DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Anthony Alford may not be able to throw at full strength yet following surgery to repair a broken right elbow, but he sure still can hit a baseball.
Alford went deep in his first spring training at-bat of the season Monday, helping the Pirates finish in a 2-2, 6 1/2-inning tie with the Blue Jays at TD Ballpark.
Even with 14-mph winds coming out of right field, Alford’s shot to center looked true from the moment it left the bat at 102.7 mph:
Welcome back to Dunedin, @ajalford_. pic.twitter.com/HTRBZGCsdw
— Pirates (@Pirates) March 1, 2021
Not a bad way to remind the Blue Jays what they once had.
“Felt good to get out there and get that first one,” Alford said after he came out of the game. “It was kind of nerve-wracking playing against my old teammates and a lot of guys I came up through the system with and built a strong bond with, and they’re like family. Yeah, but just to get out there and compete against them, it was a lot of fun.”
Alford was a top prospect in a deep Toronto system for years, but they exposed him to waivers last August after feeling he had not earned consistent playing time in the majors. The Pirates quickly picked him up, with the obvious connection being that Ben Cherington oversaw Alford’s development when he was in charge of the Blue Jays’ system.
Alford showed a spark of that potential in his cameo with the Pirates last year, but it quickly came to an end after he fractured his right elbow colliding with the wall while tracking a fly ball.
“It was obviously a sucky situation,” Alford said. “I was feeling really good when I was playing in Pittsburgh. I was playing free and having fun the short time I was there. Once I got hurt, it was a very emotional time for me, because that was the first chance that I really got to play that much as far as consecutive days in the big leagues, and it was going well until that unfortunate injury. But yeah, I’m just looking forward to getting fully health and, like I said, competing and helping this ball club win.”
Alford said the elbow feels good now, and while director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk praised how his rehab this offseason went, the Pirates are still taking his recovery slow after he experienced a setback shortly before camp. He was the designated hitter Monday, and he is throwing up to 150 feet. Tomczyk said he has no restrictions as a hitter.
“Honestly, the past two days, my arm felt just as good as it did before I got injured,” Alford said. “So that’s a positive sign that we’re moving in the right direction.”
The Pirates kept Alford on the roster all offseason even though there was no guarantee he would come back at full strength this year after his injury. Now he has to defend that spot this spring.
The Pirates signed veteran Brian Goodwin to a non-roster deal last month, and he has a good chance of making the team. The club also traded for Dustin Fowler, another outfielder in the same boat as Alford, last week. He too was once a top 100 prospect, but has not been able to stick with a team.
None of those three can be optioned to the minors, so the Pirates either have to make the opening day roster or be let go. The Pirates already have two outfield spots spoken for with Gregory Polanco and Bryan Reynolds, so unless the Pirates find a way around the issue or decide to carry five outfielders, it looks like at least one person will not make the team.
Not that this discourages Alford. As he put it, “I’ve never really shied away from competition,” and he’s going to focus only on what he can control.
“It’s a lot of competition, not just for me, but for everybody in camp,” Alford said. “Everybody’s going to have to earn what they get for this ball club throughout the year. So we’re all looking forward to it, and it’s a fun environment right now.”
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Starter Mitch Keller was tagged for three hits and two runs in his spring debut, which lasted one inning. His fastball was sitting comfortably in the 94-95 mph range, but he was missing up with it. He did find the zone more as the inning progressed, even if it did lead to some hard contact.
His best pitch of the day was his last, uncorking a 97 mph heater to fan Danny Jansen to end the inning.
“I just kinda said, ‘Eff it’ and threw it kinda hard like I’m used to,” Keller said. “Didn’t worry about where it went. It played out nicely. I think when I throw harder, I actually locate better instead of trying to throw strikes. It was a good learning experience for me. Just kinda getting back into the way I used to feel.”
As for the velocity, Keller said he wasn’t surprised to see it in the mid-90s so early because of the work he did this offseason. That’s something to keep an eye on after his fastball would occasionally lose some zip last year.
• Not a whole lot of offense in this one. Alford homered in the second and Phillip Evans tied it with a base hit in the third. Both teams only had three hits on the day, though the Blue Jays had one last turn at the plate since didn't bat in the bottom of the seventh, as both teams agreed before the game.
Nick Gonzales entered the game as a defensive replacement in the fifth and popped out in his first plate appearance of the spring.
• Kyle Crick made his first spring appearance, walking and striking out a batter. His fastball was in the low-90s again like last year, but he said earlier in camp that he usually finds his velocity later in camp.
Again, just something to monitor as spring progresses.
• Blake Cederlind and David Bednar both looked like they could be ready for opening day, sitting in the upper-90s with the fastball and getting whiffs. Bednar struck out two, both with the four-seamer, and Cederlind got a punchout on a cutter that seemed to have a little more sink than usual.
Lefties Chasen Shreve and Blake Weiman also threw clean innings.
• In case you missed the big sports news of the day in Pennsylvania, fans will be allowed back into PNC Park this season after the state lifted some restrictions. As an outdoor venue, the Pirates can welcome up to 20% capacity, and they will announce the details around ticket availability in the coming days.
“I feel like I didn’t really get the full experience of PNC,” Alford said about the idea of playing front of fans again. “Obviously it’s a beautiful field and I’ve heard a lot about it, just a lot of history there especially with just the ballclub and Pittsburgh, and I’m looking forward to just getting there, even if I can’t interact, just being able to see fans in the stands and making it feel like some type of normalcy in the end.”