Kevin Gorman’s Take 5: Discussing what Derek Shelton can't, Pirates players with covid-19

One of the most uncomfortable interactions with coaches involves asking why a player didn’t participate in practice, attempting to clarify whether it’s for a disciplinary, illness, injury or personal matter.

Derek Shelton won’t discuss it.

Because he can’t discuss it.

That’s the reality of the covid-19 sportsworld, when teams aren’t allowed to talk about players who have tested positive for the coronavirus without their permission.

The Pittsburgh Pirates will open their three-game exhibition series against Cleveland on Saturday at PNC Park without three prominent players: closer Keone Kela, right fielder Gregory Polanco and third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, their top position prospect.

Kela and Hayes haven’t practiced at all during training camp, and Polanco has missed the past three days. All without explanation, which only leads to speculation. Both outfielder Socrates Brito and relief pitcher Blake Cederlind made it easy on the Pirates, allowing them to reveal that they tested positive. Brito has returned to practice.

“There’s things that happen that we don’t discuss, whatever they are in terms of injury-wise or test-wise and moving forward, and the biggest part of it, I think we talked about it the first day we met, is we just have to adapt and adjust, and that’s what we’re doing every day,” Shelton said. “We’re going with what we have, and we’re making sure that that day we’re making the best assessment. So in terms of that, we just have to make sure every day we adjust to what’s put in front of us.”

We can assess this much: Opening Day for the Pirates is next Friday at St. Louis, and they could be without their starting right fielder and almost certainly won’t have their closer.

On #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay, we want to know what is your favorite place to sit at the beautiful PNG Field? ?

1 - Grandstand
2 - Terrace
3 - Diamond Club
4 - Rail Kings
5 - Outfield Bleachers
6 - 1B Bleachers pic.twitter.com/H7wzHcol4O

— Altoona Curve (@AltoonaCurve) July 16, 2020

1. Off to Altoona: The Pirates made their first roster cuts of training camp, sending 26-year-old pitchers Miguel Del Pozo and Geoff Hartlieb to the alternate training site at Peoples Natural Gas Field in Altoona.

Del Pozo, a 6-foot-1 lefty, was 1-1 with a 10.61 ERA and 1.93 WHIP in 17 appearances for the Los Angeles Angels last season. He allowed three runs in back-to-back games, at the New York Yankees and at the Houston Astros.

Hartlieb, drafted in the 29th round out of Division II Lindenwood University, debuted last season and was 0-1 with an 11.37 ERA and 2.37 WHIP for the Pirates. The 6-5 right-hander gave up multiple runs in five appearances as a middle reliever, including seven in 2⅓ innings in an 11-6 loss at Cincinnati.

2. Building a bullpen: With Hector Noesi opting out, Blake Cederlind absent after testing positive for covid-19 and DelPozo and Hartlieb in Altoona, the Pirates have 17 pitchers in camp.

Six are slotted to be starters: Joe Musgrove, Trevor Williams, Mitch Keller and Derek Holland are the top four, with Steven Brault and Chad Kuhl piggybacking the fifth spot.

That leaves 11 pitchers in the bullpen, with six spots likely already sealed: Kela, Kyle Crick, Michael Feliz and Richard Rodriguez in high-leverage roles, along with Nick Burdi and Chris Stratton.

JT Brubaker is being stretched out to be a starter, likely making this a battle for the final spots between lefties Robbie Erlin and Nik Turley and righties Clay Holmes and Dovydas Neverauskas, depending on how many pitchers the Pirates carry on their 30-man Opening Day roster and three-man taxi squad.

"The thing that made me smile was watching him execute and also continuing to see his to development. As we’ve said as a group, this guy’s got a major ceiling." -Derek Shelton on Mitch Keller. pic.twitter.com/7m11hO7wgK

— Pirates (@Pirates) July 16, 2020

3. Killer stuff: I was off Thursday, but reports out of PNC Park had Mitch Keller looking really good on the mound.

Keller got swing-and-miss action against Bryan Reynolds (changeup) and Josh Bell (slider) without relying on his fastball, which is a positive sign for his development.

“Mitch Keller’s continuing to build and develop and seeing some sharpness with some really good breaking balls,” Shelton said. “Execution of the fastball was probably better than we’ve seen in previous outings and stuff that he’s working on. Definitely the thing that made me smile today was watching him to execute and continuing to see his development, because like we’ve said numerous times –we’ve said as a group – this guy’s got a major ceiling and you just keep taking steps in his development. So that makes me smile today.”

I'm smiling I swear ?✌? pic.twitter.com/pwDHXHSO9O

— Kevin Newman (@OfficialKBN) July 16, 2020

4. First up: Shelton isn’t just deflecting on injuries. He isn’t willing to name his Opening Day starter, even though Joe Musgrove is lined up. He hasn’t said who is pitching Monday and Wednesday against Cleveland.

And he won’t even reveal his leadoff hitter.

The candidates are shortstop Kevin Newman, second baseman Adam Frazier and center fielder Jarrod Dyson.

“I think they’re all three viable options,” Shelton said. “Dyson has done it previously in his career and had success in it. Obviously Newman and Frazier both did it last year and had success there.

“We’re kind of working through it still. Have a general idea of what we’re going to do with it, but haven’t made a final decision. If any three of those guys are at the top, I think we’re in a pretty good spot.”

Here’s their numbers from 2019:

Player G BA/OBP/SLG 2B 3B HR RBI

Dyson 83 .235/.314/.333 11 2 6 22

Newman 75 .328/.374/.502 13 5 11 45

Frazier 79 .273/.328/.409 17 2 8 29

The numbers clearly favor Newman, who has been batting leadoff in camp. Frazier looks like he’ll bat third, behind Reynolds and in front of Bell. Dyson could bat ninth, providing speed at the bottom of the order.

In his career, Dyson has batted ninth more than any other spot in the order (269 games) – and with some success. He’s slashed .255/.314/.349 with 27 doubles, 15 triples, four homers and 56 RBIs, as well as 55 steals. He has 95 steals batting leadoff.

It's called versatility. pic.twitter.com/0Bsvcx1d1H

— Pirates (@Pirates) July 16, 2020

5. Who’s in the outfield?: The Pirates have a shortage of outfielders – they only have five in camp and are down to four without Polanco – so Shelton is getting creative in the intrasquad scrimmages.

The Pirates have used special assistant David Eckstein, the 2006 World Series MVP, in left field. They’ve used Tim McKeithan, part of the analytics team, in center.

On Thursday, Musgrove took a turn in center.

Shelton was asked who else could give it a go, and used it as an opportunity to take a crack at Holland for being “unathletic.”

“Probably Brault, but that wasn’t an option,” Shelton said. “But Holland walked into my office today and told me he was playing center. I don’t know if he told Donnie (Kelly) that or not. I just said, ‘No diving, no throwing, no running into the wall,’ all those things.”