Pirates (12-16) Squander Tyler Anderson Great Start, Fall to Padres 2-0

There are no moral victories in baseball.

Oh, sure, we look for positives to take away, individual performances. The growth of a young player.

Tonight there were positives to take away, plenty actually, but the bats remained silent for a second straight night.

Let’s start with the start, Tyler Anderson tossed 6 innings of no-hit baseball. Now he got the benefit of a ticky tack error charged to himself and walked 3 guys, but this was a dominant performance. Finally the Padres would break through in the 7th, taking advantage of a lead off walk and a soft serve single to right to set up runners on the corners, they would score on a deep sac fly by Tommy Pham and then again on a Nola Double.

Before all that though, Kevin Newman made a terrific pick to start a double play early on to erase a leadoff walk. Erik Gonzalez and Colin Moran teamed up on a corner to corner connection that two hopped it’s way over to first. Real Sparkler.

The Padres used a conga line of relievers to shut out the Pirates through 7 themselves.

In the ninth the Padres called on old friend Mark Melancon to close out the game and had no issue doing so.

Quiet. That’s the best way to describe the offense right now. Not a sense that two or three hits being strung together is really a threat. This is a baseball team that needs walks to be part of their offense. They walked three times tonight and only came up with 4 hits. Clearly that’s not enough but they’ve won a couple games like this already this season. A couple more walks on 3-2 and a couple less strikeouts and you have the offense that actually fooled some into thinking it was efficient.

It’s a tough way to win but one that will provide for them again at some point. This is why I place such emphasis on taking good at bats. It leads to walks, and extended looks.

Back at it tomorrow for another late night game. 10:10 again with Mitch Keller against the feared TBA.

News & Notes

  • Obviously, a great start for Tyler Anderson, not much more you can say. He’s just been impressive. He’ll likely be nothing more than a footnote in Pirates lore when all’s said and done but pitching like this he’ll return a nice piece from somebody. Enjoy him, and realize this is best case scenario for a rebuilding team.
  • While the offense has been really ice cold for a couple games now, Adam Frazier and Bryan Reynolds continue to hit. Moran looks to be showing signs of slowing down a bit. Taking the occasional undisciplined at bat here and there. He actually looks better against lefties, which makes me feel like his approach of going with the pitch is easier for him facing southpaws.
  • Erik Gonzalez has absolutely been incredible everywhere they’ve put him in the field. He’s just a special defender. The bat won’t ever get where it needs to in my opinion but he is absolutely someone I want on my team. That glove alone has incredible value on the bench and for covering for injury.
  • We always seem to want to move Kevin Newman to second base, and that may very well happen, but he’s not a bad short stop. He’s actually improved his range a bit if anything.
  • During the game they interviewed Nick Gonzales the Pirates 2020 First Round Pick and nothing much of substance was discussed. You know, he’s excited, he can’t wait, all that stuff. He did say that his best friend is Liover Peguero who happens to be his double play partner in Class A Greensboro. The two might as well like each other because they’ll probably move up together as we move forward. This development team has an opportunity to really have an outstanding one two punch in the middle of the diamond, but we’ve seen this movie before haven’t we? Newman – Kramer. Newman – Tucker. Let’s always remember baseball is a journey, with a ton of twists and turns along the way.
  • It’s time for Adam Frazier to take a pitch once in a while, especially at the beginning of the game. He had success with jumping on the first pitch early in the season by jumping all over the first pitch, a traditional fastball down the middle-ish. Well, the league has caught on, and now that is becoming 1 pitch = 1 out. Time to change it up a bit. You can always go back to it if you start seeing it regularly again.
  • This starting rotation was not built to be a strength. So when you waste starts like this it somehow hits harder. Brubaker just experienced the same thing the other night in Minnesota against JA Happ.
  • Bryan Reynolds missed a homerun tonight by the width of a baseball, instead settling for a double, still the swing was vintage in every way, and I continue to be impressed by the consistency of his approach.

Five Pirates Thoughts at Five 5-3-21

Rough week for our Buccos, but that’s going to happen when any one aspect of the club falters. What separates the bad/good/great teams is the ability to survive and win when some facets of the game fail.

A team with less talent like Pittsburgh can beat anyone if they pitch, hit and field, but their likelihood heads south really quickly if any one of them takes a nap, let alone all three.

1. Outfield-A-Rama

Anthony Alford. Dustin Fowler. Ka’ai Tom, Phillip Evans, Wilmer Difo, Adam Frazier. That’s the list of players not named Bryan Reynolds or Gregory Polanco who the Pirates have tried in the outfield this season.

