It's no surprise that the Pirates have leaned on some rookies and younger players early this season. The roster doesn't have many established vets, and with so much emphasis on producing players from the farm system.
Still, nobody had Diego Castillo as the starting shortstop or Jack Suwinski getting consistent playing time right field at this point of the season. It's a unique challenge of getting young players reps while also trying to field a competitive that's not only focused on the future.
It's a challenge that Derek Shelton doesn't mind.
"Actually, I do [like it]," Shelton answered. "Two years from now, I may not be in that same spot. But I think right now, yeah."
The way it's been described by Shelton and many in the clubhouse is there's opportunity for players to make a mark here. On Thursday, two new faces got their first crack at their major-league opportunities: Left-hander Cam Alldred and infielder Rodolfo Castro. Both would make their season debut Thursday in the Pirates' 4-0 loss to the Reds at PNC Park.
The latter has been here before, spending several stints with the major-league team in 2021 despite not being promoted to Class AAA Indianapolis until the very end of the season. In the majors, Castro experienced some highs, including being the first player ever to homer for each of his first five hits, and lows, including going just 8-for-48 in his last 17 games in the majors before being optioned again.
"This offseason, I went in with this taste of the big leagues, and when you get up here, no one wants to leave," Castro said through interpreter Mike Gonzalez on the field before the game. "So I definitely got a taste of the big leagues, went into the offseason, trained harder than ever and the mission was to come back here and not go back down again."
A good way for him to stay here would be to continue to walk more. Over the course of his minor-league career, Castro routinely walked in about 6-8% of his plate appearances. With Class AAA Indianapolis, that walk rate has more than doubled to 17.2%.
"I’ve got to give all credit to my discipline," Castro said. "Like right now, my discipline, my routine is helping me feel good in every area, not just defensively but offensively. I’m being very religious with my routine, but I’m also implementing some new drills that have made me feel a lot more comfortable in everything that I do. I just feel good."
Castro is going to get plenty of looks in the infield, including shortstop.
Alldred is getting his first call-up to the majors, and could have actually appeared in Wednesday's game since he was active and arrived in the seventh inning. Instead, he got a day to compose and tossed a 1-2-3 scoreless sixth, striking out one.
"Yesterday was antsy for sure," Alldred said. "I got here in like the seventh and I was active, so I had a chance to throw. But I think today really helped going through batting practice and throwing program, just get comfortable with the field and stuff."
Making hitters uncomfortable is Alldred's trick. Early in his pro career, the Pirates tried to make him get rid of his "crossfire" delivery, where he actually throws against his body to try to create a difficult flight path and confuse the hitter. They were searching for some extra velo.
After the pandemic, Alldred has instead embraced the movement, and as he told me in Indianapolis last week, hitters are having a hard time timing him up.
“We’ve heard about a lot of bad swings,” Shelton said. “People don’t get good looks off him.”
Not a top pitching prospect or hard thrower by any means -- Alldred's fastball is about 90 mph on a good day -- but he has gotten results, pitching to a 2.53 in Altoona last year and a 1.53 ERA for Indianapolis in a hybrid role this season. He's put himself on the radar because of his location and good results.
“People don’t get enamored with the velocity or the metrics of his stuff,” Shelton said. “But when you continue to get swing-and-miss and bad swings, the hitters sometimes tell you more than the metrics do.”
MORE FROM THE GAME
• There were a flurry of roster moves before the game, including Cole Tucker being sent down to the minors to work on his left-handed swing. More on those moves here.
• Alldred's first strikeout ball is going to his dad. When Alldred got the news that he was being promoted Wednesday night, he tried calling his dad 10 times trying to get a hold of him. At 2:30 a.m., he woke up and his mom gave the news, and then he couldn't go back to sleep.
"I was just happy to see that he made it out here," Alldred said about having his parents and close friends at PNC Park for his debut.
• The Pirates have now dropped three of four against the Reds, a team that's won just eight games overall. For the second time in a week, Reds starter and former Pirate Connor Overton kept Pirates hitters off the barrel, going 6 1/3 innings and picking up his first big-league win.
“It was cool," Overton said against pitching against the club he played for at the end of last season. "Honesty, I’m glad that it happened here.”
JT Brubaker was mostly effective for five innings, with the one exception being an errant sinker to Tyler Stephenson that was taken deep to left.
"I was trying to repeat the same pitch that he checked his swing on, and it kind of just became a cement mixer and sat there right in the middle for him to swing at," Brubaker said.
He struck out three, allowed four hits and walked two, relying more so on the sinker-slider combo he used in the minors.
• Something to watch from Brubaker moving forward: He ditched his windup for a side step to quick pitch a couple batters Thursday. He did it in his last start against the Reds too.
"Started using it in ‘19, went down and then just coming back was more of getting my mechanics right," Brubaker said. "Now, I’m feeling good in my mechanics to where I can implement it again and utilize it when necessary."
• The offense mustered just four hits and went 0-for-3 in the first two innings with runners in scoring position, the only two times they had a man reach second.
• Jake Marisnick has undergone left thumb surgery to repair his damaged UCL. The outfielder is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: OF Jake Marisnick (thumb), SS Kevin Newman (groin)
• 60-day injured list: OF Greg Allen (hamstring), RHP Blake Cederlind (UCL), RHP Nick Mears (elbow surgery), Roberto Pérez (hamstring)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Ben Gamel, LF
2. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Daniel Vogelbach, DH
5. Yoshi Tsutsugo, 1B
6. Jack Suwinski, RF
7. Josh VanMeter, 2B
8. Michael Perez, C
9. Rodolfo Castro, SS
And for David Bell's crew:
1. TJ Friedl, CF
2. Brandon Drury, 3B
3. Tommy Pham, LF
4. Mike Moustakas, DH
5. Tyler Stephenson, C
6. Colin Moran, 1B
7. Tyler Naquin, RF
8. Kyle Farmer, SS
9. Matt Reynolds, 2B
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates and Reds will play game two of their four-game set Friday at 6:35 p.m. Mitch Keller (0-4, 6.11) will try to break into the win column against Tyler Mahle (1-4, 6.46).
THE CONTENT
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