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Why is Paul Skenes struggling? · Bucco Territory: A Pittsburgh Pirates Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: What's up, everybody.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to another episode of Buco Territory, presented to
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: you by the Foul Territory Network. I'm Nolah Hyle's joining
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: me as always is my good pal Platinum Key aka Mark.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Josh.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Harrison's also on the show doing a little traveling, so
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: he just recorded his weekly segment Jay hay Now, which
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: you'll see later in the show. But the focus of
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: today's episode is going to be on Paul Skins. The
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Pirates took two four from the Phillies this week.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: I'd call that a pretty.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Good split considering how well the Phillies are playing.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: They remain at five hundred.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: But I think the big takeaway, aside from mes Merlin
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Valdez just continuing to absolutely rake.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Is Paul Skins. Paul Skins and I feel like we've
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: said this a few times.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: This year, Mark had his worst start of his career,
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: and this one was far and away. It might be
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: the worst start he's ever had. I mean, I remember
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: looking back through the LSU game logs when he was
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: a prospect.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: I didn't go deep into the Air Force.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Time when he was a pitcher, but it's I think
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: probably his worst outing since he's been a full time pitcher.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: The Phillies have given him problems. The Pirates have now lost.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Nine straight with Schemes on the mound, and over those
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: nine games, he has a five thirty six turn run average.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: So Mark, we're recording this on Thursday evening around nine AM.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: I sat down in my living room at my coffee
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: table and just probably just like dedicated the entire day
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: to kind of breaking this all down to write story
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: which is now live at the Post Gazette's website. You
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: can read a post ash Gazette dot com or check
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: it out in the Sunday paper, which is its scheduled
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: print date.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Giving my thoughts as to.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: Why I think Paul Skins hasn't looked like Paul Schemes
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: because we're at a point now where he just doesn't.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Look like himself.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: He doesn't look like himself in the box score, he
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: doesn't look like himself on the mound. Sometimes it hasn't
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: always been as bad as the numbers indicate, but it
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: just still hasn't been good, and it hasn't been good
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: for a long time. So we're gonna break this show
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: up into two segments, really because the third is.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Josh as Jay Hay.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Now, the first is who is to blame for Paul
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Skins not pitching well? And that's just gonna focus on
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: the the other factors at hand. The second segment is
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: titled man in the Mirror, and we're gonna talk about
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: what falls on Paul Skins's shoulders, what he's done wrong
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: to get to where this is gone. And it should
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: be an interesting conversation, Mark, So I'll just dive right
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: into it, and then I just want to hear your
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: feedback on some stuff.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: So on the who is to blame? Some of the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: metrics that.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Stand out to me when looking at Paul Skeen's AS
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: numbers are he has very similar numbers in a lot
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: of categories compared to last year, like expected era, expected
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: batting average, chase percentage, his his K percentage of walk
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: rate are better than last year.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: The one big drop.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Off that I notice is left on base percentage. That's
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: the one that I really noticed that there was actually two.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: It's home runs per nine innings and left on base percentage.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: But I want to start here with left on base percentage.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Last year, Paul Skeens had the fifth best left on
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: base percentage in Major League Baseball, it was eighty two
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: point four percent, so only less than eighteen percent of
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: the time a runner got on base against Paul Skins.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: They came around in scored.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: This year it's down to sixty five point eight percent,
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: so close to thirty six close to thirty five percent
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: of the time if you get on base, so more
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: than one third of the time you get on basement
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: against Paul Skins.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: You're scoring a run.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: That's crazy.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: That's not good.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: And there are many things that Paul Skins does well
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: when he's at his best, but I think among the
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: best of them is his ability to dance.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Out of trouble. The way he can magically get out
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: of a jam.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: Bass is loaded, one out, he's gonna get that ground ball,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: double play, he's gonna induce some soft contact, he'll make
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: you pop up to the infield, or he might just
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: strike out the side. But Paul Skins very rarely when
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: he puts himself into trouble does he get punished by it.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: He's getting punished a lot by it. So that stuck
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: out to me. Another metric that stuck out to me
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: is there's.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: A gnatin here that's just flying right in my eye.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Is his clutch metric, which is on Fangrafts, which essentially
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: measures your ability to pitch well in high leverage situations.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Last year, Paul Skeens had an zero point five to
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: three clutch metric, which was tenth best in baseball.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Right now he's at n negative zero point.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Six, which is fifty fourth best out of the sixty
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: two qualified pitchers in Major League Baseball.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: So he's among the worst.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Now you can make the argument that he's not making
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: the pitches that are necessary to get out of these jams,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: and I would agree with you to a certain extent, right,
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: But then when you also look, I mean, he's not
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: giving up a lot of free passes, his walk grade
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: is lower, he's his batting average against, and they're opposing
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: hitters are hitting two to eight against him as opposed
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: to one to ninety nine last year, So that's not
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: a big difference. So it just seems like anytime anyone
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: gets on, they're scoring.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: So why is that?
