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Young Guns making an impact · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Bucco Territory,
0:12
Speaker 1: presented to you by the Foul Territory Network on Noah Hyles.
0:15
Speaker 1: Joining me as always is just one of my two
0:18
Speaker 1: co hosts. It's platinum Key aka Mark JH. Traveling for
0:22
Speaker 1: the day. So it's just platinum Key and myself here
0:26
Speaker 1: on our Monday show. We got a lot to talk about.
0:29
Speaker 1: The Pirates lose two of three in Toronto. They avoid
0:34
Speaker 1: a sweep with a win on Sunday. We're gonna talk
0:37
Speaker 1: about the headliner I think topic to come from the
0:40
Speaker 1: Toronto series, which is the youth movement that's going on
0:43
Speaker 1: right now. The rookies are coming up big time for
0:46
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Pirates, or they're at least in the opportunity
0:49
Speaker 1: to keep coming up big time, I should say. Dennis Santana,
0:52
Speaker 1: he's really struggling, struggling. The month of May has been
0:55
Speaker 1: a bad one for him. We're going to talk about that,
0:57
Speaker 1: and as always, we will round out our Monday show
1:00
Speaker 1: with Mark's platinum Key of the week. But Mark, Yeah,
1:03
Speaker 1: let's start it off with the rookies. It's been interesting.
1:08
Speaker 1: I mean last week Justinson Garcia got caught up before
1:12
Speaker 1: the Saint Louis series. He made his debut with the Pirates,
1:15
Speaker 1: I believe on Tuesday. Then on Friday, as Merlin Valdez
1:19
Speaker 1: debuts with the Pirates, he hits his gets his first
1:22
Speaker 1: big league hit, which was a home run on Sunday,
1:25
Speaker 1: which kind of I mean, it was huge. It gave
1:29
Speaker 1: them some insurance runs and we know how important those
1:31
Speaker 1: are with this bullpen right now, so it was it
1:34
Speaker 1: was a really big moment for him, well deserved him
1:38
Speaker 1: and the past word both got a lot of playing time.
1:40
Speaker 1: And when you look at it, I think, so Bubba
1:44
Speaker 1: pitched Friday, if I'm not mistaken, Caskeeine's a Saturday. And
1:48
Speaker 1: if you look at that, uh there, I believe there
1:50
Speaker 1: were four rookies in their starting lineup that day, with Garcia,
1:55
Speaker 1: with Valdez, with Griffin and then Bubba Chandler on the mound.
2:00
Speaker 1: And then when you consider some of the other rookies
2:01
Speaker 1: on this team, I mean you think of Wilbert Hotel,
2:03
Speaker 1: you think and even just younger players. Braxton Ashcraft's not
2:07
Speaker 1: a rookie anymore, but he's really young. Mason Montgomery's same thing.
2:12
Speaker 1: There are gonna be some other rookie arms called upon
2:15
Speaker 1: at some point in this season, either out of the
2:17
Speaker 1: bullpen or maybe as a starter, depending on how they
2:19
Speaker 1: use Hunt Barco. The rookies are gonna be a big
2:24
Speaker 1: factor moving forward. It looks like, I mean, the veterans
2:28
Speaker 1: you were going to rely on regardless, but you know
2:31
Speaker 1: you're getting what you expected to get from most of
2:33
Speaker 1: your veteran players, aside from Ozuna, who to his credit,
2:36
Speaker 1: has been a little better this month but still is
2:38
Speaker 1: hitting under two hundred on as we enter the final
2:41
Speaker 1: week of May. Now, but you look at the other
2:44
Speaker 1: guys like it's O'Neil Cruz is doing fine, Brian Reynolds
2:48
Speaker 1: is doing fine, Brandon Low has been great, Ryan O'Hearn
2:51
Speaker 1: before he was injured was doing really well. Nickns allies
2:57
Speaker 1: playing fine. But it's it's the rookies are gonna have
2:59
Speaker 1: to take this thing to the next level. Mark, I'll
3:02
Speaker 1: just ask you, I mean, what do you think of
3:05
Speaker 1: We'll start with the young outfielders. How long do these
3:08
Speaker 1: two stay up? And like we talked about on the
3:10
Speaker 1: last show, is this a thing now where Jake Mangingham
3:13
Speaker 1: is the new Billy Cook And we're gonna see Valdez
3:16
Speaker 1: and Garcia get a lot more run here.
3:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely think Jake Maingum is going to be
3:22
Speaker 2: that Billy Cook roll for while the three of them
3:25
Speaker 2: are up here, with Valdez and Garcia as well, and
3:28
Speaker 2: then depending on how well they're doing when Hern comes back,
3:31
Speaker 2: which sounds like it may be a little bit sooner
3:34
Speaker 2: than we thought with Ben Sherrington's recent comments, so we'll see.
3:38
Speaker 2: But I think you keep Ingham on the roster and
3:41
Speaker 2: then you send one of the two between Garcia and
3:44
Speaker 2: as Marilyn down just because you don't want to have
3:48
Speaker 2: them up here if they're not playing. You want those
3:51
Speaker 2: guys at least one of them game playing time down
3:53
Speaker 2: in triple A. But really, as you were saying, this
3:56
Speaker 2: team the way like the success of this team is
4:00
Speaker 2: really going to hinge on these rookies. However quickly they
4:04
Speaker 2: can adapt to MLB and become contributors and successful. I mean,
4:09
Speaker 2: that's going to be how good the Pirates are going
4:11
Speaker 2: to be down the road. So the quicker that they
4:15
Speaker 2: can acclimate, the better, And we've seen that with Connor
4:18
Speaker 2: Griffin there was you know the slow start thing. He
4:21
Speaker 2: turns twenty April twenty fourth forward. He's been a superstar
4:26
Speaker 2: and justin San Garcia, he looks pretty comfortable already. Last
4:30
Speaker 2: I looked he was batting like three p fifty after
4:32
Speaker 2: like fifteen at bats. I think that dropped after Sunday's
4:35
Speaker 2: game a little bit, but fitting in well, hitting the
4:38
Speaker 2: ball hard as as Marilyn feldas we saw it in
4:41
Speaker 2: Sunday's game that that home run that he hit, he
4:44
Speaker 2: went opposite field, just showing off that power, you know,
4:47
Speaker 2: a home run that cleared the wall pretty clearly. That
4:50
Speaker 2: would have been home run in P and C Park
4:52
Speaker 2: as well, clearing the Clemente wall. So there there's a
4:56
Speaker 2: bunch of contributions that we can get from these rookies,
4:59
Speaker 2: and it's not something that we've really seen from a
5:03
Speaker 2: lot of the Pirates like in those positions this year,
5:06
Speaker 2: as far as like Asuna is gone. Obviously we've seen
5:08
Speaker 2: that in right field with O'Hearn, but that bottom of
5:12
Speaker 2: the lineup production. If we can get more from those rookies,
5:16
Speaker 2: it really unlocks something with this team.
5:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I mean I want to talk more about
5:21
Speaker 1: the pass word. I just I love what he brings
5:23
Speaker 1: to the table. We really haven't seen the pop yet.
5:25
Speaker 1: But yeah, I've liked is it bats. He's hitting the
5:28
Speaker 1: ball hard with the singles he's had, and the fact
5:31
Speaker 1: that he can play a competent defense too, that he's
5:34
Speaker 1: most comfortable in center field is really good. Not to
5:36
Speaker 1: say I mean O'Neil Cruz should still be an everyday player,
5:41
Speaker 1: and I don't know if it's in the team's best
5:43
Speaker 1: interest for him to DH compared to other people who
5:46
Speaker 1: could be dhing. I mean, I would probably still rather
5:48
Speaker 1: Reynolds get more DH opportunities than crews. But I mean
5:53
Speaker 1: it's not the worst thing in the world. And like
5:54
Speaker 1: when you think like big picture, like I think Pirates
5:58
Speaker 1: fans should be okay with the idea of Garcia being
6:01
Speaker 1: their center fielder of the future because I don't know.