Frazier was only stuck out there to keep a pinch hitting Colin Moran in a game, so he probably doesn’t count.

Alford and Fowler played relatively good defense, but just couldn’t hit. Quite literally Wil Crowe might swing a mightier stick, at least from the sample sizes we saw. Phillip Evans will do a decent job wherever you stick him, but he isn’t exactly a buttery outfielder, and we’ve watched him look pretty slick in the infield so it’s not like he has no glove.

Wilmer Difo up until Ka’ai Tom showed up was the worst outfielder I’d seen in person at PNC. Tom can’t play anywhere else, but in his 3 games, well, you watched right? Believe it or not the display he put on has not led to one error for him, but this is where fielding percentage just simply doesn’t tell the story. He looks awful out there. Breaks the wrong way, takes a bad path, every flyball is an adventure. And unlike Evans, it’s about more than neglecting to bring his sunglasses.

When Jared Oliva is healthy, I see no way he doesn’t get a call up. He’s a real outfielder, a real prospect, and I’m prepared to end the merry-go-round. Let him play, and don’t worry about the bat. Just lock up the defensive aspect of the game out there. Over time he’ll pitch in enough.

You can’t have Reynolds out there who does a fine job in CF even if it isn’t his best position bookended by Polanco who can’t throw and doesn’t always catch and a nameless faceless figure on the other end who can’t catch cause he isn’t there when the ball is.

Embarrassing doesn’t adequately state the Pirates Outfield right now and I find it hard to believe Troy Stokes, Brian Goodwin (too late) or a cheap FA wouldn’t be better. Catching lightning in a bottle is nice but none of what they’ve tried even looks like dark clouds at this point.

2. Wil Crowe Has Earned More Time

He might just get it with Kuhl being on the shelf. By putting Chad on the shelf and making it retroactive I was led to believe he’d get little more than a spot start. He’s now started two games and while that’s created an 0-1 record for him, he’s left the club in position to compete both times and yesterday he admittedly had nothing working aside from his fastball.

I want to see more.

By the end of this season the rotation will include both Crowe and Miguel Yajure, for me I see nothing to gain by sending Mr. Crowe back down, not now.

Don’t get me wrong, if they want to work on things with young guys to get them in the best position to succeed upon arrival, I’m down. But when those players get a shot and do better than who the club keeps trotting out there, let the youth movement happen and get out of the way.

3. Time is Running Thin for Some

We still don’t have a handle on when Ke’Bryan Hayes will return to action. The latest we heard is the club is still not seeking a surgical solution and he’s on the trip with the club out west. Seems to me that means they think he could be back at some point during the trip.

The most important thing here is that Ke’ is in no danger of making this injury worse than it is and they also need to be reasonably sure he isn’t going to reaggravate it and have to go back on the shelf within a week.

Assuming they avoid that, the club will have to make a decision when he’s back.

They can drop down from 14 pitchers to 13, which I see as unlikely, or they can DFA Wilmer Difo the NL’s leading pinch hitter and versatile infield glove or Todd Frazier, he of the 1 for 20 start.

Think I should add Ka’ai Tom to that list? Well, unless Hayes is going to play in the outfield, the two aren’t related. I mentioned in point one the future solution for his roster spot if he doesn’t start to show better.

None of that will make the reality of this decision go away. The clock is ticking in my mind on one of those two veterans and if you take name value out of the situation it’s not a really hard choice.

Let me get out in front of you. No, this won’t be because they don’t want to pay either of them. Only in Pittsburgh could you replace a flailing veteran with a potential superstar in the making and have people think ill of the decision.

4. Oviedo: Found

He’s back and fresh off a stint in the lab. This is an aspect of development this team hasn’t had before, the lab concept is something that has paid dividends for other clubs and the Pirates are fully on board.

One of my favorite baseball people is Eric Minshall who Craig introduced me to, former pitching coach in the Pirates system and currently instructor at the Cincinnati Throwing Club where they break down pitchers and help them find more velocity and consistency. Programs like this are routinely sought out by pros and armatures alike.

Many people ask me why do players have to go do things like this independently of the club, and the Pirates have now brought that ‘lab’ concept to every level of the franchise.

It’s not just for pitchers either, they have hitting labs as well and that’s exactly what the club did after Spring with Jared Oliva and Cole Tucker before Oliva was injured.

For Oviedo, the club wanted to change the shape of his slider. The movement was great, but he wasn’t fooling anyone with it because he was changing his arm slot to achieve the East-West movement, to create more deception they altered his slot to line up with his fastball more closely and create more of an East-SouthWest movement. The instruction took, and he racked up much more swing and miss on the pitch in his 2 inning outing against the Cardinals on Sunday.

