The Pirates And Their Depleted Offense Hang On To Win At Wrigley And Avoid The Sweep

Prior to the Pirates games against the Cubs this Mother’s Day afternoon, Pittsburgh and General Manager Ben Cherington made a number of roster moves; some expected, while others may have caught Pirates Fans a little off guard.

During the bottom of the first inning of Saturday’s contest, Colin Moran was removed from the game after stretching awkwardly to double up Wilson Contreras on a Jason Hayward line out; so it was not surprising that he was moved to the 10-IL with a left groin strain. At the same time Ke’Bryan Hayes was transferred to the 60 Day-IL, with the corresponding move of Troy Stokes Jr. having his contract selected from the AAA-Indianapolis Indians.

Then came the somewhat unexpected DFA of Michael Feliz, not due to it actually happening, but more because of the timing. Just a couple of days before, Feliz had pitched two innings of scoreless baseball in the series opener versus the Cubs. It was announced shortly after that this move as being made to acquire recently DFA’d outfielder Ben Gamel, who had only one hit in 14 at bats for the Cleveland Indians to start the year. For the moment reliever Goeff Hartlieb will join the club to hold Gamel’s roster spot.

Oh, and I didn’t even get to mention that Bryan Reynold’s is day to day with lower body soreness; to go along with Gregory Polanco’s IL stint for violating COVID protocols, which ultimately led to the outfield of Ka’ai Tom, Wilmer Difo and Troy Stokes Jr. in his Major League Debut.

Luckily for the Pirates the were able to get the less than effective Kyle Hendricks early and often. Throw in another outstanding performance from lefty Tyler Anderson, and the Pirates were cruising to an easy win over the Cubs. That was until Anderson exited the game following the eighth inning.

Enter the tandem of Kyle Crick and Richard Rodriguez. Up until this point the had been unstoppable; allowing a single run and only a pair of hits in a combined 23.1 innings, with 6 walks (5 for Crick) and 20 strikeouts.

Crick began his day with a hit batsman, a wild pitch and a walk before getting a fly out; ending his day shortly after it started. Rodriguez would come in and immediately get a strike out, making us think all was right with the world again. Wrong.

RichRod would go on to give up a single and a double that brought the Cubs within one run. Fortunately he was able to get Javy Baez to ground out to Adam Frazier to seal a 6 to 5 Pirates victory, that was in question for a couple of moments.

News and Notes:

  • Tyler Anderson’s final line was 2 earned runs on 4 hits, with 6 strike outs and one walk. For the season Anderson is sporting a 3.05 ERA, a 1.04 WHIP and is allowing only a .209 AVG to opposing batters.

  • Kevin Newman is back up over the Mendoza line after a 2 for 5 day, but the real surprise is his team leading 4 OAA at shortstop.
  • Wilmer Difo led the way with three hits, including a triple, and three RBIs. He is no’s hitting .273 on the season, in a very small sample size.

  • Ka’ai Tom has .227 since joining the Pirates, to go along with a .424 OBP, by having 8 walks compared to 5 strikeouts. The guy just plain patient at the plate.
  • Adam Frazier extended his hitting streak to 10 games.

The Pirates are now 14-19 on the year, as the return home to PNC Park for 7 games in 7 days. Tomorrow they look to get revenge on the Reds for the 3 game sweep in the second series of the season; during which they were out scored 30 to 8.

For Pittsburgh Mitch Keller (2-2, 6.29 ERA) will try for his second strong start in a row, against Jeff Hoffman (2-2, 4.39 ERA) for Cincinnati.

Pirates (13-19) Lose 3-2 to Cubs, Moran Leaves with Injury

Wil Crowe is still a work in progress, he still struggles with command at times but one thing he is showing at least me, he’s a major league pitcher.

I’ll touch on this more in the notes a bit, but Crowe is forcing some tough decisions early on in the season.

Here’s the cool part of all that, this is what you want to see. You want to see younger players push to take spots on the club. Far to often young guys come up and just try to do ok, or be good enough. Some will even worry about how long they can actually expect to stay up. That’s what I really like about what Crowe has done. He started with a spot start, then was scheduled for one and then another, each time out he’s gotten better. He’s figured out one more pitch. He’s commanded just that tick better.

That’s the goal. Rarely are you going to go into a season planning to start 5 or 6 rookies, you need them to push other guys out of the way, maybe that’s what we’re seeing unfold here. Maybe Yajure will do the same.

