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Instructs Report: Taylor Hearn Makes an Adjustment to His Mechanics

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BRADENTON, Fla. – If the Pirates had kept Mark Melancon at the trade deadline, I’d probably be writing an article right now discussing how they are about to miss the playoffs, and they didn’t get anything for their soon-to-be-departing closer. Instead, the Pirates have left-handed reliever Felipe Rivero under control for five more years, and I’m spending time writing about the mechanical adjustments that left-handed pitcher Taylor Hearn is making in the Fall Instructional Leagues to continue his development.

The Pirates acquired Rivero and Hearn, getting two hard throwing lefties in exchange for two months of Melancon. Rivero has put up a 3.20 ERA and a 3.53 xFIP in 25.1 innings with the Pirates, with a 13.1 K/9 and a 6.4 BB/9. The control needs some work, although I really pity opposing hitters if he cuts down his walk total to what it was with the Nationals, while still maintaining a high strikeout total. Meanwhile, Hearn went to West Virginia and put up a 1.99 ERA in 22.2 innings, with a 36:10 K/BB ratio. Again, walks were an issue. However, the stuff here is unreal, with both pitchers hitting 99 MPH and working in the mid-to-upper 90s from the left side.

In a season full of disappointment from the top players and a lot of bad moves by the front office, this trade was a huge bright spot.

And now the Pirates are working on improving the command for Hearn. As I reported in August, this process started with a change in his throwing program. He previously extended out to around 200 feet during his long toss sessions. The Pirates limited him to 120 feet. Extending out beyond that can alter mechanics, with pitchers trying to sail the ball at an upward angle to cover the longer distance, which can then lead to altered mechanics on the mound where they are up in the zone and wild. Some pitchers can avoid taking that motion to the mound, but not all of them.

Hearn immediately started seeing better results, allowing him to command the ball down in the zone and keep it in the strike zone better. He had some control problems, but most of them were limited to two outings where he walked five in five innings.

“I’ve gotten really used to the throwing program now,” Hearn said. “Everything is natural now. I know what to feel from when they first had me do it and knowing how to adjust to it now. Knowing what I’ve got to do to make sure I’m on line [to the plate] and on point, and then translate to the mound. It’s been helping me out a lot. Definitely being on line, making pitches more consistently, making fastballs more consistently, and it helps me also to learn from my new mechanics that they’ve got me doing too.”

The next focus is keeping Hearn on line to the plate more consistently, and making a small adjustment to allow his legs to generate more power. He was approached about making an adjustment during the first week in instructs to address these areas.

“It wasn’t major changes,” Hearn said. “It was just slight stuff to get me on line, use my legs more. Take the stress off my arm a lot. Still getting the feel for things, still learning stuff everyday.”

The change mostly revolves around his starting position. He used to be turned sideways, almost pitching from the stretch the entire time. He now stands open toward the plate and turns in his windup. This allows him to get to his backside easier (“A lot!” Hearn said, when I asked him about that) and takes stress off his arm by using his legs more. It’s also not a huge adjustment for him, since most of his delivery after the setup is still the same, just strengthened by the new position.

“It’s one little change, and then I’m already back to where I was at before,” Hearn said. “It’s still got it’s kinks and stuff. It’s still a whole timing thing. It’s something I’m definitely working on this off-season.”

The control was spotty in his outing on Tuesday, although this makes sense when you consider it was his second outing with the new mechanics. He was still sitting 95-96 MPH consistently with his fastball, touching higher. Hearn is a high upside prospect with a live arm that is rare with left-handers.  If the Pirates can fix his control, and continue the improvements he saw with the slider this year, then they’ve got a high upside pitching prospect who has a chance to be a starter, and who could make the Melancon trade look like a steal for years.

Instructs Report 9/27

By Wilbur Miller

As a general note, the pitchers threw little other than fastballs. Edgar Santana was the one I can recall who threw many breaking balls.

Taylor Hearn threw two innings. Maybe due to the recent change in his mechanics, his control was off in his first inning. He had several pitches that were well off the mark. He walked one in the inning, then gave up an opposite-field double off the fence to Connor Joe, who came around to score on two wild pitches. Hearn seemed to settle down in his second inning and it went by quickly.

Cole Tucker had a couple nice plays in the field, including a diving stop on a ball up the middle on which he got to his feet quickly enough to get the out at first. He looks much more comfortable at the position than he did two years ago. He had a line single and a couple ground outs in at-bats that I saw.

John Pomeroy threw one inning, sitting at 96, touching 98, and throwing one 84 mph breaking ball. His control was okay and he had a quick inning, thanks in part to a nice throw by Jin-De Jhang to catch a base stealer after a single.

Jeremias Portorreal hit a couple balls hard: a line single to right and a long triple to right center. Victor Fernandez and Christopher Perez had doubles.

The Pirates had Kevin Kramer at short and Stephen Alemais at second for the black team. Alemais came out mid-game and went to the other field to work on the double play pivot from the second base position. It’s possible both Tucker and Alemais could open the 2017 season at Bradenton, in which case Alemais could see time at second. Mitchell Tolman could move back to his original position of third if Ke’Bryan Hayes opens the season back in West Virginia.

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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