We keep looking for signs that this club is getting better at development, this is one of those signs.

5. It Feels So Great to Have Minor League Baseball Again

Following the evolution of prospects isn’t for everyone, but for those of us who love it, we’re sick to death of working with stale numbers. Can I say that Travis Swaggerty is 2 years better than he was in 2019? No. The training site was apparently great for him, enough so that the Pirates decided he could skip AA entirely and thrive through the bump. Maybe they’re right, but who knows really.

We’re watching prospect lists developed and let’s face it, they’re guessing too. Sure, it’s an educated guess, but a guess nonetheless. This isn’t to say in any way you shouldn’t trust the top 30 or top 100, but it is to say, the relative possibility that someone who wasn’t already on the radar jumps on to that list isn’t likely without ball games being played.

Now we can actually start to see some of these kids and stop guessing. More importantly, we can stop guessing about the ability of this franchise to develop all the talent they’re bringing in. Aside from will Bob spend when Cherington needs it, there is simply no bigger question facing the club.

Welcome back MiLB, we missed you more than you know.

Through The Prospect Porthole: AAA (Formerly Known As The Alternate Site) and The New High A Are Ready To Play

When the AAA-Indianapolis Indians and High A-Greensboro Grasshoppers Rosters were unveiled, I immediately grabbed my phone and asked Siri how long it would take me to get to First National Bank Field. The bad news is that it came out to 6 hours and 55 minutes, on the first leg of a 870 mile round trip, from my home here in Western Pennsylvania; so not an ideal weekend drive with three kiddos and a wife that lovingly tolerates my baseball obsession.

However, the more important part of the decision to see if I could swing a weekend trip to Greensboro was the overall excitement for an everyday lineup, rotation and bullpen that the team would be rolling out on a game to game basis. Thinking that I might catch a start from Quinn Priester, Tahnaj Thomas, Carmen Mlodzinski or Omar Cruz, see a double play turned by a middle infield of Liover Pegeuro and Nick Gonzalez, or a homer off the bat of Jack Herman, Aaron Shackelford or Kyle Wilkie, was more than enough incentive to at least explore the possibility.

On the other side of the coin was a place that I already had a trip mapped out for, Victory Field in Indianapolis; with baseball being the bonus of a getaway that is pretty much a middle ground meeting place for immediate family members in Chicago and St. Louis. Although, I have to admit I was less excited about this excursion than I had been about my imaginary one to North Carolina; no offense to my family.

I can’t lie; the roster just doesn’t excite me as much. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that we have already gotten a more of a glimpse of some of these players over the years, in Spring Training and so far this season; or possibly because many remind me of the potential failings and pitfalls from the previous regime. And maybe, just maybe, I can’t identify as many high ceiling prospects that exist at every other level.

I am not trying to be overly pessimistic with these views, and hopefully I am a little off on my immediate thoughts and judgements; but as of right now I don’t think I am. This is not to say that there aren’t any players I am excited or anxious to see in Indianapolis, yet, the level of anticipation isn’t the same; which really makes me start to wonder if I am alone in my train of thought.

As I look at the rosters listed below, I still can’t see it; and believe me, I hope that I am wrong.

A Lazy Sunday Afternoon At PNC Park

At times, games like the one on Sunday afternoon frustrate me more than a fourteen to nothing blowout that is pretty much out of reach after the first or second inning. A decent start from a pitcher that is likely your sixth guy or beyond in the rotation, especially without injuries, four inning of shutout ball from the bullpen and mostly solid defensive performances behind them; all was wasted due to inconsistent hitting and poor situational at bat from the Pirates lineup.

On the day Pittsburgh hit into three double plays, only drew two walks and got the majority of their runners in scoring position with two outs; providing no real opportunities where one might think that they had a chance to find their way back into the game.

In the game the Pirates didn’t really do anything so wrong that it would be impossible to overcome, they just didn’t do enough things right; ultimately being shutout 3-0, and swept in the weekend series with the Cardinals.

News and Notes:

  • Wil Crowe wasn’t great, but he did enough to give the Pirates a chance. In 5 innings of work, Crowe allowed three runs, all on a second inning homer to Harrison Bader, struck out two and walked four.
  • Todd Frazier has one hit in his 21 at bats since arriving from the Alternate Site on April 22nd.
  • The tandem of Kyle Crick and Richard Rodriguez have yet to allow a single run this season. Rodriguez’s scoreless streak stretches back to August 29, 2021; a total of 22 appearances.
  • There was a Luis Oviedo sighting in the 6th and 7th innings after not being seen in a game since April 15th. He threw 24 pitches, struck out two and also walked a pair, but did not allow a run on only one hit.
  • There was a scary moment in the bottom of the 4th, when Jacob Stallings took a 97 mph fastball to the face. Luckily he is ok and actually isn’t too much worse for the wear, which makes him very fortunate.