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: And I think that's easily connected to the defense, which
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: has been the big calling card for pretty much all
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: of the Skeens defenders, including the other guy on this screen.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: The defense has not been good enough.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Per Baseball Savant, the Pirates defense has a negative five
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: fielded run value when Paul Skeens pitches, which is the
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: worst for any starting pitcher in the National League and
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: third worst in Major League Baseball. So when you're looking
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: at these numbers and saying, okay, well, why is his
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: left on base percentage so much worse?
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Why is this clutch factor so much worse?
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Perhaps Paul Skeens is getting the ground balls or the
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: fly balls if you remember Opening Day, that should get
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: him out of these jams. But this year's defense isn't
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: finishing the job. I think that that's a very easy
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: connection to make.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, Yeah, you.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Can weigh in on that a little bit more.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, it's been really disappointing because I feel
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: like the defensive miscues behind Paul Skeens haven't just been
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: like happening often, but they've been happening at seemingly the
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: worst possible time multiple times, where it's like two outs.
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: It's often happening when there's base runners on. We just
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: saw it Wednesday where Nicknzales tried to throw a ball home,
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: ended up pegging the runner and two runs scored inta one. Yeah,
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: that's partially on Paul Skeens not let those base runners
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: get on base. But at the same time, those were
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: outs for him in his previous two seasons where defense
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: was better, especially at third base, And so yeah, I
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: mean I want to we'll get into it more. I
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: don't think it's all just on the defense, but they've
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: done him no favors have quite a few times cost
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: him twenty some pitches at times where he just has
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: to keep going deeper into the outings. And yeah, it's
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: definitely a factor. I just want to hear more about
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: what you got, what else you got.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: So in addition to the fielding, I think the other
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: thing to blame is coaching. At the end of last season,
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Austar Marine, the Pirates' pitching coach, was obviously let go
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: and it surprised a lot of people. The Post is
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Att reported around the time of this decision that something
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: that influenced the Pirates to make this change was player feedback.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: There was a group of players within the.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: Active roster on the active roster that expressed to management that, hey,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: we know the pitching group's good, we think we can
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: be better, and in order to get to that next level,
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: we think a new new voice needs to come in.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Paul Skins, as I reported in my story, was a part.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: Of this group, and you know he, along with his teammates,
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: got what they wanted. They got Bill Murphy and so far,
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Mark listeners, it's very difficult to point out how Bill.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Murphy has made Paul Skins better.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Now, before I go any further, and I wrote this,
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: I want to express that when you evaluate coaching at
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: this level of sports, it can be quite difficult to
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: quantify explicitly how much better or worse a coach makes
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: an individual player.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: But when you look at the overall body of work for.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: The pitching staff, and I've said this on the show before,
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: it's very difficult to find starting pitchers who are better
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: this year than they were last year. I think there's
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: like two Carmen Majenski in braxtonn Ashcraft, and one of
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: those two guys isn't even a starter anymore so. And
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: I think my bigger takeaway on this coaching element of
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: it all is it seems like Paul is getting in
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: himself into trouble in areas where he's never got himself
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: into trouble before. It seems like his pitch mix is
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: kind of all over the place, and that he doesn't
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: really have a secondary pitch to lean on right now. Thespeed, yes,
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: it's got like a negative two run value, I believe,
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: and the command is off and obviously, like people like
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Pitching Ninja have pointed out some mechanical flaws, potentially, these
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: are things that you identify through a pitching coach. And
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying that Bill Murphy hasn't pointed these things out.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: I don't know what they talk about.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: And I'm sure there are a whole bunch of plans
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: the Pirates have to help Paul. I'm sure it's film study,
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: it's analytics, it's biometrical data to see how he's like
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: healing between starts.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: I'm sure there's some you know, mental health stuff like it, maybe.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Like they're having him go through different mental exercises to
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: kind of go through his breath or whatever.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: There's so much that goes into prepping for a major
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: league starting pitcher, and I don't doubt that the Pirates
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: current pitching group is working with schemes and trying to
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: provide support. But it's really hard not to connect how
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: he never went through a stretch like this in the
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: two years Oscar Marine was his pitching coach. And I
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: don't know how much Oscar Marine helped him or did
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: didn't help him, but the evidence suggests that whatever was
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: going on under Marine, and even if it was the
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: freedom for Paul to work independently with other pitching coaches,
