BRADENTON, Fla. -- Nick Gonzales told me he will "definitely" be at PNC Park this year. He's sure of it.
Well, as a fan, at least. He’s going to make the jump to Class AA Altoona this year, which is only about a two hour drive from the big club. But don’t rule out the possibility that he could show up as a player, too.
Ben Cherington takes a stance that once a player is in Class AAA Indianapolis, they're no longer a prospect and are someone who could potentially contribute at the major-league level. And with pitchers throwing harder than ever, even at lower levels, the leap in competition between levels isn’t as high as it has been.
It’s why last year four different prospects made the jump to the majors with little or no experience with Indianapolis: Infielders Rodolfo Castro and Oneil Cruz and pitchers Roansy Contreras and Max Kranick.
“Obviously there’s more opportunity at the AA level, but you’ve still got to dominate,” Quinn Priester told me. “You still have to do really well, like those guys do. Oneil does ridiculous things. Rodolfo only hits homers. Those guys, you see why. They’re incredible, incredible baseball players. The standard’s high. Those guys set the bar high.”
Altoona is supposed to host many of the Pirates’ top minor-leaguers this year on opening day, including Gonzales, Priester, Liover Peguero, Michael Burrows, Mathew Fraizer and Carmen Mlodzinski, all of whom rank in Baseball America or FanGraphs’ lists of the team’s top 10 prospects. Of them, Peguero would seemingly have the best chance since he’s already on the 40 man roster, and Burrows and Fraizer will need to be added this winter anyway to protect them from the Rule 5 draft, boosting their odds.
The threat of COVID-19 outbreaks still lingers, a shorter spring training could result in more injuries and the Pirates haven’t shied away from promoting younger players. All of that could play into more and more prospects making their debuts in 2022.
MORE PIRATES
2. Not to suggest they have an inside scoop on the negotiations, but there’s a lot of optimism among coaches at Pirate City that Major League Baseball and the player’s association will reach a new deal soon. There’s barely any time left, though, because if a new deal is not reached by Monday night, the league says regular season games will be canceled, not just postponed. -- Stumpf
3. I don’t know if Henry Davis will end up being the best player on the Pirates in a couple years. I’m confident he’ll be the captain of that future Pirates team. He carries himself the right way, and every conversation I’ve seen him have with a pitcher has been engaging on both sides. Not to overstate the value of the intangibles or whatever “it” is, but he’s got “it.” -- Stumpf
4. On defense, I’ve noticed that Davis has taken a lot of pitches on one knee. That’s become more common with catchers across the league, especially for those who are trying to frame low strikes, and while he did mix it in at Louisville, he mostly worked out of the crouch in college. It’s spring, so this could just be him taking the opportunity to work on a part of his receiving game. It’s something worth keeping an eye on, though. -- Stumpf
5. Oscar Marin is down here, spending time working with the new minor-league pitching coaches and the analytics people and watch the prospect pitchers. Jeremy Bleich, a major-league assistant on the coaching staff who specializes in analytics, is also here. -- Stumpf
6. This was said in passing, but when Bubba Chandler was introduced as a two-way player to a media member he hadn’t yet met this week, he added a quick, “for now.” He’s working as a hitter and shortstop now, but it’s clear that if the Pirates had to choose for him to be a hitter or pitcher, they want him to be a pitcher. Everyone is still on board with him being a position player and pitcher in 2022, but it’s fair to wonder how long they’ll let the experiment continue, especially since it’s always hitting that gets rolled back when he needs more rest. -- Stumpf
7. Even in just the couple months from the “Get Better at Baseball” camp in November to spring training now, I’m noting Mason Martin making more contact on some of those unorthodox drills, like having a four pitch machine fire pitches from halfway between the mound and plate. Maybe his work with the occlusion goggles helped. If he can cut down on his swing and miss and strikeouts, then he has a much better chance of producing in Class AAA and the majors. -- Stumpf
STEELERS
8. The most surprising thing about Kevin Colbert's press conference on Monday was the Steelers' GM mentioning Kenny Pickett by name. I've covered all 22 of Colbert's seasons with the Steelers and can't recall him ever mentioning any player by name in that span in the pre-draft process.