As for this game, Crowe was good, giving his club 6 full innings of 2 run ball and honestly, looked like if he or Shelton so chose he could go another.

Instead Howard walked a player, got two outs and was lifted for Holmes who gave up a bloop and the lead.

Both teams pitched well, neither team hit well. Just not a ton of action to report.

Bucs fall 3-2 and look to salvage the finale tomorrow. Tyler Anderson vs Kyle Hendricks

News & Notes

  • Colin Moran went down early in this game trying to double off a runner, he would exit with what turned out to be left groin discomfort. How long does this last? Who knows, but it might just buy Todd Frazier more time than he’s earned.
  • Wil Crowe has done nothing to show he should be sent down when Chad Kuhl returns from the IL which in all estimation should be soon. The logical thing to do would be to send Crowe (who has options) down and reinstate Kuhl. But man that’s a terrible message to send. They could DFA Cahill, but it’s so early. Perhaps Holmes is a DFA candidate, or maybe a ghost injury. Good for Wil, he’s made this a tough call.
  • In the latest installment of “Infielders in the Outfield” (my future screenplay about the 2021 Pirates outfield) Netflix will greenlight anything. Wilmer Difo seemingly had no clue as to whether he should throw the ball home or to the cut off man on a fly to center and the time to think cost them a run.
  • Todd Frazier 1 for 31 and made the last out with the tying run at second.
  • Ka’ai Tom hit his first MLB home run in the fourth inning, a two run shot that gave the Pirates the lead for a short time.
  • Derek Shelton had his fill of inconsistent calls on interference and strike zones today. He managed to not get tossed but I don’t know how, he must have been very animated in the dugout because everybody cleared out like roaches when the light switches on.
  • The Pirates have now lost 8 of 9.

You Can’t Watch This Pirates Offense and Believe Hayes Can Fix It Alone

Obviously the Pirates offense will improve when Ke’Bryan Hayes returns to action, I mean that would be rather hard to dispute, but we also shouldn’t pretend it fixes everything.

The best thing he does to the lineup beside his own addition might be the subtraction of Todd Frazier. I used to pretend there was an actual choice between Todd and Wilmer Difo, but c’mon, the name alone isn’t going to keep him here. He’s had one hit in 27 at bats, an average of .037, and I still hear more people wanting to cut Ka’ai Tom first.

Enough.

I’d cut Frazier today and not lose a wink of sleep. Could Will Craig be worse? Lord knows he hasn’t had the same opportunity afforded him what with his total of 4 MLB at bats. I mean Anthony Alford had 2 hits in 24 at bats for an .083 average and he was DFA’d. Dustin Fowler had 41 at bats with 7 hits for a .171 average and he too was cut loose.

A veteran is nice to have, but a veteran who clearly can’t play third anymore, can hold his own at the totally held down position of first base but isn’t hitting can’t help. In fact, I don’t like the message keeping him around sends to the young players who have just seen guys like them are going to get less patience.

Hayes returning will bring an end to seeing Erik Gonzalez hit in the 3 or 4 hole. Maybe that’s the best thing he’ll bring.

I don’t expect this to be a strong lineup, never did. So I’m not looking to find a way to turn them into something this season, but that doesn’t mean we should just sit here and watch guys not contribute in any measurable way. The Indianapolis roster has become basically a receptacle for storing prospects who never were, and veterans who might be needed. Real prospects are from Altoona down with a few exceptions.

Travis Swaggerty, Chris Sharpe, Cole Tucker in the field and then of course some pitching. What about Troy Stokes Jr? Wouldn’t he be a better choice than Todd Frazier? The team needs outfielders and Phillip Evans who also isn’t hitting anymore can handle everything Frazier does, in fact, that’s why he made the damn team in the first place right?

Defense isn’t always just about making errors, sometimes it’s about what you can’t do. Yesterday you could have watched the game and thought, Frazier did fine over there at 3rd, and he certainly did better than you would, or I would, but when you lack the range to get to a routine grounder and it forces your rangy short stop to have to cover an extra 10 feet to his right and even his cannon of an arm can’t make up for it, that’s an issue that just doesn’t need to exist. Evans makes that play, Frazier doesn’t.

