BRADENTON – Just some brief notes from instructs on Thursday. The more experienced players returned from two days on the road to play the Yankees. The pitching lineup didn’t have the elite prospects that it had on Monday, when Mitch Keller and Taylor Hearn threw. The game did include righties Blake Cederlind and Angel German — the latter, of course, came from the Dodgers in the Tony Watson deal — and lefty Domingo Robles. The starter was Robles, who got through two uneventful innings. Cederlind is coming off a tough season at West Virginia. He was sitting around 96 yesterday and had one scoreless inning; I didn’t see his second inning.
After playing second on Monday, Wyatt Mathisen was at first yesterday, with first baseman Jerrick Suiter at third. I doubt Suiter playing third really means much, but as I noted Monday Mathisen may be preparing to move forward as a utility player. Adrian Valerio and Mitchell Tolman played short and second. Logan Hill also played, showing he’s recovered from his broken hand. He lined a single to left his first time up.
In the black-and-gold scrimmage, Oneil Cruz continued to play short and continued to avoid having anything hit to him. Sherten Apostel doubled high off the fence in left in two at-bats. I’ve seen him in five at-bats now and he’s doubled twice. He seems to produce power with very little effort in his swing. If you missed it from yesterday, the Pirates recently signed his younger brother. Deon Stafford also continues to swing the bat well.
And a few pics:
