Through The Prospect Porthole: Eye On The Future

In the shortened 2020 Pittsburgh Pirates Season we have seen quite a few prospects given the opportunity to perform. Some of been given longer leashes than others and at least one in particular looks like he is here to stay. In only 24 games and 85 at bats Hayes launched 5 home runs and 14 extra base hits while boasting a .376 AVG and a 1.124 OPS. I will be the first to admit that I wasn’t extremely high on Hayes coming into the year and for now I will eat crow based on my previous assessments of the how the bat would play in the majors. What I saw in Hayes was the .279 career Minor League hitter, who’s highest OPS of .819 came in AA Altoona two years ago. He was a “glove first”, three time gold glove winner and any offense he would provide beyond this was seen as a bonus. I put some credence in discussions that he was working on a change to his swing, but wasn’t sure how much this could improve upon the overall numbers. Like I said before, thus far Hayes has proven me wrong; his work in the off-season, the changes to his swing and time with Jon Nunnally at the alternate site in Altoona have really paid off. My hope is that this young Pirates Prospect continues to show me I was mistaken for many years to come.

With all of the excitement surrounding Hayes it has gotten many, including myself, trying to predict who will be the next Pirates Prospects to make an impact on the future and when they will arrive at PNC Park. This task has been made even more difficult than it had been in previous years due to the cancellation of the Minor League Baseball season and a limited amount of information leaking out of the alternate site in Altoona. However, this won’t stop me from trying to figure it out and giving you my impressions because it’s something I enjoy doing and it creates some degree of hope for the future of the General Manager Ben Cherington led Pittsburgh Pirates.

In order to keep this as an article rather than a full prospect guide, I am going to keep the number at only ten and limit it to players that we have yet to see at the Major League Level. However, I am positive that I will providing more coverage on these prospects and many others throughout the off-season, so continue reading and stay tuned.

1) Braeden Ogle

Ogle was drafted by Pittsburgh in the 4th Round of the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft from Jensen Beach High School in Florida. Immediately after being picked by the Pirates the 6’2” 170 lb left handed pitcher was assigned to the Gulf Coast League Pirates where he had a solid start to his professional career. At over two years younger than the rest of the competition, Ogle posted a 2.60 ERA, a 1.048 WHIP and a lowly .210 BABIP in 8 starts and 27.2 innings. He did struggle at times with a walk rate of 3.58 BB/9 and didn’t produce much of a swing and miss to the tune of 6.51 K/9. However, I consider this production a result of youth and need for further development, so I wouldn’t look to deep into it.

After an entire offseason to prepare for his first full year of professional ball, Ogle was ultimately promoted to the Bristol Pirates (Pittsburgh’s Advanced Rookie League Affiliate) of the Appalachian League. He continued to grow as far as command and control by increasing his K/9 to 7.33 and slightly reducing his BB/9 to 3.35. However, he fell victim to an ever rising BABIP, which soared from .210 to .300 resulting in a less than optimal 1.302 in his 10 starts and 43 innings. It’s is possible that a lingering knee injury was responsible for a decline in production, as his season was cut short by surgery due a right knee meniscus tear.

After an intense rehab and plenty of hard work Ogle started 2018 with the West Virginia Power (Pittsburgh’s Low-A Affiliate through 2018). His first start was a struggle. He fought through 3 innings, giving up 3 runs while walking 4 batters and striking out 4. The next two games he hit his stride pitching 6 innings each game striking out 12 and allowing 2 runs. The fourth game of season he struck out 5 batters in 2 innings, only to be removed with shoulder inflammation. He did not return the remainder of the the season.

Due to concerns about his ability to maintain health as well as the fact that he was able to increase his K/9 to 11.12 the Pirates made the decision to move him to the bullpen. In an attempt to adjust Ogle to a reliever role he began the season with the Greensboro Grasshoppers (Pittsburgh’s Low-A Affiliate) for the second season in a row, appearing in 20 games and starting 2. In those 20 appearances Ogle was able to live up to his potential, increasing his command and reduced his BB/9 to a career low 2.84. He also maintained a K/9 above 1 per inning. This resulted in Ogle being promoted midsession to the Bradenton Marauders (Pittsburgh’s High A-Advanced Affiliate) of the Florida State League. In 11 innings, a small sample size, he reduced his WHIP from 1.200 to .971, his ERA from 3.69 to 3.18 and continued his decline in BB/9, landing at 2.4.