On Monday the Pirates will travel cross country to take on the Padres for a three game set, with the first two games starting past my regular bedtime; which was pleasantly avoided during the truncated 2020 season.

In the first of two 10:10 PM EST starts, lefty Tyler Anderson (2-2, 3.38 ERA) will take the hill against Miguel Diaz (0-0, -,- -) in his first start since 2017 and his fist appearances since June 14th of 2019.

Through The Prospect Porthole: Minor League Rosters Are Coming Together, And I Have Some Questions

As the affiliates of the Pittsburgh Pirates began to roll out their Opening Day Rosters on Friday afternoon, many of the prospect placements were really no surprise to those that follow the organization closely. However, there were several that made me do a bit of a double take; where I had to read over the names just to make sure I was traveling to the right location, to do my amateur scouting of the correct player.

You see, a couple of weeks ago when the Altoona Curve put their tickets for May up for sale, I purchased two tickets for the Saturday afternoon contest with the Bowie Baysox. In my mind, I had an idea of what Pirates Prospects I would likely see on PNG Field, while downing a Curve Burger and a tall boy of my choice. Most notably, not on that list, were Oneil Cruz, Rodolfo Castro and Cody Bolton-especially as a reliever on the depth chart.

For at least the past year, rumblings of Oneil Cruz finding his way way into the outfield at PNC Park , most times as early as this season, have littered Pirates Social Media; in blogs, on podcasts and even in articles written by those who are in the know within Pittsburgh Sports Media, in spite of Ben Cherington’s decision to continually list him as a shortstop first. However, this is a debate for another day. The more pressing issue at hand, or maybe just a general concern, is the fact that Cruz is on the AA-Altoona roster.

After reaching this level during the last Minor League season in 2019, Cruz’s development has suffered what could be seen as several setbacks; not to mention issues experienced in his personal life. During the Arizona Fall League he hit .190 with 21 strikeouts in 42 at bats and followed it up by batting .185 in the Dominican Winter League, while not hitting a single homer during either season. Then came this most recent Winter League and Spring Training, where these difficulties continued. His did raise his average to .245 in the Dominican, but still didn’t demonstrate any power. In the spring he managed only 3 hits in 27 at bats, which ultimately led to this disappointing placement.

With Castro the move is a little curious, especially after he was not only assigned to the Alternate Site during the shorted season, but also was added to the 40-man, invited to Spring Training and added to the Taxi Squad for away games; ultimately making his Major League Debut on April 21st of this season against the Detroit Tigers. After recording an 0 for 3 day, while filing in at third base, he was optioned back to the Alternate Site, and eventually sent to AA to begin a new season; this time in the Minor Leagues.

As far as Bolton is concerned, the starting rotation in AAA-Indianapolis seemed to be the most likely landing spot for the Pirates #10 Prospect according to MLB Pipeline, with an ETA of this year (2021). It should be noted that much of this hype occurred before Cherington acquired a number of pitching options in the Josh Bell, Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon trades; specifically Wil Crowe, Miguel Yajure and Roansy Contreras, along with several Rule 5 and Free Agent acquisitions. However, he is now apparently the 6th option in a loaded AA rotation.

And this was only in Altoona. When you move to the Low A-Bradenton Marauders Roster, a name that definitely stuck out to myself and Gary, was Brennan Malone. Drafted in the first round of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Amateur Draft, compared to Quinn Priester and snatched up by Cherington as a part of the Starling Marte Trade to Arizona, I originally pictured him and Priester holding down the rotation in High A together to start the year. However, after a season off because of the pandemic, and no real organized ball to speak of, it seems that Malone has fallen further behind Priester than originally anticipated; but not to worry, he has time to catch up.

Following these news drops I anxiously awaited the announcements concerning the rosters in Greensboro and Indianapolis due to a few key names that could have shown up in Altoona. First, was possibly the least likely candidate in the form of 2020 First Round (#7 Overall) Pick, Nick Gonzalez; invited to both the Alternate Site and Spring Training, his assignment was one of the most anticipated in the entire system. Skipping Low A was almost a given, however some had been more bullish regarding his progression and concerning how aggressive Cherington would be with his first Pirates Draft Pick.

