Light, Mercer won’t miss four-pitch intentional walk
BRADENTON, Fla. — Pirates reliever Pat Light won’t miss the traditional intentional walk.
On Tuesday, ESPN reported Major League Baseball plans to scrap the practice of a four-pitch intentional walk in favor of a dugout signal. Reduce pitch counts; reduce wait time. Most players in the Pirates clubhouse this morning replied to the news with general apathy. But not Light.
“Can’t say I’m not happy about this,” Light said, wearing a big, silly grin at 7:35 a.m. Wednesday.
Light, acquired Feb. 10 from the Minnesota Twins, was perhaps the final casualty of the traditional intentional walk.
On Sept. 22 last year, Light faced the Detroit Tigers’ Erick Aybar with runners on second and third and one out in the ninth inning, guarding a 3-2 lead.
After Light fell behind 3-1, Juan Centeno, the Twins’ backup catcher who had not previously worked with Light, signaled for an intentional ball four. Centeno stood aside, and Light threw.
“For me, to know where the ball is going I need to throw hard,” Light said. “I didn’t want to surprise him and throw 100 [mph] at him when he’s expecting a lob, so I lobbed it. It didn’t go well.”
The pitch sailed above Centeno’s head and to the backstop, scoring the tying run. The next batter, Victor Martinez, smacked a threerun homer, and the Tigers trampled the Twins, 9-3.
Another player not sorry to see the intentional walk go is Jordy Mercer. Since taking over as starting shortstop in 2014, Mercer has been intentionally walked 33 times. Only 17 players in the majors have been intentionally walked more in that stretch, including Andrew McCutchen (39). Of the 33 free passes issued Mercer, two were when he batted seventh, the other 31 when he batted eighth.
When the players union recently reached out about the league’s intentional-walk proposal, Mercer offered his opinion: The last thing he wanted to do, he told them, is watch pitches fly by.
“Nobody wants to stand up there for four balls,” he said. “And the pitcher doesn’t want to throw four balls. When everybody knows what’s going to happen — you’ve got the pitcher hitting behind you and a base open. You already know what’s going to happen. Everyone in the ballpark knows.”
Unlike Light and Aybar, Mercer had no unintentional intentional-walk mistakes.
“Every time I’ve been up there, they did a pretty good job of walking me,” he said.
Pitching coach Ray Searage has a story. One day in the late 1980s, he pitched in relief for Class AAA Albuquerque and was asked to throw an intentional walk. In the altitude there — 5,312 feet above sea level — pitchers often loaded up on pine tar. His first pitch soared 15 feet up the screen. Searage remembered looking down after the play and noticing bits of white leather glued to his fingers.
Will he miss the fourpitch intentional walk?
“Hell no,” Searage said.
Hanrahan returns
Former Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan is back at Pirate City. The club announced Wednesday that Hanrahan accepted a role as assistant pitching coach for Class A short-season West Virginia.
Hanrahan, 35, had 100 saves over seven major league seasons. He made 238 appearances for the Pirates from 2009-12 with a 2.59 ERA and 82 saves. He was traded with outfielder Brock Holt to the Boston Red Sox Dec. 26, 2012, for a package that included reliever Mark Melancon.
Hanrahan had Tommy John surgeries in 2013 and 2015 before officially retiring in November.
Injury updates
First baseman Josh Bell is “ahead of schedule” after Feb. 1 knee surgery and has been cleared for all baseball activities except full-speed running, according to head athletic trainer Todd Tomczyk. Catcher Francisco Cervelli (foot) can participate in “modified baseball activities.”
Right-hander Jason Stoffel (shoulder) is expected to be cleared for bullpen work shortly.