2) Aaron Shortridge

In the 4th round (114 overall) of the 2018 MLB June Amateur Draft the Pirates drafted right-handed pitcher, Aaron Shortridge out of the University of California, Berkeley. The then 20-year-old had just spent his first year as a majority of the time starter for the Golden Bears after spending the first two years in the bullpen, mostly due to the fact that he was working toward becoming a pitcher after being a shortstop for the majority of his baseball life. In his final year at CAL, the 6’3’’ 196 lb. righty posted a 2.77 ERA, a 1.132 WHIP, had 74 strike outs, 2 saves and only 14 walks across 91 innings, 17 appearances and 12 starts. Much of the success that Shortridge experienced during his last year in college could be credited to all of the hard work that he put in while playing in the Northwoods Collegiate Summer League as a starter for 11 games over two seasons for the Eau Claire Express.

Immediately after being drafted, the Pirates sent Shortridge to the West Virginia Black Bears (Pittsburgh’s Short Season/ Low A Affiliate) of the New York-Pennsylvania League. In his first taste of professional baseball, the success that he experienced in his season at CAL continued throughout the entire season. In 8 games and 8 starts he had a 2.67 ERA, a 1.121 WHIP, 38 Strike Outs and Only 7 Walks in 30.1 innings. Due to his accomplishments and clear command of his pitches it was an easy decision of the Pirates to bypass Low A and promote Shortridge Straight to the Bradenton Marauders (Pittsburgh’s High A Affiliate) of the Florida State League, where he participated in extended Spring Training prior to beginning the season.

In his first full year in the minors, Shortridge was the same consistent and solid pitcher he has been since converting from a position player. He started 24 games for the Marauders and pitched 135.2 innings, averaging a little over 5 and 1/3 innings per start. His ERA rose slightly to 3.25, but his WHIP remained consistent at 1.14, mostly due to his extremely low walk rate of 1.66 per 9 innings. The only area in which he struggled was with the swing and miss. His K/9 rate was almost cut in half; going from 11.27 the previous year to 6.90 in 2019. After I saw these numbers I had to “nerd-out“ for just a moment to attempt to discover if there was any reasoning for this or if his numbers changed drastically in any other areas. I will save you the pain of reading through all of the advanced metrics I dove into by letting you know that I couldn’t find anything. His BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play) decreased from the previous year, he didn’t have a “bad” month or slump and his LOB% (Left On Base Percentage) actually rose. Whatever happened, it is something that I will definitely be keeping an eye on as he progresses through the system.

3) Max Kranick

For years the Pittsburgh Pirates’ have gone heavy on young RHP in the MLB June amateur draft every year and 2016 was no different. That year the Pirates drafted 17 young RHP out of their 40 available picks. The fifth of his kind, Max Kranick was drafted in the 11th Round (340 overall) out of Valley View High School in Archbald, PA, a small suburb outside Scranton. It should be noted that the Pirates liked this young man so much that they paid him triple the slot value at the time for a player selected after the 10th round, $300,000.

Immediately after being drafted, Kranick a 6’3” 175 lb heater-throwing right hander was sent to the GCL Pirates of the Gulf Coast Rookie League, were he performed extremely well for being a full 2 and half years younger than average in that league. Kranick appeared in 9 games, starting 6 of them, while posting a 2.43 ERA, a 1.050 WHIP and 21K/4BB in 33.1 innings. In spite of this strong start to his professional career he was once again sent to the GCL Pirates to begin his first full season of pro-ball. This time around he improved in every area except for WHIP (1.263) as he did not allow any earned runs and struck out 9 batters in 12.1 innings.