It falls in line with my report from the Senior Bowl that the Steelers like Pickett enough to take him with the 20th pick in the first round. -- Dale Lolley on the South Side
9. I know, all of the amateur draft analysts out there are going to scream that there's no way Pickett will last until the 20th pick. But just know that the pecking order at quarterback, let alone this draft as a whole, is very much in a state of flux.
Pickett's hand size is absolutely a big deal. Some are estimating based on photos of him gripping the ball that his hands might actually measure in at less than 8 1/2 inches. That would cause his stock to drop in the eyes of some teams.
Colbert did address that Monday, as well.
"Sometimes those things are misleading," Colbert said. "I always tell the story when people talk about hand size. Herman Moore was a great receiver that we had with the Detroit Lions, and Herman Moore was 6-foot-4, but his hands measured eight-and-a-half (inches) and Herman Moore had great hands. Well, Herman couldn't spread his fingers, but his fingers were very long. So sometimes we get caught up in that. I look more at statistics. From a fumble standpoint, you know, how did the player lose the ball? If he fumbled it? How is he delivering? Does it get to where it needs to get to? So sure, we look and take in as much information as we can, but in general, what is going to evaluate the player overall?"
According to Fox Sports, Pickett had 23 fumbles in his first three seasons at Pitt before improving that to just three in 2021. -- Lolley
10. Colbert also was quick to mention that this draft class isn't as deep at quarterback as some previous years. We've seen as many as five go in the first round in two of the past four drafts. The other two years, there were four and three, respectively.
"There’s good quality available," Colbert said. "Probably not as many as there have been in recent years."
But he also said that "some of them will be starting quarterbacks, winning quarterbacks."
Reading between the lines, that suggests to me the Steelers believe there are only a couple of quarterbacks -- three at most -- worth taking in the first round this year. -- Lolley
11. The more we get into the search for a GM to replace Colbert after the draft, the more I become convinced the Steelers will look outside the organization for a replacement.
As Colbert reiterated this week -- and as I've been saying all along -- the Steelers want a football talent evaluator, first and foremost, in the position. That would leave them with one internal candidate who fits that criteria, Brandon Hunt.
The candidate, to me, who might fit that role best with this franchise would be John Wojciechowski of the Packers. The Steelers and Packers typically approach things in similar fashion, typically trying to build through the draft as opposed to making a big splash in free agency.
The Plum native played four years at Duquesne and began his scouting career with the Steelers in 1996 and 1997. Like Colbert, he also spent time working for BLESTO as an area scout before working with the Jaguars, Cowboys and Packers.
There are other strong candidates. But Wojciechowski's background is the most similar to that of Colbert. -- Lolley
12. I specifically asked Colbert if Stephon Tuitt has expressed an interest in playing football in 2022 after he said the team has been in contact with the defensive end.
"Yeah, we’re open, we’ve talked to him, and we’ll continue to visit with him," Colbert said.
Then, consider what Art Rooney II said Thursday with our TV partner WPXI's Jenna Harner. "We don't know at this point where Stephon is going to be and what his ability to compete for a position here next season is going to be," Rooney said. "We've left the door open."
That leads me to believe the team might be interested in asking Tuitt to take a pay cut of some type from the $9 million base salary he is due. That seems fair since the Steelers restructured his contract last August to convert nearly $8 million of his salary into signing bonus. That lowered his 2021 salary to $1 million and created some cap space for the Steelers.
It also paid Tuitt a healthy sum of money for not playing football in 2021. The team also could believe it's fair to expect Tuitt to play for a lesser amount in 2022 given the situation. If he wants to still play football. -- Lolley
13. The league's rumor mill will kick into high gear next week at the NFL Scouting Combine. It's also when we could start to see some movement on the veteran quarterback market.
Remember, two years ago the hot rumor was that Philip Rivers would be released and would be joining the Colts. That was pretty much a done deal by the time the combine ended and came to fruition. -- Lolley
14. The Colts on Thursday hired former Steelers safety Mike Mitchell as their assistant defensive backs coach. To be honest, I thought Mitchell was a pretty cerebral player. He really was a student of the game.
Now, that being said, if he coaches with the same chip on his shoulder with which he played and reacted to slights -- real or imagined -- I don't know if that will work out for him. We'll see.
