NEW YORK — As Ray Searage watches his pitchers from his perch inside the dugout, Justin Meccage studies them while sitting in a dark video room adjacent to the clubhouse. Meccage, switching through television feeds for different angles, jots down extensive notes on pitch sequences and hitters' tells.
Meccage then submits a report to Searage, bullpen coach Euclides Rojas and Clint Hurdle following each game. His impact goes well beyond those performance reviews, though. Meccage, promoted by the Pirates to assistant pitching coach this past offseason, has used his unique experience to help starters and relievers make in-game and between-start adjustments.
He'll study each game to point out mechanical flaws, offer guidance on how to pitch to certain hitters and utilizes his unobstructed view to help young pitchers transition to the major leagues.
"I tell him every day when we’re getting ready to go out to the game, ‘Get in your hole,’” Steven Brault joked. “He’s always in there. He watches the game super-intensely. He can watch replays immediately when things happen quickly. He’s a good resource to go to when you get out of the game to see what he saw. He’s on top of it. He’s super-focused and detail-oriented.”
The Pirates' young pitching staff has struggled for much of the season, ranking 18th in the majors in WHIP. However, they've shown improvement in some areas, including in-game adjustments. The team's starting pitchers have a 5.20 ERA and .822 opponents' OPS in the first inning of games.
Those numbers improve significantly in the second inning with a 3.60 ERA and .684 opponents' OPS. Additionally, opponents' OPS has dropped from .750 to .716 from the first to second plate appearance in a game. There are several factors behind that improvement, most notably Francisco Cervelli's guidance behind home plate.
But they've found another way to quickly go to "Plan B," as Hurdle referred to the process. Per Major League Baseball rules, only six coaches are allowed in the dugout during a game, so Meccage must stay in the video room and is not allowed to walk back and forth to the Pirates' dugout.
Yet, the Pirates, like many other teams, find a way to relay information from the video room to the pitcher between innings. Meccage explained the process as a pitcher deciding to walk to the video room for a different perspective. Hurdle, on the other hand, was coy about their methods, joking that he uses carrier pigeons to get Meccage's observations to the dugout.
"The first time we’ve had a guy in-house that can watch the game for us from a much better vantage point than the dugout," Hurdle said. "People think that — or at least I talk to some people that think — since you’re in the dugout you’re all-knowing. It’s probably one of the more skewed looks in the ballgame in the stadium. ... He’s right on spot with the view and sometimes based on the TV feeds, different angles to view. The review process he’s really enhanced. There’s times when he can help with what he sees in-game. "
The position is tailor-made to Meccage's strengths. The 38-year-old spent the previous eight seasons as a coach in the Pirates' farm system, most recently as the minor-league pitching coordinator in 2017. A former pitcher in the Yankees' organization, Meccage joined the Pirates in 2011 as the pitching coach for the short-season State College Spikes, where he worked with Tyler Glasnow and Clay Holmes.
He moved on to High-A Bradenton in 2013 and 2014, where he coached Glasnow again, as well as Nick Kingham and Chad Kuhl. Meccage then spent two seasons at Double-A Altoona, assisting in Brault's rise through the organization, as well as those of Edgar Santana and Trevor Williams.
"He's seen me for so many years, so he knows when I'm good and when I'm bad," Glasnow said. "He can point out the smallest adjustment I need. We can bounce ideas off each other. It's been so helpful."
It was during those years that Meccage learned the value of film study, as well as the power of analytics. He'd use the former to monitor pitch sequences as well as each pitcher's mechanics. The latter became useful when analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each pitcher.
The success of his staff there earned him the promotion to pitching coordinator, where he studied pitchers throughout the organization. He'd write extensive reports that were used even by Hurdle when the Pirates shuttled relievers back and forth between the majors and Triple-A.
"What I do is I keep track of a lot of different situations and little things," Meccage said. "Anything that I want to go back to I’ve already got written down, and I’ll go back to review it to make sure I'm right. The game can go fast. You miss it. I put down notes, I'll usually do most of my work while we’re hitting or after the game. It's usually when we're hitting because it’s right away. I can look at it, and it’s fresh in my mind."
Meccage monitors every situation, from umpire tendencies to hitter tells. He recalled a recent game where an opposing hitter had quick hips, indicating he was cheating on a certain pitch. So, Meccage recommended the Pirates pitch the particular player low and away with fastballs, while throwing a slider off that.
Meccage's video study helped reconstruct Ivan Nova's sloppy delivery, and it's pointed out similar flaws with Kuhl and Williams. He's also keenly aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the young pitchers on the staff, moreso than Searage or Rojas. After all, Meccage had a heavy hand in the development of Glasnow, Kuhl, Brault and Williams, among others.
But he defers to Searage and Rojas whenever noticing a possible adjustment that could help with a pitcher.
"I’ll always show him and for the sake of communication," Meccage said of Searage. "He’s the pitching coach. 'Hey, this is what I saw. I have an idea here, what do you think?' That’s the great part about it. He has so much experience. Sometimes I’ll bounce ideas, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?' He might have a good idea on timing or another way to attack it. It’s just another set of eyes. [Rojas] is the same way."
The Pirates' young rotation has struggled to consistently repeat those adjustments from start to start, and struggles have been more prolonged than all involved would prefer. However, the newest addition of the coaching staff has helped correct some of what's ailed them.
"When our Plan A doesn’t work, we’ve been able to go to Plan B quite quickly," Hurdle said. "We’ve made a couple audibles and moved on. Some have happened really quickly. As soon as they come in after the first inning or second inning. 'Hey, this is what we’ve got. We need to modify, we need to adapt, we need to change,' and boom, they’ve been able to pull it off."