Pa. (Pirates)

Curve second baseman Kevin Kramer. - AUDREY SNYDER / DKPS

ALTOONA, Pa. – He’s heard the Seinfeld jokes since draft night in 2015 when the Pirates selected him in the second round and shortstop Kevin Newman in the first.

“I don’t get it as bad as he does, to be honest,” Altoona Curve second baseman Kevin Kramer told DKPittsburghSports.com. “We’ve heard it for two years now, so we just kind of expect it more often than not. He gets the brunt of it.”

Newman and Kramer continue to traverse the Pirates’ farm system together, this time with both of them in the lineup for the Class AA Altoona Curve. Since draft day, the two entered the organization together and since had stints with the West Virginia Power and West Virginia Black Bears, followed by a season in Bradenton last year for Kramer and part of a season with Bradenton and 61 games for the Curve last season for Newman.

“It’s a really good working relationship where we can tell each other what we want and what we expect from each other,” Kramer said. “I’ll tell him, ‘Hey, I need this ball on a double play turn here.’ Extremely professional. He listens to what I need and I listen to what he needs and that’s just the way it goes.”



At the plate so far this season, the two draft classmates have gone in opposite directions.

Kramer is already making a name for himself. His 32-game on-base streak came to an end on May 19, one game shy of tying the franchise record. Focused on improving his approach at the plate with a desire to drive the ball, the versatile second baseman – who played third base in college for UCLA but hasn’t played third in the pros and other than a handful of games at short has been locked in at second – is seeing that offseason work pay off.

Through Tuesday Kramer is slashing .305/.390/.508 and his 17 doubles through 49 games have him on pace to outdo the 29 he posted in 118 games last year in Bradenton. Kramer’s five homers have already eclipsed last year’s total of four and he also has three triples. The doubles are an indication that the power will come, said Curve manager Michael Ryan.

“It’s really been trial and error and I’m swinging a lot more than I ever have and just trying to figure out what pitches I can drive and what pitches I can’t drive,” Kramer said. “I’m still refining that and I’ve struck out more than I want to, obviously, but at the same time it’s trying to figure out who I am as this year’s hitter and obviously the changes you make from year to year you gotta get used to it and you got to adjust to it so I’m still refining things.”

Indeed, there have been 47 strikeouts while Kramer tries to work through the adjustments he made in the winter.

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