Jerry Sands Among First Pittsburgh Pirates Cuts

Jerry Sands was among the first cuts for the Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates have made the first moves of 2013 Spring Training.  The team announced that they have reassigned Erik Cordier who had difficulty finding the strike zone this spring, Darren Ford, Matt Hague, Anderson Hernandez and Jameson Taillon to minor league camp.

Matt Hague was the Pirates Grapefruit League MVP last season and made the team out of camp, although he did pick up his hitting recently, the infield options are becoming quite crowded.

Taillon pitched very well for Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic and now will work on getting ready for his Double-A season at Altoona with eyes on a promotion to Indianapolis and maybe a September callup in a perfect world.

The Pirates have optioned Vic Black, Stolmy Pimentel, Clint Robinson, Jerry Sands, Hunter Strickland and Duke Welker to AAA Indianapolis.

Pimentel impressed us with his spring and the bullpens we watched at Pirates City.  The right hander could be an interesting swing man in the future.

Robinson worked hard on his hitting with Coach Pags, but couldn’t carry it over into the games.  Robinson’s footwork and transfer at the plate are just a mess, he typically looks off balance and it’s killing his power.  But we observed Robinson in the cage a couple of times, if it can be fixed, Pags and Robinson will get it worked out.  The kid isn’t afraid to work.

Pirates Clint Robinson swings and misses against the Atlanta Braves. Photo: RumBunter.com

Sands was included in the Joel Hanrahan trade and some thought he would push for a spot on the 25-man roster, but his at-bats this spring were not exciting and his swing appears to be a work in progress.  Sands had four hits in 22 at-bats, all singles.

Hell, Andrew Lambo looked better at the plate than Sands.  (We always have been a Lambo supporter, but his swing looks a bit quicker this spring.  At times Lambo had that long swing that Sands is struggingly with is why we bring him up.  It just appears slow at times and it can’t be an easy fix.)

Welker is going to be on the Bucs 25-man roster one of these days if he continues to show improvement with his command.  Dittto for Black.