Welcome to our newest series: Bechtold’s Core Four.
Welcome to Bechtold’s Core Four, where I preview four Pittsburgh Pirates topics, events, or storylines worth following this week. In a new weekly feature, we’ll discover what you would keep an eye on as the week progresses in the world of the Pirates and Major League Baseball. Let’s go.
Goodbye Oakland Coliseum
The Pirates will make their final trip to the Oakland Coliseum starting Monday for a three-game series against the A’s. It marks the final time the Pirates will play in Oakland before the A’s move their home games to Sacramento, home to the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats. The A’s will play in Sacramento from at least 2025 until 2027 with an option to play in 2028 if their new stadium in Las Vegas isn’t complete.
Oakland will relocate to Vegas before the end of the decade as Oakland loses its third and final team this century after the Raiders moved to Vegas and the Warriors built their new arena across the bay in San Francisco. Goodbye to one of the oldest and outdated ballparks in the Majors. I just hope no one gets attacked by a possum living in the walls.
The “rally possum” living at Oakland Coliseum made an appearance in the booth during A’s-Angels on Opening Day.
Teams have been unable to use the booth since, the Mets’ broadcast team says:pic.twitter.com/Ex3PdVpGCv
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) April 15, 2023
Ring, Ring: Phoning for Offense
There aren’t many positive things to say about the Pirates offense. Under the direction of hitting coach Andy Haines, the Bucs are tied for 20th in runs (4.0) and tied for 12th in hits (8.3). They scored a whopping six runs in three games and were held scoreless on Friday. The Red Sox outscored them 18-4.
5-13, that’s the Pirates record since starting 9-2. It’s getting out of hand and continuing to ruin quality starts from a surprisingly dependable rotation.
Pittsburgh was 7th in the bigs in batting average (.259) two weeks ago on April 15. It’s since dropped to .238, the 19th-best in the game. When will the offense wake up? Will Henry Davis (team-low .175 average) be here by the end of the week if Yasmani Grandal is ready to return from his rehab assignment?
If Rowdy Tellez’s name is called and slated in the starting nine when the Pirates return to PNC Park, will he be booed? Tellez is hitting .187 with 21 strikeouts in 26 games, but did break a skid of five hitless games by recording a base hit on Saturday plus two hits Sunday and a sac fly. According to the newfound Pittsburgher who had been here all of five minutes, “That’s not what we do here.” Well, we’re going to find out.
Paul Skenes is Near…
It’s going to be Christmas morning very soon. GM Ben Cherington confirmed Paul Skenes will start Tuesday in Indianapolis and would be in line to start on Sunday if everything goes according to plan. Indy’s three-game series in Omaha was postponed following a tornado and lingering weather throughout the weekend.
Skenes threw over 70 pitches in his last start. Should 80 be the next expectation? It certainly should and would be a solid complement to pitching 5+ innings for the first time. May 10 has become the new benchmark where people are seeing the forest through the trees and Skenes very well could debut at PNC Park. A Friday night home game against the Chicago Cubs? It would be one of the most highly anticipated debuts in recent memory.
Miller Time
When the Pirates face Oakland, the Bucs will likely see star closer and former top prospect Mason Miller in the back end of the bullpen. A Bethel Park native, Miller attended my alma mater Waynesburg University (D3) before transferring to Gardner-Webb and being drafted in the third round three years ago (2021).
Miller owns the lowest ERA on the team (1.46) through 12.1 innings with 25 strikeouts and four walks. His fastball tops out at 103 mph.
It’s an amazing story. Miller finished his sophomore year with a 5.57 ERA in 32.2 innings and didn’t throw with nearly as much velocity. Miller had to take a drug test in college to qualify for an internship and the test results came back diluted. Confused, Miller sought more information and discovered he has Type 1 Diabetes.
He’s since been one of the most dominant pitchers in college and professional baseball. Miller debuted as a starter last season but the A’s moved him to the bullpen and his staff has played accordingly. Tip of the cap to Miller for overcoming adversity and being the next ‘Pittsburgh kid’ to make the Major Leagues.