DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: Catastrophic catching

DK’s Daily Shot of Pirates: Catastrophic catching

[Music] [Applause] app propo of almost nothing there have been 125 catchers sued up this season in Major League Baseball of those 125 yasmani grandal ranks 24th when it comes to controlling the opponent’s running game good morning to you you you see how these shows get started good Tuesday morning to you I’m Dan katovich of DK Pittsburg Sports and this is daily shot of pirates it comes your way bright and early every weekday if you’re into football Andor hockey I also offer daily shots of Steelers and Penguins in the same place that you found this Red’s 11 pirates 5 last night in Cincinnati and for me to share with you everything that went wrong would be a waste of everyone’s time for me to rant yet again about how this team can’t sustain any sort of success would be a waste of everyone’s time so let’s pick on just one position not even a player but a position because grandal is terrible we all get that and I’m about to support that statement but what’s more striking than that is that that Ben charington just has no eye for this specific position at all does he I mean you know it’s commonly said that every Sports executive has some sort of shortcoming an area where no matter what it is that they try to do they just can’t hit it in charrington’s case and I’m actually mean this I don’t think he tries at this position and that’s been true since the covid year since 2020 when he would just go and find a bunch of catchers who were known to be pretty good defensively and couldn’t hit at all and it’s funny because Luke meley was one of them and he had all kinds of hits last night at Great American Ballpark but that’s been his thing it it’s almost as if he was making a statement to suggest that offense from the catching position isn’t important and I I guess to an extent I gave him he was new and whatever the benefit of the doubt I thought all right maybe he’s on to something here you’re getting catchers who are really really sound back there it’s a young pitching staff at the time it’s coming with a little bit of extra value that they can uh catch Sliders in the dirt with a man on third or control that guy at first base and then starting about I’d say a year or two ago charington took on a new tact at the catching position and decided that he’d go for neither I’m not about to say that Austin Hedges was terrible defensively that wouldn’t be true but he wasn’t anywhere near good defensively while he was with the pirates for whatever reason and now Along Comes grandal the latest dumpster dive in free agency to try to address this position to whatever extent shington even cares to address it and he is legitimately terrible I am not just saying that either because he’s now batting 186 with two home runs and 14 14 RB and 1002 at bats that only gives him something in common with all Chings and catchers none of them can hit at least not while they’re in Pittsburgh but if you manage to stomach any significant percentage of that game last night in Cincinnati you also saw grandal essentially concede a run at home plate there was a runner coming around third from second base on a single out to Edward olis in right field oliveres is not a great outfielder he’s shown that multiple times and he showed it multiple times again last night on this occasion just a one bouncer goes right to him and he rears back for the throw and he fires it it’s up the Baseline the one good thing about throws that are up the baseline from The Outfield is that they’re coming from the Outfield so you have some time to adjust gral moves up the Baseline but he also moves way behind the Baseline which made no sense I watched the play on a video Loop probably about 10 times to try to figure out what he was doing because the camera angles of this entire sequence weren’t all that awesome but every time I came to the same conclusion what’s he doing back there why did he back off the Baseline going further deeper into foul territory as it turns out alliv varys’s throw did arrive in time but the runner had no difficulty at all and didn’t really even have to stray from the chalk to reach home safely meanwhile grandal is lunging way out to try to tag this dude all he had to do was stay at the Baseline the only place he could have possibly made a play you know I’m not an idiot I know they lost 11 to five and I know that run wasn’t why and everything it’s just we can either go over this stuff collectively day after day after day or you can start singling out some of the people who are the most responsible for this team continuing to lose despite having with apologies and acknowledgement to bayy falter not having his best game last night an outstanding overall rotation so grandal’s one of them you know Henry Davis obviously stands out like the sorest of sore thumbs because he’s a number one overall pick so he’s either struggling or in the minor are hurt Jason delay is you know he’s Jason delay I liked what I saw of Joey Bart he got hurt before long I’m sure they’d knock the offense out of him too it’s just it’s incredible it’s absolutely incredible that for five years now even even in the case of and please don’t forget about him Andy Rodriguez Andy was able to hit at every level and hit an extremely High rate at every level along the way gets to Pittsburgh suddenly can’t hit and then he of course is lost for the season to the elbow surgery that followed the Pirates allowing him to play winter ball whatever I mean I guess it’s just the catcher position nobody cares right when we come back J1 [Music] Q this portion of daily shot of pirates is brought to you by a friends at Northshore Tavern that’s directly across Federal Street from PNC Park it’s home of steak on a stone an eating experience underscoring the word experience the steak is brought to you partially cooked on an 800° stone and you do the rest it’s a ton of fun it’s a great meal and it’s a baseball atmosphere like no other in Pittsburgh Northshore Tavern right across Federal Street from p Park it’s gun storage check week help prevent unwanted access to your Firearms no one wants their unsecured gun to be used in an accident a suicide or a crime use lock boxes safes and locks to secure your Firearms learn more at gun storage check.org that’s gunstor check.org brought to you by nssf the firearm industry trade Association [Music] today’s j1q comes from Chris who says DK if the Pirates were to land a bat it would have to be a veteran bat unless they get a new hitting coach right and you know you can hear a question like that listening to this program today and not not think even for a second that one syllable of it sounds nuts it’s just completely normal to ask that question it’s completely fair to ask that question because as Chris seems to recognize and others do as well unless you’re an established hitter and you’re coming with your own personality your own profile and you can’t be messed with you’re going to be a bad hitter in Pittsburgh Brian Reynolds was of course reared in the giant system up to the doublea level San Francisco and he is as set in stone as a guy under 30 can be he just has that something about him where he’s always been able to hit I know he’s not a superstar or whatever but you’re seeing now and the hitting streak by the way reached 21 last night with a couple more hits he’s reliable he’s dependable and he’s got nothing to do with the ongoing hitting instruction of the Pirates the same can be spoken of course of the pirates only other player in that category that being Andrew McCutchen he hasn’t needed a hitting coach for a long time but everyone else everyone else across the board no exceptions for years now that’s not the case so Chris I mean I know why you’re asking the question and I know what’s behind it I just happen to agree I don’t have anything else to add to that yes is the answer if you were to bring in a hitter from the outside it’s going to have to be someone that you can trust to basically take care of themselves or they’re already so set that you just don’t worry about it but if as some have suggested you try to let’s say trade a pitching Prospect for a hitting Prospect or a 4A type or someone who’s just on the cusp of making it to the majors presuming that sort of transaction would even be feasible if you were to do that you’re wasting your asset you’re wasting your move because that player now has to be coached Up by Andy Haynes and that’s a great path to 195 I appreciate the question I appreciate everybody listening to daily shot of pirates day after day clutton all of you we’re going to do it again tomorrow anyway [Music]

Yasmani Grandal and the rest of this catastrophic catching.

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