Conversely Evans drops a ball out in right field yesterday and laid back on a very catchable ball allowing it to drop for a single. Compounding the self created single he throws to home instead of the cutoff man allowing the runner to take 2nd. Stokes makes all of those plays. Again, I don’t blame Evans for this, and it doesn’t mean he stinks as a player. He has value as a very good utility infielder who can fill in on occasion in the outfield. The team needs him to play out there and he accepted the challenge. If they leave him out there and train him, let him get planted, I have no doubt he would get better, he’s an athlete and overall good fielder, but right now, it’s being forced to accommodate getting at bats for a guy who clearly isn’t going to help this club.

Do I think Craig or Kramer or Stokes or whoever you might want to discuss makes this club measurably better? No, but I do think there comes a point where you have to acknowledge if you aren’t going to hit, you better field.

With as many times as this club has tried to catch lightning in a bottle this season, why not try to catch some from guys the past regime failed to develop? Aren’t they eventually going to have to be cut loose to make room for players like Mason Martin or Rodolfo Castro anyway? Maybe they come up here for a couple weeks and show you something. If they don’t, oh well, there goes some ‘depth’ you were never going to use anyhow.

Maybe 40+ at bats is the magic number, but let’s be honest, Todd Frazier would have to absolutely catch fire to even catch up to what Fowler did in his stint and many of you were mad he even cleared waivers.

This team at this stage doesn’t have enough to be a winner. Nor should it, they’re at the beginning of a rebuild, but they have options that won’t embarrass the team, maybe it’s time to use them.

Last Inning Pirates Rally Falls Just Short

Based on the pattern that Trevor Cahill has been following all year, he was set to have a good outing versus the Cubs at Wrigley Field this afternoon. Since the beginning of the year Pirates Fans have gone back and forth between Cahill being a DFA candidate, not going to happen, and a possible trade chip at the deadline, which is also extremely unlikely either given his inconsistency. However, whenever he pitches, you usually now by the end of the first inning if you have a legitimate shot to win the game; and today the Pirates had a chance.

After a leadoff single by Joc Peterson, Cahill settled down, and was one the verge of ending the inning on a lazy fly ball by Anthony Rizzo to right field. That was until Phillip Evans muffed the ball as he approached the wall; allowing the first run of the game to score. Over the next two innings another couple of Cubs would cross the plate due to a balls that just found the holes, or in some cases deflected off the fielders’ gloves; although Cahill threw a wild pitch during one sequence, which did not necessarily help his day.

At the plate, the Pirates batters only managed one hit, a Cahill bunt single, through the first four innings. Following two more base hits, in the 5th and 6th, Pittsburgh was finally able put something together in the top of the 7th; ultimately loading the bases with no one out. Unfortunately after two bounces back the pitcher, by Todd Frazier and Ka’ai Tom, the Pirates half of the inning was over.

Fortunately, they would get another chance in the top of the 9th, thanks to two scoreless innings of relief from Michael Feliz and another one from Luis Oviedo. After scoring two runs to begin the rally, the Pirates would once again load the bases; this time with two outs, and the game on the line.

After stretching the count to 3 and 2, Bryan Reynolds would pop out to the right fielder; ending the rally, as Pittsburgh dropped the first of three to the Chicago North Siders by a score of 3 to 2.

News and Notes:

  • Todd Frazier is now 1 for 27 since coming up to join the Pirates. He did have an RBI in this game, his fourth on the season; but I don’t think I am alone in thinking that I have seen enough from the aging veteran.
  • The Pirates have just 21 home runs, as a team, on the season; with only the Mets below them with 20. I knew this was a likely possibility, however, I guess I also overestimated their ability to manufacture runs playing small ball.
  • Pittsburgh has a top 10 bullpen (3.56 ERA), which allows them to stay close in games. Yet, once again, if you have the second worst offense statistically in all of MLB, that means the potential for a lot of close games, and not much more at this point.
  • It has been nice to see Jacob Stallings get the bat going, after his average drop to a season low of .208 back on April 22nd. Currently he is hitting .253, which nothing to write home about, but is more in line with expectations.
  • Today was not the best day for Bryan Reynolds to struggle at the plate, with an 0 for 5 day; even so the guy has been more than consistent, so he can’t be counted on to do everything.

The Pirates (13-18) and the Cubbies (16-16) will be back at it tomorrow at 2:10 PM EST. For Pittsburgh, Wil Crowe (0-1, 4.66) goes up against an old friend, Trevor Williams (2-2, 6.00 ERA).

