Pirates minor league report: Inside lefty Michael Kennedys development at Pirate City

BRADENTON, Fla. Last Thursday, left-hander Michael Kennedy shoved in an extended spring training game against the Orioles. Kennedy, whom Baseball America rates as the Pirates No. 19 prospect, racked up six strikeouts over three innings.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Last Thursday, left-hander Michael Kennedy shoved in an extended spring training game against the Orioles. Kennedy, whom Baseball America rates as the Pirates’ No. 19 prospect, racked up six strikeouts over three innings.

The next day, Kennedy, a fourth-round pick in 2022, morphed from a hot-shot pitching prospect into a million-dollar bat boy.

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“The day after you throw, you give back to your team by being the bat boy in the next game,” Kennedy, 18, said with a grin. “It’s really not a bad gig. I could be in a classroom somewhere right now, but instead I’m here in Florida playing and watching baseball, which is nice.”

A standout pitcher at Troy (N.Y.) High, Kennedy was among the youngest players in the draft last summer. The Pirates lured him away from a commitment to LSU with a $1 million bonus, nearly double the slot value.

Kennedy’s initial development was slowed last year by a knee injury, and the Pirates view him as a long-term development project with upside. He’s now working in extended spring training with the Pirates’ Florida Complex League staff.

“I really never had a pitching coach my whole life. This is my first time with real instruction, which is exciting,” Kennedy said. “Before, I would try basically anything I heard about, and if I liked it, I stuck with it. I became obsessive about digging up everything I could find on the internet.”

His cerebral approach to pitching took Kennedy far as a prep player. Eddie Charles, the Pirates scout who signed Kennedy, marveled at how the youngster decided two summers ago to create a slider and made it a plus pitch over a couple of weeks.

“I like to combine old school and new school,” Kennedy said. “I’m new school off the field, because if you don’t use new-school data to design your pitches, you’re gonna be behind. Once I’m inside the lines, it’s old-school Nolan Ryan and Pedro Martinez. I’m out there trying to compete and have some fun with it.”

Kennedy’s homage to MLB legends like Ryan, who retired 11 years before Kennedy was born, is noteworthy at a time when some folks think baseball didn’t really start cooking until the Statcast era.

“Nolan Ryan’s the greatest competitor ever,” said Kennedy, who’s soaked up the documentary “Facing Nolan” a time or two on Netflix. “I mean, not for brawling, but, you know, he wasn’t backing down to anybody.”

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At Pirate City, the young pitchers are given the freedom to explore and create their arsenals. Minor league pattern and throwing coordinator Vic Black and the other coaches look at the data, evaluate the performance and nudge players toward what should work best.

“One of the biggest (areas of) growth for any player is how they construct their filter,” Black said. “They’re going to get the information, whether it be from us, Instagram, personal trainers — it’s all out there. Then it’s about filtering that data so they can keep what helps and disregard the other rabbits they could chase. That’s one thing Michael has done really well, especially over the past month.”

In his early extended spring outings, Kennedy’s four-seamer was problematic. He tried all sorts of things to get more ride on the pitch, without success, and his arm slot began to creep up. That’s when Black stepped in.

“We told him the seam orientation is what was giving him ride in the first place,” Black said. “He didn’t have to manipulate the ball more.”

Over two starts and a bullpen session, Kennedy employed the less-is-more approach that Black preached. It clicked.

Against the Orioles, Kennedy’s fastball touched 93 mph with an 18-inch ride that confounded batters.

“The Pirates are clear that they like my (cross-body) deception and how my fastball plays up,” Kennedy said. “They’re adamant about embracing my uniqueness and my delivery. They didn’t try to change me. We’ve tweaked some things and gotten more ride on the fastball and more sweep on the slider — easy fixes. It’s just kind of been embracing my deception, embracing my uniqueness, my slot, the way that the ball comes out and just kind of cleaning things up.”

Is there anything about his development process that’s caught Kennedy off guard? He paused a moment before answering.

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“Well … the whole bat boy thing is different,” Kennedy said with a laugh.

