'New school' Marin has Bucs pitchers' trust

Oscar Marin’s work for the 2021 season started well in advance of the pitchers and catchers' report date on Wednesday.

The Pirates’ pitching coach communicated with Edgar Santana as the right-hander competed in his first professional games since 2018 in the Dominican Winter League. Marin watched the Pirates’ young talent at instructional league with manager Derek Shelton. He texted and called players to check in on their offseason work and go over pitching plans.

In a way, it’s related to one of his main tenets of pitching: staying aggressive. By getting out in front, he hopes it allows the Pirates to not have any “gray area” entering the season.

“It was actually awesome just to be able to put plans together on guys you had the year prior,” Marin said, “and to be able to give them those plans before they actually went into their offseason and having that be very clear coming into their Spring Training.”

Marin came to the Pirates as someone who would help them move into a more analytics-focused study of pitching. But as important as his understanding of that information has been his ability to translate complex pitching data to pitchers into actionable goals.

Take Kyle Crick, for instance. He said he was brought up on an old-school mentality of pitching: Here’s what to do, now go do it. Though he was only healthy enough to pitch 5 2/3 innings last season, he said Marin’s ability to introduce him to these tools in an understandable way is a big boon and something he thinks will help him rebound in 2021.

“Oscar’s got a whole different way of looking at this, as far as pitching goes and getting your arm ready,” Crick said. “It’s new school. ... I’m buying into it as well, because there’s logic to it.”

• Pirates Spring Training FAQ

Even in a short season, Shelton said the effect Marin had on the pitching staff was apparent, especially in the strides Mitch Keller has made. This offseason, Shelton said Keller strengthened his lower half to produce more easy power, which was an offseason goal he and Marin set. He also attributed the two hitless outings by Keller to finish the 2020 season in part to Marin’s work with the right-hander.

“You didn’t see him get scattered in his thought process, go other places like it had happened before," Marin said. "Again, a sign of maturity for Mitch, but I think part of that goes to the fact of the conversations that he and Oscar had.”

“I was young,” Keller said of his early days in MLB. “I didn't really know how my stuff worked. I was just kind of following along with whatever that catcher put down, and I think working with Oscar and [catcher Jacob] Stallings back there, I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do every single time out now."

• Keller ready to 'step into that leader role'

Though the season was short and pitchers like Keller and Steven Brault couldn't have another 100 games to build upon their late gains, the experience has built trust between the sophomore pitching coach and his group.

“That’s the most important thing,” Crick said. “I need the guys on the same boat with me rowing. That’s what I feel like with Oscar. I feel like he’s there for me.”

Here are some updates from Marin on the Pirates’ plans and their pitchers.

• On thinking beyond a five-man rotation: “I don’t think it’s even talking about five. I think we’re talking about 10, 11, 12. It’s going to be something where we’re going to need some depth. It’s going to be something where we need more guys to develop, other than just five guys.”

• On alternatives to the closer role: “We like thinking about it as leverage relievers to be able to use in leverage situations. I think that’s what guys in competition need to get ready for.”

• On Quinn Priester, whom Marin saw pitch in instructional league: “I knew the plan with him going into that outing, and it was to use his curveball earlier in counts, maybe steal strikes, and he absolutely did that and a little bit more from there. … I think I saw less than 40 pitches in the three innings. Just commanded the zone. That’s something that really stood out for me with velocity.”

• On Keller, who Shelton said grew stronger in his lower half: “It’s a big change, a big emphasis that he wanted to put into it and he obviously did it. Part of his lower half was to engage it, part of his lower half was to feel it. I think he’s in a good spot there.”

• On Carson Fulmer, who trained at Driveline: “It was more so him getting back to himself, the things he did when he got drafted and getting back to that. I think that allowed him to find some of that identity that he used to have.”

• On Miguel Yajure, whom the Pirates acquired in the Jameson Taillon trade: “[He’s] a pitchability guy, a guy that can manipulate the ball pretty well, a guy that has control over the zone. And for someone at his age, that’s pretty good, having that type of feel.”

• On Wil Crowe, who came over in the Josh Bell trade: “Even if there’s something going on with his delivery, I think he has enough feel to be able to continuously attack that strike zone and compete in it. There’s a couple of things that he’s working on at the moment that, hopefully, will be able to allow him to be a lot better in two-strike counts.”