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: something is different and he's not getting the help because
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: there are things that Paul Skeens is doing wrong or
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: just not going well for Paul Skins that are well
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: within his control and they're not being fixed.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think that you really need to a
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: pitching coach in this situation, if you're Paul Skins, like
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: you need to be able to trust, to rely on
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: and have confidence in the guy that's helping you here
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: get through this rough stretch, because Paul Skeins has never
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: had anything like this happened in his pitching career and
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: he really doesn't have that many you know, pitching miles
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: on him either, Like he just started pitching when he
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: was at Air Force where he committed as a catcher. Yea,
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: So maybe part of that is like part of this
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: the struggles is you know, how the miles starting to
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: catch up to him, but you need a pitching coach
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: to tell you how to get through that, how to
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: condition your body, to make sure that you're prepared for that.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: And so it's been disappointing. I mentioned earlier as well
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: his off speed. His off speed has been above like
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: ninety fifth percentile on sackcasts the past two years. The
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: splinker was phenomenal in twenty twenty four non existent. Now
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: why is that? Why is the change up kind of
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: going in and out like it seems like one game
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: he'll be good with it. It's lately it's not been
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: as good. And so, yeah, the off speed's my biggest concern.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: So you would hope that Bill Murphy's sitting him down
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: talking about that, But the results haven't been good.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: So they have not, and we're going to talk about
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: more things that haven't been good as far as Paul
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: Schemes is concerned for himself.
• 12:59
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• 14:05
  Speaker 1: All right, so we.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Just blamed everyone else on why Paul Skins hasn't played well?
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: What is he doing wrong? As I continued in.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: My story, I just looking over everything with Paul schemes.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: None of his pitches are as good as they were
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: last year, none of them.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Let's start with the fastball. We've talked a lot about
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: the velocity.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: He said himself, Oh, it's a designed it's designed to
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: go a little bit slower. Whether if you believe that
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: or not. I'm starting probably to be in the latter
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: camp there.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: But even if you believe.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: He's telling the truth there, it's just not as effective.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: I evidence this no further than his increase in home
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: runs allowed. Mark. Last year, his home runs per nine
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: innings was the best of Major League Baseball zero point
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: five to three. This year, he's thirty sixth in Major
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: League Baseball among the fifty four sixty four excuse me
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: qualified pitchers, with a one point two home runs per
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: nine innings He allowed I believe, I think thirteen home
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: runs all last season. He's already allowed eleven so far
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: this year, and five of those home runs have come
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: against the four seam fastball, which matches his total allowed
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: through the four seam last year. All that said, Mark,
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: the four seam is his best pitch this season, and
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: it's his best pitch by far.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Let's go through the rest of the mix.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: When Paul Skeins was introduced to us, he had four
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: pitches which he threw more than ten percent of the time.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: It was the four seam fastball, which had a higher velocity.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: Then it was the splinker, the best secondary pitch in
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: Major League Baseball at the time. There was also a sweeper.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: There was also a curveball. I believe those were his four. Yes,
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: he also had to change up in a slider, but
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: I believe both of those are thrown around sixty five percent.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: So two of those four pitches I bring those up
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: are just totally non factors. Now, the splinker has gone
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: from unhittable to a liability mark, and it's his first
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: year using it. I believe he threw it twenty five
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: percent of the time. Last year that reduced down to
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: fourteen percent. And if you remember why, it was because
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: the off season following his rookie year, he made it
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: a point to try to teach himself a sinker and
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: a cutter. The cutter never stuck around, but the sinker
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: became a part of his pitch mix, and once he
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: started during the sinker more, the splinker became a little
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: bit more obsolete. Well, this year, the splinker is just bad.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: It is his worst pitch. It's among his worst pitches.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: I don't know if it's Yeah, yeah, it's his worst
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: pitch as far as batting average is concerned. Because hitters
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: are hitting three sixty six against the splitter.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Well, how's the sinker doing.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: The splinker replacement opponents are slugging four forty four against
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: that pitch, so he doesn't really have either of those.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: In his bag anymore.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: We go now to the curveball, which his rookie year, Uh,
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: he threw sixteen percent of the time. Last year it
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: dropped down to five percent. And there's a good reason
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: why he stopped throwing it because I believe opponents slugged six'
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: eighty against.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: The curveball in twenty twenty.
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: Five couple the, Curve.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah it just wasn't a good pick.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: Lot, yeah, Yes so this year he's only throwing the
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: curveball ten, times which is fine in theory if you
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: have another pitch to rely on. More but when the
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: sinker isn't working and the splinker isn't, working and the
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: slider has never really been his ideal secondary pitch and
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: the sweeper hasn't really gotten any better, Either, yeah, yeah
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: you're forced to be a fastball change up, guy and
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: that's What Paul skeins is right. Now he's throwing his
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: change up, dramatically more than he's ever done in his.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: Career it's his second most used pitch this, year and
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Per Baseball, savant it's one of the worst pitches he.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: Throws it has a negative to run.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: Value so because of his inability to kind of get
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: his other pitching under, control he's kind of been reduced
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: to being a two pitch guy who mixes in a
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: whole bunch of side, stuff and none of the side
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: stuff has consistently. Worked, now how is This Paul skein's.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: Fault it's really tough to give a formal answer to,
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: that but IF i had to, GUESS i would say
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: that maybe we're all forgetting how young this guy is
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: as a human.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: Being and as a.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Pitcher he's only been a pitcher for like three this
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: is his fourth. Year it's crazy to, think, Right and
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: throughout that stretch he's experienced nothing but, success and rather
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: than being, Content Paul skins continues to push himself further and,
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: further AND i think he's gotten to a point where
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: he wants to kind of just master, everything and in some,
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: CASES i think it could be argued he probably spent
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: a little bit too much time working on things that
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: probably didn't deserve that much, time and as a, result
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: his overall pitch mix got a little. Diluted at least
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: that's HOW i see. It i'm not sitting here claiming
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: THAT i know more about baseball Than Paul skins Or
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: Bill murphy Or Oscar marine or really. Anyone, hell half
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: the people watching this probably have a better baseball like
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: you than. Me but just going through What i've, EXPLORED
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: i think it's really easy that you can make that
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: argument that may he was a little too smart for
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: his own, good that his love for the game and
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: being innovative and exploring new grips and ways to get
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: batters out weighs the tunnel things off of stuff that
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: he's already known that works.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Kind of got him a little carried.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: Away and now he's in a place where he doesn't
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: have anything going for him right, now aside from just
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: changing speeds and in the instances where the fastball command
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: isn't There wednesday being the most obvious, example he's got
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: nothing to, offer, Yep and he doesn't look Like Paul
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: Skins that's HOW i.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: See everything flows from the, fastball, Right, like, yeah if
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: you're if his fastball isn't, playing the breaking stuff isn't
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: going to look nearly as. Good the off speed stuff's
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: not going to look nearly as. Good and so as
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: the fastball has become more, hittable guys aren't having to
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: sit there and chase and be, like OH i gotta
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: be really on, top like kind of antsy for these
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: all the off speed. Stuff and, YEAH i JUST i
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: think the fastball is a little bit. Concerning we saw
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: the Pitching ninja clip today On. Twitter i'm sure that
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: probably went by everyone's. Feeds if you're listening to this
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: where you can see his just his he's not shifting
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: his weight as, much not getting as much, velocity and,
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: YEAH i don't, know it's it's. Concerning my question for
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: you is what do you do to fix this or address?