The Pirates Lineup Needs Help, Is There Any Coming?

Well, eventually.

The thing that will help this club the most would be getting their injured third baseman back.

That’s easy stuff, what’s next? Logically you’d have to assume someone in the outfield needs to step up and step in. Ka’ai Tom hasn’t been around long enough to give up on if you’re a baseball executive. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to believe in him, or I have to believe his walks and couple hits have been enough to stem the tide.

The Pirates can’t have expected both Dustin Fowler and Anthony Alford to clear waivers, in fact I have two sources telling me they absolutely didn’t, but regardless the two remain in the system as depth.

I could argue that the Pirates should have just cut ties with one or both of them, but the fact is they didn’t and value them as at least capable of playing the position and potentially figuring things out. Problem is, they’ve ‘figured things out’ at the AAA level before. So when they inevitably do it again I can absolutely see the club calling on either of them to come back up.

Any of them could figure things out to a degree, but if we and they for that matter are honest, none of them is a real, long lasting answer.

The next real answers internally are probably Travis Swaggerty and Chris Sharpe. Swaggerty is in his first week of baseball above Single A, it would actually be unfair to Travis to bring him up now, and Sharpe has had strikeout issues that he needs to work on.

Internally, the outfield looks like a revolving door to me the rest of the season. In other words, I highly doubt we’ve seen the last of Fowler or Alford.

Kevin Newman has struggled and this situation will also be addressed by Hayes returning. At the very least his playing time is going to take a hit because no matter what you think Erik Gonzalez is, he’s handily outplayed him. I see Newman dropping back to what Gonzalez was supposed to be, a utility guy who plays 2 or 3 games a week spelling others. If he catches fire, you’ll see he and Gonzalez flip flop roles, maybe a couple times the rest of the way, but the fact is the lineup get’s better when only one of them needs to be in it, at least for now.

Look back to the minors for someone to step in and take over this spot and you have to look at Cole Tucker, hell I’ve even seen him suggested as a solution in Center. Tucker needs to hit, and here’s the thing, he’s had 2,383 plate appearances in the minor leagues and he’s hit .265. That would be just fine if it translated to MLB but it just hasn’t as of yet, at some point this season the Pirates will need to decide what to do with him.

Is he going to help this lineup? I mean, as of right now I’d have to say not really. If you just want good defense, ok, but he isn’t even as good in that department as Gonzalez. 7 seasons in MiLB for a number one pick is a heck of a long time to still be talking about his body filling out and adding power. Seems to me if that was going to happen, it would have, but I must keep in mind this management has only had hands on him for 2 years.

I think if everyone is on the up and up what they really want is change. Problem is, it probably isn’t going to be for the better if we’re dipping into Indianapolis’ roster looking for it. I mean, I don’t want to see Kevin Kramer again do you? He can play outfield a bit, he can play 2B, he’s also never brought what he has done in the minors to the MLB level in his limited shots at it.

What about trades? I’ve seen folks suggesting the Pirates should trade some of their middle infield depth or even pitching for some outfield answers.

It’s no secret the Pirates will be trading some guys, like Anderson, Cahill, and a host of other possibilities, but when they do, they’ll be looking for exactly what they’ve been hunting. Young, high ceiling players that are 3-5 years away from impacting MLB. And that’s just from the Pirates end, teams who are looking to add players like that aren’t looking to return talent that’s close or in MLB.

Even if they did, what good would that do? If the Pirates are trading from strength it stands to reason that strength will weaken and if that team won’t use a guy, they have to be completely stacked at the position hopelessly blocking the player.

The bottom line is pretty simple, moves for now aren’t happening. This is what a rebuild looks like and while I think they should and could have done better in the off season to bolster the outfield at this point that ship has sailed. If I told you they could leave things as they are and assure a top 5 pick in the draft or fill a hole and that drops to 10-15, what have they accomplished?

There is no quick fix, if there were Neal Huntington might still be here.

I didn’t believe Travis Swaggerty had a real shot of making this club during 2021. I’ve just seen this movie too many times to buy him rocketing right over AA, killing it in AAA and jumping again.

What Travis has going for him beside being a talented player is that the MLB club has so little out there he may have to do little more than show competency. Now, if I’m the GM, I see little benefit to starting his clock this year, but trust me, they had no intention of calling up Bryan Reynolds when they did either and that situation was just as bad. Again, different management group, but they had every intention of him keeping a seat warm, playing a couple games and going right back down.

