TWO OUT-OF-OPTIONS PIRATES TO WATCH

KINGHAM, STALLINGS HOPE TO MAKE MARK THIS SPRING

There are a number of factors the Pirates must consider when filling the holes in their Opening Day roster over the next six weeks. Some of those factors, like performance, are within the players' control. Others aren't. For a few players, their Minor League option status makes the decision even more complicated.

When a player is out of options, he can't be sent to the Minor Leagues without first being put on waivers, where any team can claim him. There are two players to watch in Pirates camp who are out of options this year: right-hander Nick Kingham and catcher Jacob Stallings.

Kingham is competing with right-hander Jordan Lyles and left-hander Steven Brault for the fifth spot in the rotation. If he's not one of the Pirates' five starters, there should be room for him in the bullpen as a long reliever. Last month at PiratesFest, Kingham acknowledged that being out of options might put him "under the microscope" a little more, but he generally looked at it as a positive.

Kingham will be given an opportunity. However he needs to capitalize on it. As it does with every young player it’s either going to make him or break him. In order to get to the next level you need to adapt an make changes to help you grow. If something bad happens you could end up in Triple A or even worse find yourself sitting at home and Kingham knows that.

Stallings is in a more difficult position. He won't unseat Francisco Cervelli and Elias Diaz, who were the Majors' most productive catching tandem last season. Few teams carry three catchers because it limits their flexibility, especially in an era of 13-man pitching staffs. The Pirates did it at times last year, however, and it allowed manager Clint Hurdle to aggressively use Cervelli and Diaz as pinch-hitters.

But the Pirates don't have much Major League-ready catching depth behind Cervelli, Diaz and Stallings. Non-roster invitee Steven Baron, likely the next man up, has six games of big league experience. So if they lost Stallings on waivers and something happened to Cervelli and/or Diaz, they would be in a tough spot at a critical position.

It's a scenario for the front office and coaching staff to consider as the spring goes on. For now, though, Hurdle advised patience.

Stallings knows that he has to take it one day at a time.  Stallings will be given ample opportunity to play this spring. A week from now, Stallings could make Pirates management take a different view of him. Everyone knows that during Spring Training that anything can happen. The biggest concern is injury and if that occurs then Stallings has to be ready to produce and take advantage of the situation.

Stallings hit .285/.335/.414 in 68 games for Triple-A Indianapolis last season. He batted just .216 in 14 games for the Pirates, but pitchers raved about his work behind the plate. The 29-year-old backstop is approaching this spring with the kind of one-day-at-a-time mentality that Hurdle mentioned.

Any sort of thing can happen, especially in this situation. Stallings has neither faced a situation and this is he’s first time going through something like this. Stallings claims that he’s not going to let this bother him too much. He’s just trying to get better, like he always does, get ready for the season, hopefully play well and see what happens at the end.

AROUND THE HORN

• Right-hander Chris Archer threw a bullpen session to Cervelli during Thursday's workout at Pirate City. The other pitchers to scale the bullpen mound were Richard Rodriguez, Nick Burdi, Dovydas Neverauskas, Alex McRae, Dario Agrazal, Elvis Escobar, Brandon Waddell, Eduardo Vera, Jesus Liranzo, Luis Escobar, Geoff Hartlieb and Blake Weiman.

• Third baseman Colin Moran and non-roster outfielder JB Shuck reported to Spring Training, joining a large group of early-arriving hitters. Position players are not required to report until Sunday, but they performed fielding drills and took batting practice on Thursday morning.

• The Spring Training schedule still runs early in the day, especially when compared to the regular-season schedule consisting mostly of night games, but the Pirates pushed back their routine a bit. Players can't report to the clubhouse any earlier than 7:30 a.m. this spring, whereas some arrived before 6 a.m. in years past, and the Pirates are hoping the extra rest pays off.

The Pirates go into this spring training different than last year. The Pirates did a lot of strategic planning in the offseason. The Pirates made a lot of phone calls to their players, sharing with them what their thoughts would be, how we would stagger the schedule on certain work days. The players are all on board with doing something different that the Pirates brass think will bring those benefits throughout the season.