Next up was a player that I have not been as high on as some due to struggles with bat early on in his professional career, outfielder Travis Swaggerty. A guy I went to see in 2019 down at then High A Bradenton, I had no concerns about his ability to man centerfield at PNC Park; although his .265 AVG and .116 ISO (.140 is around league average) did give me some pause. Nevertheless, I also haven’t seen him hit, aside from a few Spring Training appearances, since then; so I am willing to trust Cherington and the process with this one.

And finally, the last guy I thought we could see in Altoona to start the year was the other member of the Marte, short stop Liover Pegeuro. Late to the party in spring due to some visa issues, the 20 year old made an immediate splash on the scene with surprising power to all parts of the field, and a .333 AVG with two well struck doubles to his credit. Already dubbed the short stop of the future by many it is possible that the even more surprising assignments of Cruz and Castro to the middle infield of AA had more to do with him starting the season in High A than anything else.

Since this article was first prepared, the AAA and High A Rosters have since been announced. More to come on the rest of the Pirates Minor League System in the coming days.-Craig

Pirates (12-14) Bullpen Can’t Keep the Cardinals in Check, Lose 12-5

Trevor Cahill didn’t have it tonight. He gave up 4 runs in the first inning, then he gave up another run, and somehow I looked up sometime early in the 6th and there he was, still pitching. He also didn’t end up being the story.

Derek Shelton made a very odd move, after Trevor threw a ball to Jack Flaherty who was trying to bunt, the runner took off for second and Perez drilled him with the throw which moved the runner to third. Then Shelton pulled Cahill for Sam Howard. In the middle of an at bat, against a pitcher, with one out. Brilliant move. Honestly.

You can’t just let Flaherty, who can hit a little, make contact and bring home the run there, so instead of the contact educing Cahill he went to the swing and miss stuff of Howard.

That’s different folks. That’s not just reading from the instruction manual. That’s not worrying about hurting a veteran’s feelings, because it was best for the situation.

That’s trying to win.

If you want to instill it in your players, it stands to reason you better show it. The reason this team can continue to fight back in games they could easily collapse in after shaky starts is embodied in the way their coach handled that very situation.

On the flip side, using Poppen in the 9th to preserve a 2 run deficit was questionable at best. The Cardinals would take the easy insurance and put the game away.

That’s not trying to win.

Bucs fall 12-5 and drop the first two games in the series to the Cardinals. They had a chance in this one, but the bullpen faltered.

Back at it tomorrow at 1:05 as Carlos Martinez faces Wil Crowe and the Bucs look to salvage one in the series.

News & Notes

  • Ka’ai Tom at the plate, looks competent. He takes a great approach and has shown the ability to make solid contact. In the field, he’s literally costing runs. As Derek Shelton said the other day, he was trying to make a play, and I get that too, but you also have to know your limitations. Surrender the single, instead of creating a double.
  • There was a weird moment in the 7th. Jordan Hicks had just thrown ball 3 for a full count and made a little face after the pitch. Nolan Arenado called time and for the trainers to come out and the Cards removed him from the game after he protested. Not sure I’ve ever seen a position player initiate something like that.
  • So, in that same 7th inning, Bryan Reynolds who stood around for what felt like 10 minutes with a 3-2 count, crushed the first pitch Genesis Cabrera threw for a double scoring Adam Frazier.
  • The Wooers must be found and banished for life.
  • Pirates 3-5 hitters tonight (Reynolds, Moran, and Polanco) were very effective. Racking up 7 hits in 16 at bats and 4 RBI. Adam Frazier continues to swing a hot bat leading off. This team is most nights a Ke’Bryan Hayes away from a legit good 1-5. The overall offense came into tonight ranking 27th in baseball for runs scored, lack of power will do that to you, but you can see how it could change with that one addition.
  • This game was very reminiscent of Wednesday night’s loss to the Royals. Starter struggled, long relieve didn’t hold the line, offense tried o fight back, middle relief didn’t hold the line, offense tried again but fell short. We’ve raved about the bullpen, and rightfully so, but there have been a couple now that fall squarely on their shoulders.
  • According to Ben Cherrington, expect this club to make Mitch Keller stay right where he is and work through things. They think they’ve found some things. (Just telling you, not telling you what to believe)
  • Ke’Bryan Hayes reportedly has not caught a ball or swung a bat. He is apparently going on the road trip with the club which you’d have to think means they think he’ll be back during the trip, but it’s so hard to say. Simply have to make sure he’s at the very least not at risk of making it worse before he returns.
  • As much as I respect the move Shelton made early in the game, using Poppen in the 9th to keep the team 2 runs shy was an odd choice at best. He would surrender 5 runs. What really made this curious is coming off a week with 2 off days, it seemed odd to use some of the best parts of the bullpen to keep it close all game, then not use one to keep it close when it really mattered.