Instead he hit, then hit some more. He made it impossible to send him back and who knows, maybe Swaggerty has that in him too. If you remember, the Pirates at the time had Jason Martin ranked above Bryan, and he ended up being so highly thought of that he was unceremoniously cut this off season.

Help is on the way, the thing is by design it isn’t going to be ready this year. At least not much of it.

There Are Certain Truths You Come to Realize Watching Minor League Ball

Just about every year, minor league baseball is inundated with coverage from folks who simply don’t spend a whole lot of time covering it. In an obvious rebuild, that gets ramped up to 100.

This isn’t to say none of them understand what they’re watching, or their takeaways are worthless. It’s simply to say a trained baseball eye doesn’t always translate to the minor league game without taking some things into account.

First, the reality for most is that the game itself isn’t being watched, instead it’s ingested in video bites or worse, box scores. When you’ve done this for a while, you get to the point where you can watch a kid hit two bombs and not see it as progress. You take away that he has a great power tool, but the pitcher he’s facing maybe was throwing cement mixers all night. Maybe he hit one of them off his shoelaces and really never should have swung in the first place.

Pitchers have the opposite experience. Develop a strong slider or curve that you can place early on and 50% of the players you face won’t touch it before AA. Don’t develop it and you still might get away with it for a while. Hell sometimes if you can hit triple digits that in and of itself could get you through a level or two.

When watching this stuff long enough you start to parse it.

Don’t get me wrong, there is never a bad feeling when you smash a couple homers or strike out 11 over 5 or 6 innings. But it doesn’t always mean what you’d hope.

I made friends with a fairly accomplished scout in MLB a few years back, had some really great talks with him about the difference between scouting MLB players vs MiLB and I apply his knowledge to all my coverage.

  • Never trust a player fully until you’ve seen them fail and come back from it, nobody wants to see that happen in MLB for the first time
  • It’s not about the result as much as the right things done to achieve it
  • It’s time to move a player up when they are no longer challenged regularly
  • A player not challenged will sometimes become bored and give off the appearance of a struggling prospect
  • It’s not about doing it once, it’s about doing it routinely

These don’t prevent me from getting excited, or trusting my own eye but they do keep me in check and maybe more important, they keep me patient.

I’m not here to tell you who to trust for your coverage of MiLB, that’s entirely up to you, but I am here to say if you yourself are going to focus on watching some of these games and ‘scouting’ yourself, try applying some of these principles to your thought process.

You’ll surprise yourself with how many times you saw something you didn’t like in a successful swing or a strikeout predicated on a pitch they’d never get away with at the next level. You’ll watch that diving catch in center field and be the person who noticed it was caused by a bad break on the ball.

Baseball is the same game from top to bottom, and while the talent gap is vast, it’s crucial to remember there are very few players in the entire organization that aren’t the very best player to ever come from their neighborhood. Sure you have prep schools that skew that fact, but for the most part, they’ve all been the best player they knew for a large swath of their time playing the game.

So, beware calls to move up that player who went 3 for 4 tomorrow. Be wary of thinking one outing from that pitcher you saw on a list is enough to believe he’s ready. It doesn’t work that way, and with good reason.

You’re smart people, and if you’ve invested enough time into watching it this year, you’ll start to understand who is applying at least some qualifiers, they certainly don’t have to be mine, but there has to be some sort of understanding of what will play against MLB competition and what won’t.

Maybe this will help nail down my point. You’ve seen Dustin Fowler play for the Pirates right? Well in 5 at bats for the Indians he has a homerun already, an impressive blast. Should I think the Pirates were hasty or should I remember what I saw and realize it was a very poorly placed pitch that a player right on the edge of AAA and MLB should pound?

Take this in stride, and look deeper. MiLB is fun, if you’re watching for the first time, enjoy it, but do realize things aren’t always as cut and dried as you may believe.

Pirates (13-17) Drop Series to Padres, Brubaker Fights Through 5.2 for No Decision

Before I get into this game in particular, this was a fun series. Lots of good defense especially from Kim Ha-seong and Erik Gonzalez. Kim played 2B, SS and 3B consecutively giving each of the Padres big three a night off during the series and he just shined.

Now, onto this contest.

