DUNEDIN, Fla. -- The Pirates are, in fact, beatable. Not that the result matters all that much these next couple weeks.
Most of Pittsburgh’s projected regulars sat on Sunday after playing on Saturday, providing potential starters and several prospects with the opportunity to receive playing time.
Here are three observations from Sunday’s 10-4 loss to the Blue Jays at TD Ballpark:
Martin cranks first homer of spring
When Mason Martin received his first baseball card as a kid, his father, Hall of Fame bodybuilder Chad Martin, made sure his son’s position was listed as “slugger.” On Sunday, Martin proved that that title was plenty appropriate, crushing a middle-middle fastball well over the right-field fence for his first of what will likely be many homers.
“I’ve been a slugger since Day One,” Martin, Pittsburgh's No. 17 prospect, said in February at Pirate City.
If there’s one thing Martin has done since the Pirates selected him out of Southridge High School (Kennewick, Wash.) in 2017, it’s go yard and do it often. In 395 career Minor League games, Martin has 85 home runs with a .497 slugging percentage. Last season, Martin hit 25 home runs across 120 games at Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis, though he was with the latter team for all of eight games. Martin’s strikeout rate of 34.3% is of slight concern, but Minor League hitting coordinator Jonny Tucker re-iterated at Pirate City that Martin is still maturing at the plate.
“The thing to realize about Mason is that he’s only 22 years old,” Tucker told MLB.com. “There’s juniors that are 22 years old. There’s seniors and certainly fifth-year seniors that are 22 years old. People sometimes forget how young he is as an athlete, as a baseball player, even though he’s been a pro for as long as he has.”
With the designated hitter coming to the National League, Martin now has another path to Pittsburgh. Should he perform well in Indianapolis, it would not be inconceivable for him to receive playing time with the Pirates. Regardless of where he plays, Martin’s goals this season are centered around him being productive in Pittsburgh, donning the black and yellow.
"I’m here for whatever the team needs,” Martin said. “At the end of the day, I know what I have to offer to the team, and that’s being a run producer. That’s what I offer.”
Roansy brings the heat
Roansy Contreras sure knows how to make an introduction.
The very first pitch Contreras threw during Spring Training was a 99.4 mph fastball to the Blue Jays’ Orelvis Martinez, setting the tone for an afternoon in which the Pirates' No. 7 prospect brought the heat. Of the 10 fastballs that Contreras threw, none was slower than 97.5 mph. And to think Mitch Keller lit up a radar gun.
Contreras ended up walking Martinez on four pitches to begin his afternoon, but bounced back to retire the next three hitters, registering a scoreless inning with one strikeout.
The 22-year-old has a shot, albeit an outside one, to make the Major League club out of Spring Training, though the likeliest route is that he begins the season at Triple-A Indianapolis. That said, Contreas will likely make several starts for the Pirates before season’s end.
Similar to Oneil Cruz, Contreras spent most of last season at Double-A Altoona with a brief cameo at Triple-A Indianapolis, then a proverbial cup of coffee in Pittsburgh. In 13 starts with Altoona and Indianapolis last season, Contreras had a 2.64 ERA across 58 innings with 12.72 strikeouts and 2.02 walks per nine innings.
Peters impresses with changeup
Dillon Peters’ numbers -- two earned runs (one home run) on two hits in two innings with two strikeouts -- weren’t all that spectacular on Sunday, but the southpaw continued to impress with his changeup, a pitch that has been conducive to batters hitting nothing but air.
Both of Peters’ strikeouts against the Blue Jays came on changeups. Of the eight changeups that Peters threw on Sunday, three of them generated swings-and-misses. Peters had success with his changeup last year as well, generating a whiff rate of 40.4%, by far the highest of any pitch in his arsenal.
Peters is one of several pitchers fighting for a rotation spot this spring. The lefty enjoyed success in his brief time with the Pirates after being acquired from the Angels last season, recording a 3.71 ERA and a 3.66 FIP across six starts.
“I’m just ready to go out and throw and compete and pitch in as many games as they want me to pitch in this year,” Peters said. “I worked my butt off this offseason to show them that I’m capable of doing that."