Mitchell was always a player who knew exactly what everyone was saying and writing about him. And he blocked every writer in the Pittsburgh market who covers the Steelers -- before he had ever played a down for the team.
That kind of sensitivity to what people are saying or writing about you won't do him any good in the coaching world. -- Lolley
PENGUINS
15. Although situations can change and opportunities can arise in the time it takes to make a single phone call, the Penguins still aren't expected to be particularly active -- if they're active at all -- before the March 21 trade deadline. "I don't think there's a crying positional need on this team," a member of the front office said recently. Even if Ron Hextall and his staff do identify a pressing need, they would have to clear significant salary-cap space in order to address it. "We're capped out," the individual from the front office said. "There's not much we can do, in terms of adding people unless we move people who make (substantial) money. ... We'll probably shop at (a discount store) again." -- Dave Molinari in Cranberry, Pa.
16. As noted above, evidence now points toward the Penguins not making a major move before the trade deadline. But if they do pull one off then -- or even before the 2022 draft, set for July 7 and 8 -- it seems almost out of the question that they'd part with their first-round choice. The Penguins have had just one No. 1 pick in the past seven drafts (Sam Poulin in 2019), which is part of the reason they have so few high-level prospects in the organization. "Nothing has changed that thinking from our standpoint," one personnel official said. "We've got to start accumulating assets again. We went through a phase where we shed assets. There were smart reasons for it -- we traded first- and second-round picks and we won -- and that's the test. Those deals make sense when you win. But at some point, we have to stop that trend." -- Molinari
17. While there's no indication that a decision is imminent, it will be interesting to see what career course Matt Cullen ultimately decides to follow. His work in player development has been widely praised, as has his performance in recent weeks while filling in for injured assistant coach Todd Reirden. Cullen also has shown an aptitude for identifying talent, which means he probably could be effective in a front office/personnel capacity. Whichever path he chooses to follow, the combination of his personality and professional acumen make him someone the Penguins should strive to keep in their organization, although convincing him to relocate from Minnesota might be a challenge. (Then again, former assistant GM Patrik Allvin lived in Michigan, so perhaps that wouldn't be a major hurdle.) -- Molinari
18. The Penguins have made no secret of their satisfaction with the way Poulin has handled the move from left wing to center in Wilkes-Barre. "That is the ultimate compliment for a forward, that you're good enough to play center," president of hockey operations Brian Burke said. "That's something I never would have predicted." Poulin is not the only prospect who has received positive reviews for his work of late, however. "(Nathan) Legare and Poulin both -- and (Filip) Hallander -- all had rough patches in November and December, but we've had a nice little turnaround here the last little bit," Burke said. "We're happy with the kids. We like Hallander's development, we like (Alexander) Nylander's development and we like Legare's development." -- Molinari
19. Wilkes-Barre head coach J.D. Forrest told me that the decision to give Poulin games at center over the last month or so isn't necessarily an indication that they have long-term plans for Poulin as a permanent center. Poulin was having real trouble making decisions with the puck earlier in the season, and Forrest said they wanted to help Poulin with the decision-making learning process by moving him to center, because centers have to make more decisions with the puck, giving Poulin more opportunities to learn. Poulin's ability to be strong on the puck down low has helped him make plays as a center, too. -- Taylor Haase at PPG Paints Arena
20. There was a heavy scouting presence in the Penguins' press box on Thursday, with 13 different teams sending representatives. Not all scouts are here to prepare for next month's trade deadline; part of a pro scout's role is to scout for future matchups between their team and the one they're scouting. Among the notable representatives though were the Kraken, who sent two representatives. The Penguins and Kraken don't play again this season, and the Kraken are expected to be sellers at the deadline. Pending free-agent defenseman Mark Giordano is one of the Kraken players who could be moved out as a rental ahead of the deadline. -- Haase
21. The highest-ranking representative among the scouts Thursday's game was Capitals assistant general manager Chris Patrick, who isn't here very often. The Capitals currently occupy a wild-card spot in the standings and will likely be targeting forward depth and goaltending at the deadline. Intra-division trades are uncommon, but not unheard of. Patrick's father, Dick, is a cousin of Craig Patrick. -- Haase