JT Brubaker was a bulldog tonight, seemingly in trouble every inning, sometimes caused by soft contact hits, other times caused by poor defense behind him or in one instance his own poor throw.

Time and again he fought through it to minimize the damage or prevent it all together. Considering the lineup, it was very impressive.

The Pirates bats were a little more alive than they had been this series and they were able to get to Yu Darvish in the 6th for 2 runs to tie the score. Beginning with a Brian Reynolds opposite field solo shot and a Ka’ai Tom sacrifice fly.

A rare misstep by the bullpen tonight was the difference. Duane Underwood Jr. surrendered 2 hits and 2 runs, 1 earned in the 6th and then both bullpens shut down the rest of the game.

Bucs fall 4-2 to the Padres.

Off today and back at it tomorrow at 2:20 in Chicago as Trevor Cahill squares off against Zach Davies and the Cubs.

News & Notes

  • The top of the order continues to be the source of all offense for the Pirates, being held to one Kevin Newman base hit past the 5 hole. Obviously to run an offense like the Pirates are trying to run, they’ll need more.
  • Hunter Owen made his MLB debut last night for the Pirates, he was held hitless and was hit by a pitch before being lifted for Phillip Evans as part of a double switch.
  • The Pirates committed 4 errors in this contest, and those are performances this club just isn’t going to overcome often. Brubaker did well to minimize that, this one could have gotten away from them much earlier than it ultimately did.
  • The offense in general with the exception of Adam Frazier, Bryan Reynolds and Colin Moran has been fairly lifeless. Erik Gonzalez and Jacob Stallings have pitched in but those three are carrying the mail. It’s too much. And I’m not sure Hayes will be enough to fix it. It sure will help though.
  • Wil Crowe is slated to get his 3rd consecutive turn in the rotation on Saturday against Trevor Williams in Chicago. With Chad Kuhl officially throwing a side it might be his last for a while, unless the Pirates feel they’ve seen enough and want to make a bolder move.
  • Former Pirates pitching coach and Baltimore Orioles Skipper Ray Miller passed yesterday. I didn’t know him personally, but I know he helped bring me some of the best Pirates pitching I’ve seen in my lifetime. RIP

A Tremendous Day of MiLB Baseball

A rebuilding club always has one thing going for them. They can always point out toward the affiliate locations and say hey guys, look over there, not here.

That doesn’t work on everyone of course, nor should it, not every fan wants to see how the sausage is made, especially when it’s been over 40 years since any was produced.

So it stands to reason that frustration about simply not having that aspect of all this at their disposal was boiling over. Both for fans and the club alike.

Yesterday was a sweet release.

Recent draft picks did well. Older draft picks did well. Players acquired in trades excelled. It was a who’s who on the Pirates top 30 showcased all at once and it’s actually hard to imagine a better first day back.

Let’s have a look at some of the most noteworthy performances and then we’ll discuss the overall landscape a bit.

Bradenton Marauders

  • Endy Rodriguez the catching prospect who the Pirates received as part of the Joe Musgrove deal had a couple hits and an RBI. He looked pretty fluid calling the game and handled the pitching staff well.
  • Alexander Mojica the 18 year old International signing out of the Dominican Republic has a rare power tool and he wasted no time putting it on display in the form of a home run.
  • Sammy Siani is 20 years old and a terrifically talented center fielder took an 0 for 3.
  • Hudson Head the centerpiece in the Joe Musgrove deal doubled in his first at bat then struck out in his other 3 at bats.

Greensboro Grasshoppers

  • Liover Peguero had one hit and one walk in his 4 at bats but his one hit was a big one, a three run shot. Not a bad hello world for one of the pieces the Pirates got for Starling Marte.
  • Nick Gonzales started his career with a double and then went quiet.
  • Quinn Priester took the L, going 3 innings and giving up 6 runs, 3 earned. Definitely needs to work on his command, a common problem for pitchers with expanded pitch mix at his age.

