The Grapefruit League season is ready to start.
Finally, baseball is back! At 1:05 PM this afternoon the Pittsburgh
Pirates will travel to Clearwater, Florida, to do battle with the Philadelphia Phillies
in their 2019 Grapefruit League opener.
When the first pitch of the
Pirates Grapefruit League season is fired it will be by Philly righty Enyel De Los Santos. This will be
Philadelphia’s second game of the Grapefruit season. Yesterday, the Phillies
defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 to kick off their Grapefruit schedule.
Saturday’s contest will feature
something new for Pittsburgh Pirates’ pitchers – a pitch clock. This spring,
MLB will experiment with a 20 second pitch count in an effort to speed up the
pace of play. Saturday will be the first time that the Bucs’ pitching staff
will subject to the pitch clock.
Left-handed pitcher Steven Brault will start for the
Pirates this afternoon. In 45 games (5 starts) Brault posted a 4.61 ERA and a
4.92 FIP in 91 2/3 innings pitched. This offseason Brault changed his delivery
in an effort to improve his control. This game will be his first chance to use
the new delivery in game action.
Brault is competing with Jordan Lyles and Nick Kingham for the team’s fifth and
final rotation spot this spring. If he does not win the final rotation spot, he
will have an opportunity to earn a spot in the Pirate bullpen. However, due to
Kingham being out of minor league options and the addition of Francisco Liriano in free agency, odds
are, Brault will start the season at Triple-A.
Brault is one of six pitchers
scheduled to pitch for the Pirates on Saturday afternoon. Clay Holmes, Michael Feliz, Brandon Maurer, Aaron Slegers, and Geoff Hartlieb are also scheduled to
pitch for the Bucs this afternoon. Even though Holmes and Feliz pitched at the
MLB level for the Pirates last season, each of these pitchers appear ticketed
for Triple-A to start the season.
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