6:04
Speaker 1: I think in the offseason you got to figure out
6:06
Speaker 1: what you're doing with Cruz and Reynolds. As far as
6:09
Speaker 1: if you're retaining both of them, I don't see a
6:11
Speaker 1: reason why you get rid of Cruz and not even
6:14
Speaker 1: Reynolds to a certain extent, but position, Yeah, where do
6:18
Speaker 1: you play them? Right?
6:19
Speaker 2: They can't be playing next to each other.
6:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, who's going to play in the outfield? Who's going
6:23
Speaker 1: to be your dah, how do you find them at bats?
6:26
Speaker 1: All those things need to be figured out in the offseason.
6:28
Speaker 1: In the meantime, you have a nice little buffer with Garcia,
6:32
Speaker 1: like the fact that he can play three all three
6:34
Speaker 1: outfield positions. I think he makes the most sense to
6:39
Speaker 1: be like your fourth outfielder when O'Hearn comes back, and
6:42
Speaker 1: kind of what Mangum was the first month of the season,
6:45
Speaker 1: where it's like, yeah, he's a bench player, but he's
6:48
Speaker 1: going to start and play in like three to four
6:50
Speaker 1: games and you're gonna pinch hit him. And I mean
6:53
Speaker 1: they've stunk against left handed pitching. So the fact that
6:56
Speaker 1: these rookies can come up and maybe give them a
6:58
Speaker 1: little bit of a look here with Valdez having the
7:00
Speaker 1: splits he had in the minor leagues and Garcia being
7:03
Speaker 1: who he is, I think that that's a good thing.
7:06
Speaker 2: You're already feeling better with those lineups against left eat
7:10
Speaker 2: So yeah.
7:11
Speaker 1: And then like to group, I mean, we don't need
7:13
Speaker 1: to talk about Bubba and Connor a time because we
7:17
Speaker 1: do a lot, But I mean Bubba had a really
7:19
Speaker 1: good start I thought, I mean it was kind of real.
7:21
Speaker 1: He's been the victim of a lot of bad luck
7:23
Speaker 1: on the mountain this year. Some of that bad luck
7:25
Speaker 1: he's kind of created on his own. But like in
7:28
Speaker 1: Friday's instance, I mean eleven strikeouts, they.
7:33
Speaker 2: You know, derail his inning or his either. He overcame
7:37
Speaker 2: a lot of that. I think he was up to
7:38
Speaker 2: like forty some pitches. Yeah, yeah, I believe, and to
7:42
Speaker 2: work through that and then overcome that adversity with the errors.
7:46
Speaker 2: I was really impressed. I thought it may have been
7:48
Speaker 2: his best start of his major league career so far.
7:52
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean hades last year, but I
7:57
Speaker 1: mean it was one of his it was one of
7:58
Speaker 1: his brother it's probably his one this year. But there's
8:02
Speaker 1: still a lot of room to grow for him. And
8:04
Speaker 1: I mean in Connor too, Like he's been really good,
8:06
Speaker 1: like you said, like you look at his numbers in May,
8:09
Speaker 1: he's been really damn good, but there's still room for
8:12
Speaker 1: him to grow, something that he would admit himself. So
8:15
Speaker 1: a group of rookies that's exciting to watch. And normally
8:19
Speaker 1: when you can when normally when a team says that
8:21
Speaker 1: they're not in like a competitive place, but I think
8:24
Speaker 1: this team is in a competitive place. So yeah, for
8:26
Speaker 1: them to have that position player depth to where like
8:31
Speaker 1: there were no reinforcements of this caliber last year.
8:34
Speaker 2: Com Yeah, these are not your typical pirates rookies.
8:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean there there have been really good
8:39
Speaker 1: pirates rookies in the past, but like like Henry Davis
8:41
Speaker 1: was once a high rated prospect, O'Neil Cruz, Nick non Zalez,
8:45
Speaker 1: like Leover Pagero, like they had high rated guys, in
8:49
Speaker 1: some cases higher than what Garcia and Valdez are are
8:53
Speaker 1: rated now as rookies and prospects. But these guys fit
8:58
Speaker 1: better and like they're rookies that can help you win
9:00
Speaker 1: as opposed to like rookies who you need to develop
9:03
Speaker 1: so they can lead the charge for winning. These are
9:06
Speaker 1: rookies that like kind of fill in the cracks, and
9:08
Speaker 1: that's a good thing to have. They don't necessarily need
9:10
Speaker 1: to be starters, they don't need to be up in
9:12
Speaker 1: the majors all year, but the fact that they're getting
9:15
Speaker 1: these guys tastes now Eventually you're gonna need There's gonna
9:18
Speaker 1: come a point in a season where you're gonna need
9:19
Speaker 1: Valdez to play every day, or Garcia to play every day,
9:22
Speaker 1: or Connor Griffin to hit in the top third of
9:25
Speaker 1: the lineup righty or lefty for an extended stretch er
9:28
Speaker 1: Bubba Chandler to be treated more like a number three
9:31
Speaker 1: than a number five in your rotation. And it's encouraging
9:35
Speaker 1: to see these guys getting these opportunities now while the
9:38
Speaker 1: team is still I mean, I wouldn't see the team's
9:40
Speaker 1: playing great, but it's still floating above five hundred, so
9:44
Speaker 1: that's a good thing.
9:44
Speaker 2: So the wheels are still on.
9:46
Speaker 1: Absolutely, we're gonna take a quick break when we come back.
9:48
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk Dennis Santana here on Bucko Territory. Godfather.
9:53
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10:10
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10:35
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Speaker 1: You can use it later. All right. Mark Dennis Santana,
10:58
Speaker 1: he's not doing well right now. I have his numbers here.
11:02
Speaker 1: In the month of May, Dennis Santana has made eight appearances.
11:05
Speaker 1: He's oh and one with a ten ten point eight
11:08
Speaker 1: to ohero earned run average over six and two thirds innings.
11:11
Speaker 1: Opposingning hitters are a batting four h six against him.
11:14
Speaker 1: I didn't even want to look up the opposing ops
11:16
Speaker 1: because you know it's bad you pull up. But his
11:19
Speaker 1: savant change or chart. Excuse me, there's a lot of
11:23
Speaker 1: red man. I mean, his pitching run values in the
11:25
Speaker 1: fourteenth percentile, his fastball run value still really good in
11:29
Speaker 1: the seventy first percentile. But the breaking stuff isn't doing well.
11:32
Speaker 1: The off speed isn't doing well, the expected era is
11:35
Speaker 1: is bad. I mean, he's getting a lot of chase still,
11:38
Speaker 1: but he's not hitting his spots, he's not extending well.
11:40
Speaker 1: I mean, all of this, all of the stuff that
11:43
Speaker 1: made Dennis Santana really good, is not working for him
11:46
Speaker 1: right now. My question is like, what what do you
11:48
Speaker 1: do with this guy? Because he's still valuable. It kind
11:51
Speaker 1: of reminds me of where we were with David Bednar
11:53
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, where it's like, I mean,
11:57
Speaker 1: the team's worse without him, even this version of Dennis Santana.
12:01
Speaker 1: It's like, you don't have a better alternative unless you
12:03
Speaker 1: go trade for one, and it seems like that's just
12:06
Speaker 1: something they're not gonna do right now. So what do
12:10
Speaker 1: you do? Do you pitch him in low leverage, like
12:12
Speaker 1: you also have other guys that need to pitch and
12:13
Speaker 1: low leverage you don't have a high leverage substitute. Do
12:16
Speaker 1: you let him keep working this out and trying to
12:18
Speaker 1: battle through it, because at a certain point that's gonna
12:22
Speaker 1: hurt him more than it helps. So I don't know, Mark,
12:24
Speaker 1: I mean, what would you like to see him do?
12:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you gotta do the low leverage for
12:28
Speaker 2: right now and just get that confidence back up, because
12:32
Speaker 2: if you can tap into even half of what he
12:35
Speaker 2: was in twenty twenty five, I mean, this was a
12:38
Speaker 2: guy with a two point one eight E or a
12:40
Speaker 2: you know, he had two point four or something B war.
12:43
Speaker 2: He had the second most B war on the Pirates
12:45
Speaker 2: behind Paul Skeins. So he was a massive part of
12:49
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty five Pirates. So you can't give up
12:51
Speaker 2: on him after like not even half of the season
12:55
Speaker 2: of struggles yet. But at the same time, you can't
12:59
Speaker 2: let him continue to blow saves and continue to just
13:03
Speaker 2: give up runs. I mean, we saw him last on Saturday,
13:06
Speaker 2: came in for an inning and gave up three hits
13:08
Speaker 2: in a walk and allowed three earn runs. And you
13:12
Speaker 2: know it's like, yeah, that was a low leverage situation too, right,
13:16
Speaker 2: They were already down and he comes in and just
13:21
Speaker 2: makes it even worse. And so I don't know what
13:23
Speaker 2: you do with him. I don't know. If it's something
13:26
Speaker 2: mechanically that's wrong out if you can't throw your breaking stuff,
13:31
Speaker 2: that's going to be an issue. So yeah, I don't know.
13:34
Speaker 2: What do you think? What would you do?
13:36
Speaker 1: Well? I mean it's just tough because, like we've talked
13:38
Speaker 1: about before, they have so many guys in this bullpen
13:41
Speaker 1: right now that you only feel comfortable in mid leverage
13:44
Speaker 1: or low leverage, And I think you got to get
13:46
Speaker 1: to a point where it's like, well, who's the real
13:48
Speaker 1: priority here? Like you optioned Isaac Mattson to Triple A
13:51
Speaker 1: last week, And the reason Isaac Mattson got optioned is
13:54
Speaker 1: because he has minor league options and Justin Lawrence doesn't. Yeah, yeah,
14:00
Speaker 1: Justin Lawrence doesn't, and Johan Ramirez doesn't. And it's like,
14:04
Speaker 1: and the reality is, is Isaac Mattson more important than
14:07
Speaker 1: those guys? I think he is, like long term and
14:10
Speaker 1: short term. I think he's better. He's been better than
14:14
Speaker 1: Lawrence has already this year. And I think you could
14:16
Speaker 1: see the same thing for Santana, who I believe is
14:19
Speaker 1: a free agent at the end of this year, Like
14:23
Speaker 1: he's still more important to your team, Like you getting
14:26
Speaker 1: Dennis Santana right, should take precedent over getting justin Lawrence right. So,
14:32
Speaker 1: like at a certain point, like do you you have
14:35
Speaker 1: to decide, like can you roster two guys who you
14:38
Speaker 1: really need to put in the most advantageous spot possible.
14:41
Speaker 1: I don't know if the Pirates can right now. And yeah,
14:45
Speaker 1: like it might just be time to cut bait with
14:48
Speaker 1: Lawrence just because it's like you got to give someone
14:51
Speaker 1: else an option. You got to give someone else an
14:53
Speaker 1: opportunity to pitch in bigger spots, and you got to
14:58
Speaker 1: give Dennis all the opportunities that Lawrence is getting I
15:01
Speaker 1: think right now. And it stinks, but I mean to
15:04
Speaker 1: Lawrence's credit, I mean, he's been a little better, but
15:07
Speaker 1: like not nearly good enough, and he's had he's been
15:13
Speaker 1: kind of the one guy all season so far where
15:16
Speaker 1: it's like, all right, we're gonna put you in the
15:18
Speaker 1: least pressure situation possible, and it's still been bad for
15:22
Speaker 1: the most part. So I think it's time that Dennis
15:24
Speaker 1: Santana gets that role and see if he can figure
15:29
Speaker 1: it out, because I think, you know, he's more important
15:32
Speaker 1: to get going than really anyone else in this bullpen
15:34
Speaker 1: right now.
15:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Mason Montgomery has really stepped up.
15:38
Speaker 1: Yeah he has, absolutely.
15:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, we saw that Sunday. He threw you know, one
15:42
Speaker 2: point two innings, two strikeouts, held the game, just really
15:48
Speaker 2: solidified that, Yeah, until Sodo could get in and yeah,
15:52
Speaker 2: so he's really stepped up. Evan Siske has looked pretty good.
15:56
Speaker 1: Yeah.
15:57
Speaker 2: So there are some decent options, but no one.
16:00
Speaker 1: That yeah, right, Yeah, And like when you think about
16:06
Speaker 1: right handers, you need to get right Like Santana's your
16:08
Speaker 1: best right hander. Leave he just he just is and
16:12
Speaker 1: you have to you have to allow him to figure
16:14
Speaker 1: that out. And so if that means at the expense
16:19
Speaker 1: of others on the roster, that is what it is.
16:21
Speaker 1: And I mean I don't think it's that big of
16:24
Speaker 1: a drop off between Justin Lawrence and whoever you'd call
16:27
Speaker 1: up to replace him, be it you know, Am Sanders
16:31
Speaker 1: or whoever's down there. I think that's days. Yeah, like
16:37
Speaker 1: there's there's I don't know, there's other options. That's all
16:41
Speaker 1: I have to say on the topic. Anything else, Dad,
16:44
Speaker 1: that's it. All right, We're going to take another break then,
16:46
Speaker 1: and when we come back, we will round up the
16:48
Speaker 1: show with Mark's Platinum Key of the Week.
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18:04
Speaker 2: All Right, this week's Platinum Key of the Week is
18:08
Speaker 2: going to be highlighting Spencer Horwitz, who has been just
18:12
Speaker 2: frankly one of the best bats for the Pirates this
18:15
Speaker 2: year and just really needs more shine I feel like,
18:18
Speaker 2: so I wanted to highlight him this week. His on
18:21
Speaker 2: base percentage this year just absolutely crazy, top four for
18:25
Speaker 2: MLB for first baseman, I have some pretty notable names
18:31
Speaker 2: and just playing like an ulcar. We saw it on Sunday,
18:35
Speaker 2: first pitch of the game hit it absolute no doubt,
18:38
Speaker 2: or before stat cast was even turned on, before they
18:41
Speaker 2: could even have the scoreboard pulled up, he had one
18:43
Speaker 2: planted in the seats. So I just love what he brings.
18:48
Speaker 2: It's always a consistently good at that, and he's really
18:53
Speaker 2: just played above average defense as well, Like he's in
18:56
Speaker 2: the seventy seventh percentile in stat Cast. Only is he
19:01
Speaker 2: contributing a lot with his bat, he's playing great defense
19:03
Speaker 2: as well, and the way that he contributes with his
19:06
Speaker 2: bat is kind of unique. He's not going to be
19:09
Speaker 2: you know, mashing Homer's too often. He has five on
19:11
Speaker 2: the year, but he's not gonna be like bareling balls
19:14
Speaker 2: too often. But he just doesn't you know, swing or chase.
19:18
Speaker 2: He's sitting there walking in the time, he's getting on
19:20
Speaker 2: base a lot. He's doing all the little things, all
19:23
Speaker 2: the gritty things that you love to see from a ballplayer.
19:27
Speaker 1: Uh.
19:27
Speaker 2: And I just wanted to throw a little bit of
19:28
Speaker 2: shine his way because he's been such a huge part
19:31
Speaker 2: of the Pirate success when they do succeed.
19:34
Speaker 1: You know what, Spencer Horowitz, you know what, he kind
19:36
Speaker 1: of reminds me of what he reminds me of a
19:39
Speaker 1: Milwaukee Brewer.
19:41
Speaker 2: That's such that honestly, yes.
19:43
Speaker 1: You get it though, like you know what I'm saying
19:44
Speaker 1: with that where it's like he is not a superstar.