Altoona Curve

  • Ji-wan Bae, the 21 year old international signing out of South Korea played second base and had one hit.
  • Oneil Cruz was rather a surprise placement in Altoona, considering he went into Spring with a shot to make the club, but he looked to take advantage of it yesterday racking up 2 hits and almost more importantly didn’t strikeout. Contact numbers are going to tell the story on Cruz this season.
  • Canaan Smith-Njigba acquired in the Jameson Taillon deal had a hit and drew a walk. This kid is a specimen, and just looks more mature at the plate than most his age do.
  • Cal Mitchell had the only RBI for the Curve in this game but was kept hitless for the affair.
  • Mason Martin had a hit and a walk but still struck out twice. This is an area of focus for him. The power is there, he’ll hit enough, but the strikeout has plagued his young career and he’ll need to reign that in to keep moving.
  • Roansy Contreras also brought back in the Taillon deal probably had the single most impressive outing of anyone in the entire system. Going 5 strong innings with 11 strikeouts. He did give up some hits, 5 specifically, but this kid won’t stay here long if he keeps pitching like this.

Indianapolis Indians

  • Travis Swaggerty, let’s start with the good shall we? He went 3 for 4 with a homerun to lead off the game. For a guy who skipped a level, obviously great to see.
  • Cole Tucker, sigh, 0 for 5. I mean, it’s one game, but it’s hardly worth mentioning he did well in the field, you know that without asking.
  • Chase De Jong isn’t really a prospect, but if you’re looking for immediate impact on the big club, it’s noteworthy that he absolutely shoved. 6 innings with 2 walks, 2 hits and 10 strike outs.
  • Chris Sharpe had 2 hits. I mention him because he’s an actual outfield prospect who has some upside. Aside from Swaggerty he’s the closest and contact for him too has been an issue.

So what does all this mean?

It means for the most part, important players to the future of this ballclub had success yesterday by in large. And that’s really all it means.

I’ve seen some trumpeting that the Pirates fleeced the Yankees in the Taillon deal. I personally believe that is going to be the case by the time this story is written, but it’s far to early for that kind of talk.

Progression through the minor leagues is a journey rarely experienced without plenty of downs to go along with the highs. I’m no more ecstatic about Contreras’ outing as I am devastated about Priester’s.

Indianapolis isn’t the most exciting squad in the mix but it sure could be come mid season as players graduate to the next level. I wasn’t a believer in Swaggerty and his 3 for 4 didn’t change that, one game rarely does, but the Pirates outfield situation is bad, and they won’t be able to sit on a kid who could help all season, so how he and Sharpe perform is important to watch. Aside from that, it’s a holding tank for depth pitching. Tucker of course is another to watch, but we need to be honest, he’s never really hit at any level and that is precisely what they want to see. If he’s to make it back to the Pirates his bat will lead the way.

I doubt anything short of injury will create much movement in the ranks for a while but as the month plays out you’ll start to be able to see who is creating an opportunity for themselves.

All in all, it’s a great day for baseball, and an encouraging day for people following the rebuild closely, but most of all, it’s a great day for the country as hundreds of places all over our land got back to business, the business of baseball.

Eyes peeled everyone, Craig and I are gonna go full nerd on you every once in a while.

Keller Comes Out Strong Against The Padres

Through his first five starts of the season, Mitch Keller has been the very definition of Jekyll and Hyde; either wild and outside of zone, while hanging sliders for batters to punish, or in command and pounding the zone as he fools hitters with the off speed and overpowers them with the fastball. The strangest part of all of this is that there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the change in approach, execution or overall performance. He just either pitches really well or he doesn’t; and last night in San Diego was no different.

Once Keller took the mound, as every Pirates Fan peaked through their fingers, just like they were watching a horror movie and didn’t know when the monster was going to reveal himself from around the corner. However, this time the monster didn’t show up; so these same fans slowly put their hands down, got very relaxed and enjoyed a late night contest between the Pirates and the Padres.

Over 5.2 innings of work Keller did not allow a run, gave up only 2 hits, struck out 5 and walked two on 83 pitchers, with 48 of them going for strikes; which if I am nitpicking, that is my only real concern. However, this is also relying on the fact that a clear, consistent and correct strike zone had been called all night; a rarity from what I have seen so far this year.

With the bats the Pirates were more formidable than they had been during the previous two games; compiling 10 hits and only striking out 3 times. However, they were only able to produce 2 runs as these hits never really got strung together.

On this night it was enough for a 2-1 victory over a tough opponent in the Padres, who have a +38 run differential, the best in the league; to the Pirates -27, which is second only to Detroit’s horrendous -66.