Triple-A Indianapolis

According to a scout from a rival club, RHP Quinn Priester’s fastball sat 90 to 93 mph in a recent outing. Last season, the same scout recorded Priester’s four-seamer at 94-97 mph. Farm director John Baker said the Pirates are focused on getting more separation between his four- and two-seam fastballs and are not concerned about his velocity. Maybe Baker isn’t blowing smoke: Priester has won each of his past two starts, allowing two runs over 12 innings (1.50 ERA) with a .190 batting average against and 0.83 WHIP. … RHP Caleb Smith was named the International League pitcher of the week after throwing a seven-inning shutout last Wednesday in the second game of a doubleheader against Toledo. It was the first complete-game shutout in the minor leagues this season. Smith allowed three hits and struck out five. He became the first Indy pitcher to notch a complete-game shutout since James Marvel in 2019. Smith, 31, was signed as a free agent in mid-February. … OF Cal Mitchell is riding a seven-game hitting streak. In that span, he’s batting .407 (11-for-27) with two homers, eight RBIs, a .500 on-base percentage and a 1.204 OPS.

Double-A Altoona

Dylan Shockley was a 34th-round pick in 2019. (Courtesy of Altoona Curve)

Catcher Henry Davis is off to a great start, but you already knew that. His 199 wRC+ tops the Eastern League and is tied for fifth in all of the minors. … OF Matt Gorski went 0-for-4 Sunday against Bowie, which snapped his 11-game on-base streak. In 12 games this month, Gorski has gone 13-for-47 (.277) with three homers and seven RBIs. … C Dylan Shockley threw out four of five runners attempting to steal in last Friday’s game against Akron, which tied Altoona’s single-game record for caught-stealings. Despite getting limited playing time as a backup, Shockley is second in the league with nine caught-stealings. … RHP Sean Sullivan leads the Curve’s rotation with a 2.08 ERA over five starts. However, evaluators expect 2020 second-rounder RHP Jared Jones likely will be the first guy on the staff to be promoted to Indy. Over four starts, Jones has a 2.81 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP and is averaging 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings.

High-A Greensboro

Outfielder Tres Gonzalez has the longest on-base streak (10 games) in the South Atlantic League. Gonzalez, 22, a fifth-round pick last year, began this season with Low-A Bradenton and was bumped up to High A on May 2. Overall this season, he’s hitting .314/.411/.419 with two home runs, 20 RBIs and 12 stolen bases. … RHP Michell Miliano ranks second among South Atlantic League relievers with 29 strikeouts. … RHP Jaycob Deese has the second-lowest WHIP (0.88) and fourth-lowest batting average against (.197) among South Atlantic League relievers with at least 18 innings pitched.

Low-A Bradenton

A scout who recently watched the Marauders play was impressed by RHP Thomas Harrington (first round, 2022) and RHP J.P. Massey (seventh round pick, 2022). “I know Harrington gets all the publicity, but I actually like Massey a little bit more,” the scout said. “Massey can really spin it. I won’t be surprised if Harrington is moved up to (High-A) Greensboro in a month or so.” In two starts this month, Massey has logged 16 strikeouts and tossed 10 straight scoreless innings. … INF Jesus Castillo has a .404 OBP during his 11-game on-base streak. He leads the Florida State League with 28 walks.

Injury updates

Third baseman Jared Triolo (broken hamate) was activated from the injured list last Tuesday and made his season debut with Indy. Over his first four games, Triolo went 5-for-17 with four RBIs. … OF Travis Swaggerty has been on the IL at Indy since April 21 with what the Pirates describe only as a viral illness. “He’s participating in all baseball activities,” sports medicine director Todd Tomczyk said. “We project him to be back in game activities later this month.” … RHP Blake Cederlind, 27, has begun a rehab assignment with Low-A Bradenton. Cederlind made five appearances with the Pirates in 2020, but has had trouble staying healthy since then. He had Tommy John surgery in March 2021 and a cleanup procedure on the same elbow in August 2022.

(Top photo of Michael Kennedy courtesy of the Pittsburgh Pirates)

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