Missing: Luis Oviedo 6-4, 234 LBS, 95 Plus Fastball and Wicked Curve

April 15th. That’s the last time any of us saw Luis Oviedo pitch for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He pitched 2 innings and gave up one run. This was 3 days after his last outing in which he had by far his worst. In 1.2 innings he gave up 5 runs facing 12 batters.

He’s only had 4 total outings this season and as a Rule FIve pick who never played beyond A ball, I can’t say I expected to see a ton of him this year, but that was before I saw him pitch.

I liked his moxie, his stuff and I guess, I just liked the idea of using him rather than hiding him. I’d like to think when the Pirates send him down after the season and his rights are secured probably to AAA to work on building up into the starting pitcher he was before they acquired him.

Again, if the plan was to hide him, I’d get that too, but not after what he showed us. Sure you can look at those five runs alone and come to the conclusion he should just wear a number and sit at the end of the bench in the bullpen, but baseball players need to play as my friend Jim just mentioned to me as we discussed this situation on my Fan Forum Podcast.

So, what are the Pirates doing here?

They’ve been down big, they’ve been up enough it would seem to me to sneak him in. After his poor outing against the Padres, Derek Shelton mentioned the need to not go such a stretch of games without pitching the young fireballer and true to his word he trotted him back out again 3 days later. But that was it.

Now we’re back to another long stretch of not seeing him.

Here’s what I got.

Oviedo has a killer curve ball, and a really nice slider that he struggles to control. A mid to upper 90s 4 seam fastball, and a changeup he scarcely uses.

It’s possible the Pirates are working with him to develop that changeup. As it stands now, hitters can gear up on the fastball and pick up spin on everything else to either just spit on it or wait for a mistake. Adding to and building upon that changeup could help Oviedo both this year and in the future.

Maybe they’re working on his spin rate on his slider, after all controlling it has been incredibly difficult and has created more walks than the club can accept out of the pen.

No matter what, we’ll know soon.

At this point it’s unmistakable they don’t trust him and have no issue hiding him. The longer it goes on the more questions that will come up, especially as seemingly tailor made situations crop up to use him.

At some point this season the Pirates will have three rule five picks on their 26-man roster, Luis Oviedo, Ka’ai Tom and Jose Soriano. That’s going to be difficult to navigate even if they were to use each of them regularly, maybe that’s part of the reason they’re working with Luis behind the scenes so intently right now, so by the time they add in their third he is no longer a liability but instead a real asset.

Pirates Errors-Mental And Physical-Lead To Loss

In his first four starts of the year, JT Brubaker did everything that could be asked of from a starting pitcher, which is to give his team a chance to win the game; and in Friday night’s contest he did the same thing again. Sure if you just looked at the pitching line, or the summary, the picture might not be as clear, as he did allow seven hits and three earned runs; however, the only real mistake he made was on the fourth inning, no doubt home run off the bat of Tyler O’Neil. The two RBI doubles from Nolan Arenado were both bloops, one that was ridiculously misplayed by Kevin Newman and Ka’ai Tom; who didn’t have the best night in his starting debut for the Pirates.

On the base paths Tom somehow had a mental lapse that caused him to take a wide turn around second on sacrifice bunt from Brubaker; ending in a fairly unnatural double play. But hey, that guy can sure take a walk; three on the day to be exact. Although, it seemed like the Cardinal’s pitchers were giving out walks, a total of nine to be exact; as well as a balk and a wild pitch. Unfortunately, the Pirates couldn’t take advantage of these mistakes by only scoring one run outside of the two gimmes from Kodi Whitely, who somehow was awarded with a hold.

St. Louis, however, jumped on every misstep by Pittsburgh; capped off by a pitch that Duane Underwood Jr. left over the fat part of the plate to Matt Carpenter for a three run homer, to put them up 6-1, and the error by Adam Frazier that ended the scoring in a 7-3 victory for the Cardinals.

News and Notes:

  • After walking four batters in his first start of the season, JT Brubaker has given only one free pass over the next 23.1 innings. During the same time he has struck out 24, including 7 Cardinals tonight.
  • Kevin Newman looked more like the player from Spring Training than he has all year so far, with two well struck singles; finally bringing his average up over .200.
  • Pittsburgh area native, David Bednar has continued his early season success with three strikeouts in two scoreless innings of work. On the year Bednar has a 1.83 ERA, a .93 WHIP and 11 Ks in 9.2 innings.
  • The Pirates need Ke’Bryan Hayes back in the worst way, but mostly due to the void that has been left in the number two spot in the lineup in his absence; including Erik Gonzalez’s 0 for 5 night.
  • Adam Frazier already has four errors on the year. Only three more and he matches his combined total from the past two seasons.

