Crawdads Creek.-The Pitchers

Here is my look at the Crawdad pitchers from the series here.

Jared Hughes-
Hughes pitched in Game 1 and pitched 5 scoreless innings.
Jared gave up 5 hits ,struck out 4 and walked none,while earning the win.
Hughes was in the mid 80's most of the time,with a high of 87.
Please remember on gun readings,I asked the pitcher doing the gun about speed here and there,but not on every pitch.
One knock on Hughes was on competitiveness and to me,that seemed to be a strength,not a weakness.
He seemed to really bear down when runners reached base and held them close,better than expected for a 6'7 hurler.

Bradley Clapp-
Clapp pitched 5 innings in game 2 and earned the victory.
Bradley gave up 3 runs,5 hits,struck out 5 and didnt walk anyone.
I did not get as many gun readings on Clapp as the other starters,but IMO-he throws in the low to mid 90's.The highest I heard on Clapp was 90,but I would say he may have exceeded that.
His curve was working well ,control-wise ,on this day.
Fastball was a bit straight,but could have been due to the frigid weather.
The weather on the whole series was cold,but Clapp had the best weather of the 3.

Michael Felix-
Felix was taken out after 2 and a third innings.
Michael gave up 4 runs,only 2 hits and struck out 4 batters,but walked 5!
Felix did not get a decision in the game.
Felix throws in the 90's with a high of 92 on this day.
I overheard Michael in the stands (I know I am not allowed to interview players ) talking to Hughes and Crotta about his outing and basically claimed that the weather didnt affect the fastball,but he had major problems gripping the ball .
That led to the control problems with the breaking stuff.
I hope to see Michael again in July,to get a larger sample on him

Eric Krebs-
One Word-WOW!
The unheralded Krebs was known to me for two reasons coming into the series.
1) He started the game I saw in Williamsport and threw 5 shutout innings vs Mahoning Valley.
His outing was superb,1 hit and struck out 8.
2)He threw the foul ball I grabbed during my visit to Williamsport.
But I did not hear much about him over the off season,so I figured I might have just caught him on the right night.
So vs Hagerstown in freezing temps,he pitches 5 innings,allows 2 hits and strikes out 8 Suns.
He did allow 1 run,but if his fielders give him a bit of support,that run never scores.
It was earned,but one that IMO should never have scored.
Every time I asked for a gun clocking,he was never out of the 90's,topping at 94.
Slider works well and he works very fast.
Mechanically-very much of the "Texas Style".
The Crawdads call him "Nuke LaLoosh" for his style of pitching and one can see the resemblance watching him pitch.
Super impressed with Krebs-This is a real sleeper and possible gem for the Bucs!!

The Crawdads had a policy (told off the record by Unnamed Crawdad) that due to the weather,no one would pitch more than twice and never in back to back games.
So the good news is I saw the whole bullpen,bad news-none for very long.
If someone wants to see my views on the relievers,LMK.
Please remember the sample size is small!

Pirates lose again today to the Cardinals 3-2 and get swept at home by St.Louis.
Chris Duncan blasted a pinch hit homer off Salomon Torres in the top of the 9th to break a 2-2 tie.
2nd night in a row for Torres,Hope this isnt a sign of things to come.
Pirates RBI's go to Humberto Cota on a 4th inning single (Humberto Cota??) and Freddy Sanchez on a 7th inning sac fly.
The Pirates fall to 4-5 on the season and are off tomorrow.
The San Francisco Giants come to PNC Park for a 3 game weekend series.

Photo Credit-John Setzler Jr.