Five spring training notes: Brubaker mixing up pitch usage

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Last year, JT Brubaker entered as the Pirates' opening day starter and the owner of a five-pitch mix. When the year ended, he sometimes found himself having to remember not to just stick with only two pitches.

The sinker and the slider have always been Brubaker's bread and butter, but he still needs at least a third offering to keep hitters off balance. This winter, he focused on two options for that third, and potentially fourth, pitch: The changeup and the curveball.

If you're wondering what happened to that changeup last year, so was Brubaker. He didn't have a feel for it and when he did throw it, it cut too much to his liking.

"It was something that I lost focus in [last year]," Brubaker told me. "Lost a little bit of conviction in [it.] When I did throw it last year, it was more like excitement to throw it, and that's where I wavered off with this arm side. I get too rushed with it."

That changeup is now being thrown with the same mechanics as the fastball, helping him repeat better and feel less "stuck" whenever pushing off of the mound.

Without that traditional pitch to get lefties out, Brubaker instead went to the curveball more. In fact, for being a pitch that he didn't throw much in the minors, it became his third pitch:

That was a good short-term fix, but it may not live up to the pitch's full potential. It gets really good spin, averaging over 2,800 RPM, and hitters were held to a .216 average against it. The put away rate (or how often it results in a strikeout when thrown on two strikes) was nearly the same as the slider (24.5% for the slider, 22.7% for the curve). 

Expect that usage to go up in 2023 as well.

"It was just something we identified [and realize], yeah, we can use this a lot more," Brubaker said. "It's gonna take pressure off of that slider rather than seeing the slider the whole time. It's gonna take pressure off that slider, two-seam, so I don't have just a two-pitch mix."

• Brubaker also had some high praise for his new catcher, Austin Hedges. Actually, a lot of pitchers in camp have, even though these are the opening days of the season and he's only caught bullpens and live batting practices thus far.

But oftentimes, it's those first few sessions that often mean the most for starting that relationship between a catcher and pitcher.

"Within the first two or three [sessions], you're going to get a feel for how he sets up," Brubaker said. "He's going to get a feel of your lanes or your visuals. You're going to be able to get to know each other and how to communicate without ever having to speak. Like, he missed high. Maybe I should set this up a little lower. Maybe I had it a little too high, too low, need to move it more on the plate. It's just going to be stuff that he sees or I see that we can either, A. talk about in the dugout, or B. just stay engaged."

• Live batting practices are picking up ahead of the first spring game Saturday against the Blue Jays. If you have a baseball itch, Mitch Keller vs. Bryan Reynolds might be able to scratch it:

And nothing new on the Reynolds front, other than this photo I snapped of him and Bob Nutting have another conversation Tuesday:

• Carlos Santana is not going to miss the shift. When the switch-hitter batted lefty last year, he was the most heavily-shifted player at the game, facing a rearranged infield in 98.3% of his plate appearances.

For someone whose expected stats were significantly better than his actual results (.241 expected batting average compared to .202 actual, and .408 expected slugging percentage to .376 actual), you can't help but think positioning is what cost him.

This year, each team must have two infielders on the dirt on each side of second base, so Santana's done seeing aggressive shifts.

"The last three years, the shift is the most effective play against me," Santana said. "But I’m very happy that they take it off this year. We’ll see what happens. I think it’s going to be good for me.”

I did more in-depth analysis on how the new shift rules could impact Santana during this offseason.

• Termarr Johnson, the team's first-round draft pick last year, left practice before batting Tuesday and was seen limping. Shelton said it was a right hamstring issue and that the team should have a better understanding for its severity Wednesday. I'll have an update then.

Also on the injury front, Robert Stephenson has also yet to throw in camp.

And for pitchers who had Tommy John surgery recently, Max Kranick is throwing five days a week and is hopeful he'll start throwing off of a slope in late April. The plan is for him to get into rehab games in August, so there's a chance he will get to return to the Pirates this year. Blake Cederlind also started throwing bullpens again in minor-league camp and is pain-free.