Tomorrow the Pirates are in for a challenge as they face off against Cardinal’s ACE, Jack Flaherty (4-0, 3.18 ERA). For the Pirates, Trevor Cahill (1-2, 7.11 ERA), looks to break his good start-bad start pattern, and get Pittsburgh back to .500.

A Glimpse of the Pirates Future Now

The road to building a winner is rarely linear as Craig illustrated well in his piece yesterday. Recently, we Pirates fans have been given a stark reminder of the twists and turns I’m speaking to today.

Before the season started it wasn’t uncommon to see someone tweet out a projected starting rotation for 2023, or even 2024. You’d see dream lineups like Keller, Priester, Thomas, Malone and Mlodzinski.

What a great day it will be, right?

Well in just 24 baseball games we’ve already seen some potential cracks in that Emerald City view at the end of the road. Look at what Mitch Keller has done this year versus what JT Brubaker has done.

Oh wait, we didn’t even think about the possibility Brubaker would turn out did we? Certainly didn’t consider Keller wouldn’t be the stud he was supposed to be.

We also didn’t mention Cody Bolton, Wil Crowe, Miguel Yajure, Jared Jones, Roansy Contreras, Luis Oviedo, Jose Soriano, Max Kranick, Omar Cruz or Michael Burrows. There are more, and I mean more I personally think will start to crop up on the top 30 prospect list very soon.

The draft pick the Pirates will choose in 2021 will be in all likelihood yet another pitcher, this one with almost unmistakable pedigree.

They’ll probably trade for more of them too. That aspect of all this isn’t over by a long shot.

So what am I getting at here?

Simple, the reason teams need so much pitching when building isn’t just because some of them will get hurt, it’s because some of them will never get here.

Every guy I mentioned in this article with the exception of JT Brubaker and Mitch Keller are top 30 prospects. Each and every one of them has a high ceiling. Each and every one of them could get hurt, underperform physically, lack the mental fortitude needed to become a MLB player, or potentially themselves be moved to patch a hole not covered by drafting and acquiring at other positions.

Every single one of them could be part of the team that wins here in Pittsburgh, they’re all that kind of talent. For some of them, that will be in a bullpen role, one that seems like a stepping stone when they start but quickly becomes their permanent home. Clay Holmes is a perfect example of that. (And yes this now technically means I’ve mentioned 3 guys who aren’t in the top 30)

As we anxiously await the great savior to be drafted in a couple months, we should come to understand, the magic is in the numbers. That’s the safety net being built.

Quinn Priester has a highly developed pitch mix, and when Baseball America says he could be the top pitching prospect in all of baseball by the end of 2021, I buy it 100%. He has the goods. In fact his slider is almost as good as this kid I used to watch in Altoona, oh what’s his name now? Kid blew my socks off, really.

Oh! I remember, Mitch Keller. Yeah, that Mitch Keller. He controlled it effortlessly. It mystified every hitter and even if it didn’t they couldn’t touch it. He painted corners with his fastball, he dropped his slider on the edge, he was in command. At the same time, I liked Brubaker more, and I didn’t even know Craig yet so trust me I didn’t just agree with my partner.

And then he got to MLB. He’s on his second pitching coach now and each spoke highly of his stuff and how he practiced. Each spoke about how he just needed to trust his stuff. Even at the end of 2020 when he tasted a little success it was while walking or striking out everyone he faced.

The success Mitch had throughout the system and some of his foot down performances in the Bigs seemed like a sure fire bet he’d be here for the long haul. Even prompting many to suggest him as a big extension possibility.

Now, I’m not ready to wash my hands of Mitch Keller. He’s just too talented to give up, not yet. Neither should you quite frankly. Yes, even you’re a guy who played some baseball in college and think you’re two stained Hawaiian shirts away from being an actual scout.

This is a process, one that isn’t going to allow you to look 4 years into the future and pinpoint the picture. That’s baseball.

If you told Angels fans 4 years ago that one day Jose Soriano, one of their top pitching prospects would get injured and have surgery, their club would leave him unprotected in the Rule 5 draft and they’d never see him on the mound in LA I’d have to imagine they’d have scoffed.