News and Notes:

  • Kyle Crick and Richard Rodriguez still have not given up a single run this year. In a combined 23.1 innings, the pair have allowed only two hits, walked 6 (5 for Crick) and struck out 20.
  • Adam Frazier, Bryan Reynolds and Colin Moran have been part of a very solid top of the order for the Pirates so far this season. Now if they could only find a guy to put in the 2 spot everyday. On that note Ke’Bryan Hayes took soft toss and around 10 overhand pitches from one of the team’s coaches.
  • Erik Gonzalez had one of the more heads up plays I have seen in a long time. Breaks from second, notices the second baseman is leisurely play Stallings’ ground ball and doesn’t let up; scoring what would turn out to be the deciding run.

  • Bryan Reynold is looking comfortable from both sides of the plate, almost to a fault. In his breakout 2019 season Reynolds slashed .264/.318/.438 with 5 homers from the right versus .334/.401/.530 with 11 bombs from the left. This year he is producing .400/.455/.700 with a homer from the right and .250/.352/.355 with one home run from the left.
  • I still need to see this version of Mitch Keller for more than one game at a time. This year has always had the goal of Keller looking better in August than he did in April, and I need to keep reminding myself of this instead of living and dying to start to start with a young man that know still only has 22 career starts.

The Buccos and the Friars are back at it again tonight, and a little bit earlier, with an 8:10 PM EST start. For your Pittsburgh Pirates, JT Brubaker (2-2, 2.63 ERA) will toe the rubber against Yu Darvish (3-1, 2.13 ERA) for San Diego.

Tyler Anderson Knows His Role, And He Accepted It

As I sat down at my deck, coffee in hand, to do my my morning pursuing of Pittsburgh Pirates Social Media-I know I am a glutton for punishment-I noticed a fairly common theme from some Pirates Fans, feeling bad for Tyler Anderson because of the lack of run support he was provided; while pitching a gem, that turned into a quality start.

Now this isn’t the place where I will argue, as some might, about not putting a complete Major League quality lineup on the field as they continue to waste the efforts of a few of the Pirates starting pitchers or that the goal for every game is to win, and I certainly am not going to entertain a single thought about feeling bad for the rotation; especially when it comes to Tyler Anderson. Sure everyone wants to win every time the take the field, or in Mr. Anderson’s case the mound, but don’t pretend for a second he didn’t understand what he was getting into; and mostly importantly the purpose of and/or opportunity for him to be a part of the Pittsburgh Pirates Starting Five.

During the off-season, General Manager Ben Cherington, was asked directly about the possibility of flipping free agents that they planned on signing, and the manner in which they would approach these players: and if you need your memory jogged I wrote about Cherington’s honesty on the subject , with a link provided to Dejan Kovavecic’s Daily Shot of Pirates, back in January. Spoiler alert, he didn’t dance around the topic one bit.

Tyler Anderson came to the Pirates on a 1 year/$2.5 million deal in mid-February, with its only a few conceivable outcomes on the season. 1) He could pitch terrible and be relegated to the bullpen; but the Pirates would still try to trade him. 2) He could pitch OK, and not bring back anything of real substance in a trade; still, you better believe Cherington would try, although, a trade is obviously never guaranteed. 3) He could pitch well, like he is now, and Pittsburgh would do everything they could to trade him; hopefully to the highest bidder. Are you noticing a theme here?

This crafty veteran lefty was brought in here with one purpose for Cherington and the Pirates-potential trade value. And, on the flip side (major pun intended), Anderson more than likely came in here with a fairly similar mentally; of pitching well, and making his way to a contender, while preparing for another unfortunate year of free agency because he doesn’t have a guaranteed contract beyond the 2021 season.

Of course, some could argue about the possibility of signing Anderson to an extension due to his early season success. However, my only advice to you would be to get that thought out of your head, from now until July 30th at 4PM EST; and potentially beyond that. It is always feasible that Cherington could go to Anderson after the season and say, “Hey this was kind of fun, and you did pretty well; what do you say we try this again next year? Same price, same guarantees? We good?”.

Nevertheless, this only occurs IF, and that’s a BIG IF, Tyler Anderson is not traded on or before the MLB Trade Deadline. Also, don’t look for too many teams to be panicking at the beginning of May, to find an arm for a playoff run. Most of these teams have better contingency plans than Pirates Fans have become accustomed to over the years.

So, mark your calendars! July 30th at 4PM EST. This could be a busy one for Cherington and the Pirates, but that sounds like a story for another day.