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: This do you you just have him keep? Going do
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: you have him skip a? Start do you do like
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: where they like limited his innings a little, bit where
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: you're like five, innings that's. It, now you just let
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: him pitch through it and figure it.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: Out he's a baseball, player, Man it happens it's just
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: weird because we've never seen him. Struggle, yeah but he's,
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: human he's he's allowed to, struggle he's allowed to Have
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: it's really been a bad month and a, half not even, yeah,
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: no it's started On may, seventeenth and, yeah AND i
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: think bad luck and bad fielding has contributed to some of,
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: this but, overall, yeah it's.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Been a bad month and a.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: Half it's gonna. HAPPEN i, mean this guy probably wasn't
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: going to have a career era under. Two if you
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: look at all projections like through zips and stuff, preseason
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: they always have him in around a two SIX, era.
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: And that's what is. Expected era was the last.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: Two years is seven five right, Now so HE'S i,
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: mean he's had some bad. Starts he hasn't been as
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: good as what we've seen in the, past and and
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: maybe that's just the, Reality, like because how many people
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: are that.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: Good mischief is such a weird. Thing, yeah, yeah pitching
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: is such a weird thing where you know it'll, fluctuate,
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: Right and so if he's not the best picture in
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: the world every single season of his, career that's. Okay
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: BUT i still think he's going to be just. Fine moving.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: FORWARD i think it's just a rough, patch like you, Said, so.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah there's some concern because just because it's it's so.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Weird it's like the kid who's never got to be
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: in his life is now bringing home sees on a
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: report card and you're kind of wondering what's going. On
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: BUT i, think, HONESTLY i think the longer he goes
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: without playing baseball probably could make this. Worse, OKAY i,
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: think you, know the idea of sitting him down and
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: trying to figure.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: This out might lead to more.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: PROBLEMS i think he needs to just get back out
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: there and, yeah you want.
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: To stop overthinking and, yeah just go out there and. Shove,
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: yeah see the ball go through the hoop. Ones, yeah.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Yep so that's my take on. It you could tell
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Me i'm.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: Wrong if you, want read the article where there's a
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: lot more depth to EVERYTHING i explained At post dashkazet
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: dot com and comment what you. Think if you have
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: any other, theories comment on this episode It, mark don't tweet.
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: It.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, now all, right we're gonna take another quick. Break
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: we come.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: Back it will be our weekly Segment Jay Hay now
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: with our one and only Pal Josh harrison here On Bucky.
• 24:10
  Speaker 6: Territory this episode is brought to you by FanDuel Baseball.
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• 25:17
  Speaker 5: What do you, Say, well, well looky here we bet
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: we bat j Hay now segment is in full. Effect
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: missed it last, week but somebody THAT i really wanted
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: to highlight for this for this week was S Merlin.
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: Valdez being on the family trip this past, WEEK.
• 25:43
  Speaker 7: I got to see some of the noise he was
• 25:45
  Speaker 7: making and is still carrying over as we're getting ready
• 25:47
  Speaker 7: to Head in A friday's episode with the playing Day,
• 25:50
  Speaker 7: game he, said over three hundred ops over, thousand and
• 25:56
  Speaker 7: that's something that this offense is kind of needed, with you,
• 25:58
  Speaker 7: know kind of That seesaw battle of you, know hovering
• 26:02
  Speaker 7: around five hundred offense is something that has not been
• 26:05
  Speaker 7: an issue this. Year so it's nice to see S
• 26:07
  Speaker 7: merland come in and you, know make his presence, felt
• 26:09
  Speaker 7: especially against. Lefties but sit over three hundred ops over one,
• 26:13
  Speaker 7: thousand and, yes his strikeout numbers may be a little,
• 26:16
  Speaker 7: alarming twenty STRIKEOUTS i think to maybe six, walks but
• 26:19
  Speaker 7: he said in three zero, TWO i think with the
• 26:21
  Speaker 7: ops over one, thousand six homers twelve RBIs a little
• 26:24
  Speaker 7: small sample, size but that's somebody that wanted to. Highlight
• 26:28
  Speaker 7: it's been a little bright, spot especially given that you,
• 26:30
  Speaker 7: know when he came, up we were, like, hey getting
• 26:32
  Speaker 7: some of. Bats you don't want this guy just. Sitting
• 26:35
  Speaker 7: so he's making the most of. It AND i, mean
• 26:37
  Speaker 7: out of those six home, runs it's been some tape.