19:47
Speaker 1: He's not a name that like the casual baseball fan
19:50
Speaker 1: and you know La or Arizona or somewhere like not
19:55
Speaker 1: in the NL Central would now or even like New
19:58
Speaker 1: York for example, But like you win with guys like
20:03
Speaker 1: this on your team. You win like you win with
20:05
Speaker 1: guys like this on your team. A guy who can
20:07
Speaker 1: come up and you know if on a really good team,
20:10
Speaker 1: he's a platoon player, Like he hasn't played a ton
20:12
Speaker 1: against left and handed pitching this year. He's getting more
20:15
Speaker 1: opportunities now because O'Hearn's hurt. But like he has his job,
20:19
Speaker 1: he knows his job, and he does it well. And
20:22
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember when they made this trade. I
20:24
Speaker 1: wasn't a huge fan of it, like because Luis Ortiz
20:27
Speaker 1: was really good in twenty twenty four and right I thought,
20:30
Speaker 1: giving him up, Yeah, giving him up like he'd been old,
20:33
Speaker 1: Like he I know, he was stuck behind Vladdie, but
20:37
Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, and a small first baseman. And then
20:41
Speaker 1: like his real intro at Pittsburgh was hurting his wrist
20:45
Speaker 1: and that was a mess in itself, but really like
20:49
Speaker 1: the way he handled that was very impressive. Kind of
20:53
Speaker 1: battles through like the the disadvantage of not having a
20:57
Speaker 1: spring training and becoming an everyday player and league baseball
21:00
Speaker 1: for the first time in his career and ended up
21:02
Speaker 1: being their best hitter last season. And then this offseason
21:05
Speaker 1: they go and they find an All star at his
21:08
Speaker 1: position essentially who bats from the same side of the plate.
21:11
Speaker 1: There's nowhere for him to play at DH and it's like, okay, well,
21:14
Speaker 1: of all the bats to kind of get told to
21:17
Speaker 1: take a back seat, you're picking me. But Spencer like
21:21
Speaker 1: handled that like a champ. I mean it as someone
21:23
Speaker 1: who's in the clubhouse and talks to these guys like
21:26
Speaker 1: Spencer's the man like, he's really fun to talk to.
21:29
Speaker 1: It seems like everyone in that clubhouse really gets along
21:32
Speaker 1: with him. He's not like super outgoing or like, you know,
21:35
Speaker 1: the guy who's like running around and hoisting the cone.
21:38
Speaker 1: You know, he doesn't have that Jake Mangum and Billy
21:40
Speaker 1: Cook energy. But he's just like a chill guy that
21:43
Speaker 1: everyone really seems to get along with, everyone wants to
21:46
Speaker 1: hang out with. And he shows up to work every
21:49
Speaker 1: day and performs man like. You're looking at his numbers
21:52
Speaker 1: right now, like three eighty one on base percentage that's ninth,
21:55
Speaker 1: tied with C. J. Abrams for ninth best in the
21:58
Speaker 1: National League. He's slugs well, he doesn't miss a lot
22:02
Speaker 1: of pitches that are in his spots, and he knows
22:05
Speaker 1: what pitches to swing at. Again, this is a Milwaukee brewer.
22:09
Speaker 1: This is a guy. This is a guy who would
22:11
Speaker 1: have played for the Saint Louis Cardinals when I was
22:12
Speaker 1: growing up, where it's just like where do they find
22:15
Speaker 1: these guys?
22:16
Speaker 3: Yeah?
22:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And it's like, this is a player who
22:19
Speaker 1: is on good baseball teams and someone who will play
22:24
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty one hundred and fifty games for
22:25
Speaker 1: a good baseball team, and he won't be the superstar.
