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The Pirates travel to Port Charlotte to face the Rays in a 1:05 PM game. Chad Kuhl will take the mound, with the following lineup:
- Adam Frazier, SS
- Alen Hanson, 3B
- Phil Gosselin, 2B
- Jose Osuna, 1B
- Elias Diaz, C
- Danny Ortiz, RF
- Chris Bostick, CF
- Barrett Barnes, LF
- Chad Kuhl, P
Other scheduled pitchers are Felipe Rivero, A.J. Schugel and Wade LeBlanc.
A couple of minor league items:
P2 has a great article (sub. req’d) on Stephen Alemais, who’s one of the more interesting prospects in the Pirates’ farm system. He worked out with Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes in the off-season and got some pointers on hitting. Alemais has so much talent on the defensive side that he won’t have to hit a ton to make it, but he seems determined to do whatever he can to improve.
The Pirates made a very minor signing a few days ago when they added right-hander Holden Helmink. He’s a 2014 draftee out of junior college who washed out of the Diamondbacks’ system pretty quickly, mainly due to poor control. He was clocked at 98 mph recently at a workout facility, which may have helped spur the signing. The Pirates have signed a couple guys like this since last season, the other being Andrew Potter, also a D’backs’ draftee who didn’t last long and then showed an uptick in velocity. The chances of either succeeding are probably less than one percent, but the Pirates are clearly digging deep to find pitchers with velocity.