Ten Surprises at Pirates Spring Training

Who has surprised you at 2010 Pittsburgh Pirates spring training?   Here is our list and here are the stats from Pirates.com

Pedro Alvarez is a triples machine.  Who would have thought.

Jeremy Powell and Daniel McCutchen are the only Pirate pitchers that have pitched at least four innings to not have allowed a walk.

LHP Jack Tashner made a change to his arm slot after talking with his former coach.  Jen Langosch covered in this story.  It’s made a big difference.  Taschner has allowed no earned runs and  put seven strikeouts in the books.

Neil Walker is on a mission.  Among Pirates with over ten plate appearances, Walker leads the team with an .857 SLG and walks (he is tied with Jeff Clement with four.)  Walker  trails only John Raynor in batting average and is second in runs scored.  Not bad for 11 plate appearances, especially the walks. 

Raynor is playing like a beast and  leads the team in total bases with 13.

Brandon Moss has no hits in 15 PAs.

D.J. Carrasco has seven strikeouts and hasn’t allowed a run in five IP; while Donnie Veal has no strikeouts, no runs allowed, and two walks in four IP. 

Who the hell is  Vinnie Chulk?  The reason I ask is he also has seven strikeouts in four innings.

The Pirates starting pitching smells for miles.  The staff of Paul Maholm, Ross Ohlendorf, Zach Duke, Charlie Morton, and Kevin Hart has racked up the following stats:

"18.2 Innnings Pitched   with 19 Earned Runs and 20 Walks while striking out ten and giving up three bombs."

23 days until the opener.  Wish it was one.