22:28
Speaker 1: He's not going to get the press that Paul Skins
22:30
Speaker 1: or Connor Griffin or Brandon Lowe or anyone else like
22:34
Speaker 1: that will get this year. But like, if the Pirates
22:36
Speaker 1: do go to the playoffs or have a good season,
22:38
Speaker 1: like Spencer Horowitz is gonna deserve a ton of credit
22:40
Speaker 1: for that. Yeah, And Pirates fans should be excited about
22:43
Speaker 1: a what he's developed into. It's been over a year
22:47
Speaker 1: now since he made his debut with the Pirates. It's
22:50
Speaker 1: been a very successful first year in Pittsburgh, I think.
22:53
Speaker 1: And also like, this guy's got a lot of team
22:55
Speaker 1: control and he's at a position where, yeah, I mean,
22:58
Speaker 1: he's not the fastest guy on the basis there's no
23:01
Speaker 1: there's no denians. That's not pretty, but but it doesn't matter.
23:04
Speaker 1: Like every element of his game will age well, his
23:07
Speaker 1: approach will age well, his pop will age well, his
23:10
Speaker 1: defensive positioning where he plays on the in the field
23:12
Speaker 1: will age well.
23:13
Speaker 2: This is good.
23:15
Speaker 1: This is a good long term asset that they have,
23:17
Speaker 1: just as valuable as as Merlin. Valdes, way more valuable
23:22
Speaker 1: than as Merlin, I think right now, despite him being
23:24
Speaker 1: a lot older, because he's a proven commodity. I think
23:29
Speaker 1: this is something. This is a guy that I think
23:31
Speaker 1: more Pirates fans really need to recognize as being a very,
23:34
Speaker 1: very valuable asset to the team.
23:36
Speaker 2: Mm hmm, yeah, what a trait. A lot more pample
23:39
Speaker 2: than Luis Ortiz. Yeah, yeah, especially right now, especially now, I.
23:45
Speaker 1: Wouldn't have bet on that. All right, Well, if you
23:50
Speaker 1: like those stupid puns, hit that subscribe button. We don't
23:53
Speaker 1: have Josh the Transition King this week, so I'll just say, yeah, hit,
23:56
Speaker 1: that's a d job. All right. We're on a mission
24:01
Speaker 1: of three thousand subs. We also encourage you to check
24:03
Speaker 1: out our team store, a Bucco Territory team store. I
24:06
Speaker 1: got to give a shout out to Papa Hiles. He
24:09
Speaker 1: got the quarters zip I believe the other day I
24:12
Speaker 1: facetimed him just to catch up and he was wearing that.
24:15
Speaker 1: So he's wearing it on vacation this week for the holiday,
24:18
Speaker 1: so we'll have some some Papa Hiles swag photos here
24:23
Speaker 1: soon on the show.
24:24
Speaker 2: Mark, we'll make a slide just for those.
24:26
Speaker 1: Yeah all right, yeah, Papa, Papa platinum Key you put
24:29
Speaker 1: on notice, Yeah yeah, yeah, all right, So Mark, any
24:35
Speaker 1: final thoughts as we wrap it up.
24:37
Speaker 2: Just a quick shout out. It's been a small sample size,
24:39
Speaker 2: but and Rodriguez has looked really really good getting on base.
24:44
Speaker 2: A Ton hasn't looked too bad behind the plate. He's
24:47
Speaker 2: giving up a couple of steals that weren't necessarily his
24:50
Speaker 2: fault made competitive throws. So yeah, uh, pre encouraged. Hopefully
24:55
Speaker 2: that continues. So we'll end it on that and make
24:58
Speaker 2: sure you hit that subscribe button.
25:00
Speaker 1: Hit that subscribe button. Pirates start a big homestand they
25:03
Speaker 1: got the Cubs for four games, and then our pow
25:05
Speaker 1: Derek Shelton returns for the weekend. We'll be there talking
25:08
Speaker 1: about it all. There are better questions to ask than
25:11
Speaker 1: that Mark or platinum Key. I'm Noah Hiles. We're signing
25:14
Speaker 1: off saying thanks for tuning in to another episode of
25:17
Speaker 1: Bucco Territory, presented to you by the foul Territory Network
25:19
Speaker 1: take Care