The Yankees fans probably liked what they saw from Miguel Yajure last year too. It’s probably not as prevalent in NY as it is here for obvious reasons but they have some rather prospect heavy, nerdy fans who raved about the kid. Look it up, article after article about how they didn’t need to go get another starter because they had Miguel. And they found that kid for 30K, not a top ten pick.

Its hard watching a pitcher like Keller struggle, it can be demoralizing to your overall picture of what this club is doing, where they’re headed. Just remember, he isn’t done yet himself, he may yet turn out, and also that there is a very real reason why this team doesn’t just pick 5 guys and cultivate them.

History shows the Pirates will need more options than that, and for once from that list I just put up there you can see they actually are setting up to have it. Just understand, they won’t all work out, they won’t all be Pirates when they do, and this isn’t a small to mid-market speech, this is just prospect development.

Another aspect of all this that I didn’t really speak to but certainly plays a huge role is the actual success of the organization to develop and identify talent in the first place. As I write this, I certainly can’t tell you Ben Cherington and crew have this on lockdown, we haven’t seen one pitch in MiLB after all, but rest assured, the last one certainly failed the franchise in this area.

I already spoke to the very real challenge it is to turn potential into prosperity, but the Pirates under Huntington rarely turned anything out that wasn’t self motivated by the player, add up all the deficiencies and you have a game of chance with even longer odds of finding a guy and getting him across the finish line.

Failure is part of the process for more players than it isn’t. That’s just fact. Having options means you can probably count on having a very good starting five and bullpen by 23-24, but maybe you should refrain from giving them names just yet.

It’s A Rebuild

Over the past few weeks, the Pirates have shown life beyond some of the original expectations; especially when it comes to the near shutdown nature of the game once it reaches Pittsburgh’s bullpen. However, there is no mincing of words even as they reached beyond the .500 mark; this is a rebuild plain and simple; not one that necessarily sells off every piece not nailed down after 2023 or 2024, but at the very least stays true to the original plan, and doesn’t change course due to a winning record after only around 14% of the season has been completed.

Sure this has been fun, and could continue to be off and on for the remainder of the season; and in all honesty I hope it is as far as competitiveness, and specifically individual growth are concerned.

The Pirates are, as currently constructed, are not built to do anything more than compete, on a game to game basis; all the same they could find themselves in a one run game, or just as quickly in a 10 run deficit. Some of these possibilities have easily, and often, been clouded by the overall performance of their relievers; which many people have not let us forget.

Clearly this is a strength of the ball club, but in the long run it has very influence on the long term success of the Pirates. We have to be impartial in this situation, as we recognize that contending teams aren’t built around a bullpen. Contending teams obviously need a strong bullpen, but I don’t see it as a place where the groundwork is laid. Undoubtedly, there are some pretty straightforward trade candidates or pieces that are marked as potential members of the rotation, or at minimal, long relief option; however, in all actuality it is safe to predict that less than a handful of these guys can maintain their current production over the next couple of years.

In looking at the current roster, this train of thought can be replicated over and over again. As we move forward, decisions have to be made concerning many other players; with a select few locked and loaded moving foward, and many with a year or so left to determine their future with the club.

However, I have been told there is depth, so I shouldn’t be worried. Nonetheless, I have yet to see much of this outside of pitching; specifically when they have a non-outfielder playing left field and batting second, usually reserved got the team’s most consistent hitter, batting .115 over the last week. But, why not keep him in that spot for the past 11 games without question.

In the infield, Kevin Newman hasn’t been able to get his average up over the Mendoza line since April 13th; with continuous weak contact, outside of his homer on Sunday. But once again, who will take his place if he sits? Unfortunately, the questions at this position, and the outfield, do not have any immediate or even impending answers because at the moment I don’t see any players pounding on the door to force Ben Cherington’s hand to give them their shot.

This is not a harsh judgment or a declaration that things will eventually go south, but this is the reality that the Pirates exist in; in conjunction with the frustrations of a lifetime, diehard Pittsburgh Pirates fan. The current rebuild is happening for a reason, and in all actuality, many reasons. They don’t have to have all the answers right now, but they better have them when push comes to shove a couple of years down the road.

Now, on a side and final note, for Pirates Fans who want Keller to go back to AAA; what do you want him to work on, what can he prove that he already hasn’t at that level and do you remember what they- the previous regime-did to Keller early on in his MLB career?

Mitch Keller either fixes the problem, or he doesn’t, but it the solution doesn’t have to come this year. Ideally, it would, but with almost two full seasons before he is guaranteed a pay bump with arbitration, and real decisions need to be made, it’s sink or swim; not only for Keller, but a number of other players on the Pirates current roster.