• 26:39
  Speaker 7: MEASURES i think the one IN p AND. C i
• 26:40
  Speaker 7: think measured over like four Sixty.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah for sixty one IN p AND. C just bombing, it, yes, yeah,
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: easy easy power From zemliand and he's also his defense
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: has been pretty. Good he's been really right in right.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: Field he had a couple of diving catches On wednesday
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: night and a tough outing for The. Pirates but, yeah,
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: uh he's been everything that The pirates have. Wanted and
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: it's not often that you see The, pirates you, know
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: call up a rookie and they instantly succeed and are
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: contributing to the. Team. Right usually in the past it's been, like,
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: oh we have an, Injury, like, well this is the
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: next guy, up so let's give him a. Chance, yeah
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: where As, maryland he's he's gotten this opportunity now With
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: Spencer horwitz, down So ryan O'Hearn has shifted back to
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: first base and he's made the absolute most of. It
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: he's basically been playing every day. Now, JOSH i wanted
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: to ask you like he's a big fan. Favorite like
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: what kind of Emotions like he's so, easy like easy,
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: going very happy. Constantly what does that do like for
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: like a, team especially The pirates right now going through a,
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: Slump like does that make a difference when you a
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: guy is just constantly happy and smiling in the clubhouse
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: no matter what's going.
• 27:59
  Speaker 7: On oh, yeah for, Sure and there could be somebody
• 28:04
  Speaker 7: that may have an issue with. It but if somebody
• 28:05
  Speaker 7: has an issue with, it you know that issue is
• 28:08
  Speaker 7: definitely more deeper rooted than you, know somebody just going
• 28:11
  Speaker 7: in there having positive vibes, because as you mentioned in
• 28:14
  Speaker 7: the time where you, know relationships not relationships with vibes
• 28:17
  Speaker 7: can be kind of you, know shaky due to, injuries
• 28:19
  Speaker 7: due to everything going. ON a guy like that is
• 28:22
  Speaker 7: a breath of fresh air because one he's playing well
• 28:25
  Speaker 7: and then you, know, hitting you, know they, say is.
• 28:28
  Speaker 7: Contagious so it's something where you, know guys might you,
• 28:31
  Speaker 7: know build off of. That but at the same, time
• 28:32
  Speaker 7: just having good positive vibes helps in a time like
• 28:35
  Speaker 7: this where you got guys that are you, know having
• 28:37
  Speaker 7: to be on the shelf for you, know an extending
• 28:39
  Speaker 7: amount of. Time it's nice to have a guy who's
• 28:42
  Speaker 7: come up one made his impact on the, field but
• 28:44
  Speaker 7: also you know in the, clubhouse those things don't go
• 28:46
  Speaker 7: unnoticed because if you said the fans love, It i'm
• 28:48
  Speaker 7: sure they fill that in the clubhouse as. Well and
• 28:51
  Speaker 7: then when you, hit when you're hitting four hundred and
• 28:53
  Speaker 7: sixty one foot home, RUNS i think anybody's gonna be
• 28:56
  Speaker 7: a chair for. That so it's been cool to see
• 28:58
  Speaker 7: him come up and as you, said being to take
• 29:00
  Speaker 7: a little pressure off, of you, know the team per,
• 29:03
  Speaker 7: se because when you're missing some key, guys it's like
• 29:05
  Speaker 7: who's going to step? Up and S merlin has done
• 29:07
  Speaker 7: a great job of just you, know filling that void
• 29:09
  Speaker 7: for the time.
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: Being, exactly and especially filling the void with a team
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: that struggles against left handed. Pitching The pirates have not
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: looked good against, lefties and so having a guy that
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: is one not only just, comfortable but he can actually
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: really really. Mash that's why he's shown throughout all of
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: his miner's career and when he called. Up when he
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: was called, up that's kind of what we were thinking
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: his role might, be maybe like the fourth fifth outfielder
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: type that is going to play mostly against, lefties but
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: he is put him in Against righty's lefties, whoever because,
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: yeah this kid is just absolutely mashing and so super
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: encouraging for a guy THAT i don't think The pirates
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: expected in the plans for this, year uh coming in, Right,
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: YEAH i think s Marylin is was always in the
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: plan for maybe twenty twenty, seven maybe like a couple
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: of coffee this, year but, NO i mean he's got.
