HESE AREN’T
is tied for the second-worst in baseball, according to Baseball Info Solutions’ calculations of Defensive Runs Saved, and tied for 24th in the percentage of balls in play turned into outs.
Back in low-A West Virginia in 2013, Glasnow’s first year in with a full-season affiliate, he found himself tied to rituals and routines throughout the day of his starts. He tied his shoes a certain way. He thought about it all day, but never, when he entered a game, did he fret about forgetting something.
“Finally one day I was like, I’m not going to be bad if I do all this stuff,” Glasnow said. “This is dumb. I made sure my superstition was to have none. Now I just don’t have any anymore.”
Cole doesn’t have a go-to uniform. He picks whatever he feels that day, usually white or gray.
“We play a lot of hot games here and I just never understood why A.J. wanted to pitch in black in St. Louis in the middle of the summer,” said Cole, referring to A.J. Burnett’s affinity for the black uniform every time out. “That was just fascinating to me.”
Cole isn’t superstitious. He used to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before starts, but replaced that snack with nuts – almonds, cashews, pecans. “Good for your brain,” he said.
Seems to be working. After pitching seven innings and allowing one unearned run against the Chicago Cubs Tuesday, Cole has a 27-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 30 innings.
Nova entrusts clubhouse manager Scott “Bones” Bonnett and assistant equipment manager Kiere Bulls with the selection of his jersey.
“I like all the uniforms,” Nova said. “The only one that I don’t really like that much was the one I pitched yesterday. After yesterday I started loving it.”
‘Yesterday’ referred to April 23, when Nova allowed one run in seven innings against the New York Yankees. Bones seems to have the right touch thus far. Nova has a 2.00 ERA and one walk in 27 innings.
Starters have few choices – black or white at home, black or gray on the road. Sometimes they have no choice. Neither Bonnett nor Nova could do anything about April 23 because it was a Sunday, and Pirates wear 1979 throwback jerseys for Sunday home games; bright yellow V-neck, no buttons, pillbox cap. They wear camouflage jerseys during Thursday day games and occasional special uniforms for holidays like Memorial Day or Mother’s Day.
For Taillon, the color of the uniform doesn’t matter as much as the fit. He never had a proper fitting after his promotion last June, and the black jerseys didn’t fit right. Proper measurements this spring resulted in a jersey tailored to his liking – shorter sleeves, size 46 instead of a 48 with some added room on the back so it stays tucked into the pants – and the options are endless.
“This year the black fits well, so I think my road uni is going to be black,” he said. “I love the whites, though. Whites are great.”
Kuhl likes the all-gray look on the road, spikes included, and the black tops at home. He wore black Monday night against the Cubs, but not by choice. Sometimes Bonnett hangs the jerseys in the clubhouse before the players arrive because he wants a certain set authenticated as game-worn. At the end of the season, the players receive a game-worn jersey in each variation, plus any for special accomplishments. Gift Ngoepe, for example, will get the uniform he wore during his major league debut.
Kuhl is not superstitious himself, but he can be when the situation calls for it. As Taillon took a no-hitter into the fifth inning against the Yankees Saturday, Kuhl sat in the same spot in the dugout and said the same thing – “Attaboy, Jamo” as Taillon passed by.
“If somebody else is going,” he said, “yeah, I’m in.”