Photos from LECOM: Pirates vs. Red Sox

The Pirates took a 13-2 drubbing from the Red Sox at LECOM. So, with the season now effectively over, here are a few notes and photos in remembrance:

• Ivan Nova looked OK, I guess. He’s just too hittable for me. As I think was noted in the game thread, he gave up a couple of cheap hits and one that wasn’t cheap.
• If you were following on gameday and thought Jameson Taillon must have looked sharp, well, he did. And gritty, like in the photo. Felipe Rivero wasn’t so sharp, but it didn’t seem like a big deal.
• The most interesting pitcher to me was George Kontos, whom I’d never really watched much. He had easily the least velocity of any Pirate pitcher, topping out at 92 and mostly throwing in the mid- to upper-80s. He changes velocity constantly within a relatively narrow range, 82-92 today, and every pitch has some break on it. I expect it’s mostly cutters. A couple behaved like splitters, although I don’t think he throws one. He had a sudden jump in his K rate last year, so I’m wondering whether he’s a finesse guy who suddenly picked up something about pitching. Today he gave up singles on his first two pitches, then seemed to come around quickly, fanning the next two hitters. He gave up a run on a slow bouncer and then left.
• Dario Agrazal was uncharacteristically wild. He was hurt when Chris Bostick got just one out on a double play grounder.
• Dovydas Neverauskas had the quickest inning of any Pirate, thanks to two long fly outs.
• Luis Escobar showed the best velocity of any Pirate, but he was a little wild and didn’t have much command of his secondary stuff. You have to remember that he hasn’t pitched above low A, which makes him very inexperienced even for spring training. He left a couple changeups hanging out over the plate, with predictable results.
• Velocities (I think the gun at LECOM is pretty reliable): Nova 91-92, Taillon 95, Rivero 94-97, Johnny Hellweg 96-97, Agrazal 93-94, Dovydas 96, Escobar 95-98.
• Bryan Reynolds had a nice catch, going straight back to run down a drive to the track in center.