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: Some he's got that cup of coffee and then some
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: and he's still. Mashing so really happy for, him especially
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: because this is his second time he's gotten called. Up
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: the first time he got called, up he got his first.
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: Hit it was a home, Run, yeah and then he
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: hit one N p AND c as, WELL i, think
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: but he was still like hitting only like one forty
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: year round there or, something so like he was getting
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: acclimated TO. Mlb and now the adjustments have been, made
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: he's still going to have to. Adjust i'm sure the
• 30:37
  Speaker 3: league's gonna take, notice and pitchers are going to figure
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: out how to pitch to. Him the fastball has been
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: a little bit difficult for, him but he can pull
• 30:46
  Speaker 3: his hands in if you pitch him, inside and he's
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: in a really good job of not just like being
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: a power guy. Too we've seen a lot of situational
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: hitting from, him where Like wednesday nights, game he had
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: a leadoff single where that's what the situation called, for
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: was we just needed a runner on, base and so
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: he pulled his hands. In he has a little blooper
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: that HAD i THINK xba of like a, thousand like
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: guaranteed hit. Basically and, yeah so he's been helping the
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: team multiple. Ways really really encouraging from a guy who's
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: only twenty. Two so, yeah and, YEAH i feel So, Josh, Yeah,
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: no that.
• 31:28
  Speaker 7: Was just somebody that caught my, eye AS i, said
• 31:30
  Speaker 7: have been, away you, know the past week family vacation
• 31:33
  Speaker 7: watching the. Highlights he was a guy, that as you,
• 31:35
  Speaker 7: said we didn't know what his role was gonna be
• 31:37
  Speaker 7: coming into you, know these call, ups and he's definitely
• 31:41
  Speaker 7: exceeded expectations in the set of time where The pirates needed.
• 31:44
  Speaker 7: It so my hat now segment highlights. That and here
• 31:48
  Speaker 7: we are recording This. FRIDAY i think they got a
• 31:50
  Speaker 7: chance to split the series if they want to day, Right.
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: So, yeah they're about to play here in like twenty,
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: minutes so hopefully he's in there.
• 31:56
  Speaker 7: Today let's, see let's see if he does something special
• 31:59
  Speaker 7: to get helped the you know pliers get split of the.
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: SERIES i love it all. Right, well now we're gonna
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: kick it back over to Uh noah AND i to
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: wrap things up.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: All, right big thanks To Josh harrison as always for.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: Contributing can't wait to have him you, know back for
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: a full week with, us because the show's better When. Josh,
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: OBVIOUSLY i want to remind everyone to hit that subscribe
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: button on the note of the show if you haven't.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: Already we're on a mission of three thousand subscribers on.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: YouTube can't get there without your, help and we are
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: climbing every. Day, also want to remind everyone to check
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: out our merch at The.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: Bucko territory team. Store got a lot.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: Of good stuff FROM t, shirts, hoodies, hats, bags coffee.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: Mugs a framed platinum key AUTOGRAPH. Jr what yeah't have that?
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: Mark any final thoughts as we wrap up another.
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: WEEK i just right back at five hundred. Again it's
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: kind of funny every time we're. Recording now we're back
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: at five, hundred so really helping the series. Up this
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: upcoming series starting today against The nationals is maybe a
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: nice little, sweep you, know get above five hundred going
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: into The All star break and carry that momentum for
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: the second half of the. Season any any final thoughts
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: for you owing go Read know's article if you you're listening, here.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: Get yeah on The on the note of articles, TOO
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: i would like to promote my Es Merlin valdez story
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: a little bit more to just kind of what he's
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: providing and who he's kind of stepping up in place
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: of As i'm happy with how that one turned out as.
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: Well so that's All i'll say For Platinum, key Ak
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: mark And Josh harrison on The ohio signing off. Thing
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: thanks for tuning in to another episode Of Bucco territory
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: presented to you by The Foul Territory.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: Network take care