BRADENTON, Fla. \u2013 Jake Mangum had a pair of strikeouts in a game that was scoreless, so he saw an opportunity when the Baltimore Orioles left third base open and decided to run with it.<\/p>\n
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning Friday, Mangum dropped a bunt by pitcher Brandon Young and sprinted to first for a single. When Brandon Lowe followed with a single, Mangum raced to third.<\/p>\n
That sequence explains why Pittsburgh Pirates manager Don Kelly described Mangum as a \u201cfierce competitor, baseball player, willing to do anything and everything to win a baseball game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Acquired along with Lowe and left-handed reliever Mason Montgomery from Tampa Bay in a three-team trade in December, Mangum has made a strong impression on the Pirates in spring training with everything from his aggressive approach at the plate to his speed on the basepaths and in the outfield and even with his improved arm strength.<\/p>\n
The 6-foot, 191-pound switch hitter is trying to make an impact, whether he\u2019s batting at the top or bottom of the order. On Thursday, Mangum hit a leadoff double to center and scored on a Spencer Horwitz double to give the Pirates a 1-0 first inning lead against the Minnesota Twins.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of fun. He brings a lot of energy,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cWe talked about that grit, that toughness that we need, he brings it every day. He\u2019s consistent with it. It\u2019s a lot of fun to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Mangum\u2019s best play came in right field, when he made a good read on Alan Roden\u2019s shot down the line that bounced off the wall, spun and fired a laser to shortstop Nick Gonzales to throw out Roden at second.<\/p>\n
That throw was the result of an offseason where Mangum and his father, John \u2014 who spent nine seasons in the NFL as a defensive back for the Chicago Bears \u2014 long-tossing six days a week in an emphasis to build up his arm after making his major league debut at age 29 last season.<\/p>\n
After the throw, Mangum signaled a throwing motion to his father, who was sitting with his wife, Stacy, behind home plate at LECOM Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas happy I was able to have the opportunity to use it and see how it is,\u201d Mangum said. \u201cAnd the things me and my dad worked on seemed to seem to go well. When you\u2019re a rookie in the league, there\u2019s a lot of things you\u2019ve got to learn. I know I was an older rookie last year, but you\u2019ve still got to learn things. And a lot of things I took in and went to work on this offseason, I\u2019d say my arm was a big one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mangum batted .296\/.330\/.368 last season, when his 32 infield hits were tied for the MLB lead with Trea Turner of the Philadelphia Phillies. He doesn\u2019t draw many walks but made a habit of stealing bases when he reached base, with 27 last season. Mangum plays with a relentless style that teammates love and opponents can\u2019t stand.<\/p>\n
\u201cMangum\u2019s just a ballplayer, man \u2014 in every sense of the word,\u201d Lowe said. \u201cHe\u2019s an older rookie, an older young guy to be in the league. But I would be hard pressed to find somebody with more heart and more drive to want to give you everything that he has than Mangum. He\u2019s going to run hard on every single play, doesn\u2019t matter if he chops it back to the pitcher or if he hits it off the wall. It feels like he\u2019s going to give you the same amount of effort on everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he\u2019s going to play an unbelievable outfield when he\u2019s out there. If last year was any cue to what he\u2019s going to do, that means he\u2019s going to hit .300, he\u2019s going to steal a lot of bags, and he\u2019s going to be a heck of a piece in this lineup.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mangum is working to change his reputation as a \u201cno-strike, chase weak contact\u201d hitter by using what he calls his \u201cA swing\u201d and showing his ability to drive the ball. In four Grapefruit League games for the Pirates, Mangum is batting .333\/.385\/.583 with a double, a triple, two RBIs and three runs scored.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a game plan thing,\u201d Mangum said. \u201cSome at-bats, I might go to a \u2018touch-it\u2019 mode. There might be some at-bats where I\u2019m taking some shots. But I\u2019m not talented enough not to run hard and touch the baseball, so I need to do that to the best of my ability and see if I can start driving the ball a little bit more to help us slug some. We\u2019ve got some big boppers on this team. So I think if I touch it and run, I think we\u2019ll be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mangum has shown the ability to play all three outfield positions, which makes him an ideal candidate to be the fourth outfielder. But Mangum is making a case to fight for a starting role because of what he can bring to the lineup as a leadoff hitter or No. 9 hitter who turns over the lineup the way Isiah Kiner-Falefa did for the Pirates last season.<\/p>\n
Kelly called Mangum a \u201chuge weapon\u201d in that sense.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust the way that he approaches an at-bat, grinds out at-bats, sees pitches when he gets on base, creates havoc on the bases,\u201d Kelly said, indicating that Mangum could bat leadoff or in the Nos. 8 or 9 holes. \u201cLast year we did that with Isiah a lot. Izzy was in the nine and did a really good job down there because it is like a second leadoff, if you get a guy with speed that can get on base and create some havoc, too. If you get a guy in the leadoff spot and the nine, having two guys back-to-back that can run can be really impactful.\u201d<\/p>\n
It makes no difference to Mangum where he bats in the lineup or which position he plays, as long as he has a chance to make an impact on the Pirates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be whatever DK and this team needs me to be. If that\u2019s fourth outfield, fifth outfield, starting left, starting center, starting right, don\u2019t care,\u201d Mangum said. \u201cI\u2019m here to help win baseball games, and whatever I need to do to do that, I\u2019ll do it to the best of my ability. Whether I\u2019m leadoff, nine hole or on the bench, I\u2019ll be ready to roll.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRADENTON, Fla. \u2013 Jake Mangum had a pair of strikeouts in a game that was scoreless, so he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":["post-495600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}