After only 3 games, all of which he started, he was sent to play for the Bristol Pirates (Pittsburgh’s Rookie League affiliate) of the Appalachian League. Due to ongoing issues with shoulder fatigue, Kranick would only go on to appear in 2 games the remainder of the 2017 season. However, he was impressive in both of his appearances; striking out 9 batters in 11.2 innings, while sporting a 2.30 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP. 

After resting, rehabbing and conditioning in between the 2017 and 2018 Kranick came out for his second full season, with something to prove; granted he was held back from reporting to the team until late May. The Pirates assigned him to the West Virginia Power (Pittsburgh’s Low A/Full Season Affiliate up through 2018) of the South Atlantic League. Kranick had similar success to what he had experienced the previous years, but this year was different as he appeared in almost as many games (17) as he had the previous 2 years combined (19). His ERA rose a little to 3.81, his strike out numbers continued to improve by sitting down 77 batters in 78 innings (a rate of 8.9 per 9 innings) and his WHIP (1.154) leveled out to where it had been in previous years.

To begin the 2019 season it was originally believed that the Pirates would continue to manage his workload and kept him down in Low A for the second season in a row with the Greensboro Grasshoppers (Pittsburgh’s New Low A/Full Season Affiliate) of the South Atlantic League. Just prior to the season a decision was made to send Kranick to the Bradenton Marauders (Pittsburgh’s High A/Advanced Affiliate) of the Florida State League, so that he could attend extended spring training with the team. Kranick once again participated in a full season, this time starting all 20 games he appeared in and pitching a career high 109.1 innings. All in all his season was a little like a rollercoaster as he came out on fire in April, cooled off in May, got things back together in June and fell off again in July. He did finish the season on a high note as he allowed only 2 hits and struck out 4 batters in 5.1 innings against the St. Lucie Mets on July 26. He ended the year sporting a 3.79 ERA and a 1.189 WHIP, but his strike out rate dropped a full 2.5 batters per nine innings to 6.4.

4) Travis Swaggerty

Swaggerty was drafted in the 1st Round (10th Overall) in the 2018 MLB June Amateur Draft from the University of South Alabama. During his junior year with the Jaguars he had shown an increase in power by belting 13 home runs, which paired very nicely with his defensive prowess and overall athleticism. In his first assignment, with the West Virginia Black Bears he was able to put all of this on display as he hit 4 homers and 14 total extra base hits in 36 games. He was quickly bumped up to Low A, also in West Virginia at the time for the final 16 games. He struggled mightily in his time with Power; batting only .129 and adding a single home run to his yearly total. Nevertheless, he was shuffled up the ranks and began 2019 in Bradenton.

While playing with the Marauders some of his power did return as he belted 9 home runs, but his batting average fell to .265. Another set of positives was a slight increase in his BB% to 10.9 and a decrease in his K% to 22.1. This would insinuate a better approach at the plate, in spite of it not really showing up in all the statistical categories.

According to most, if not all of the major sites, have Swaggerty’s potential being very high; nearing what could be a five-tool player. With 2021 approaching, Pirates Fans have to be anxious to see if he can finally breakout.

5) Rodolfo Castro

After speaking with Garett Mansfield from the Altoona Curve at length about the notable performances of Jason Martin and Jared Oliva at the alternative site, he brought up the somewhat unexpected play of Pirates Infield Prospect Rodolfo Castro. Mansfield noted that Castro has executed well at the plate, making regular hard contact, as well as looking comfortable at multiple positions in the field.

On October 30, 2015 the Pittsburgh Pirates signed the 16-year-old shortstop during the international amateur free-agency period to a $150,000 contract. His first taste of professional baseball would come the following summer as the Pirates assigned him to the DSL Pirates (Pittsburgh’s Foreign Rookie Level Affiliate) of the Dominican Summer League. For being only 17 years old the 6’, 200 pound, switch-hitting shortstop performed very well.

In 56 games and 230 plate appearances the young Castro posted a slash line of .271/.360/.411, with 2 home runs and 20 extra base hits. The next year in three less games, Castro produced very similar numbers (.277/.344/479 with 6 homers and 22 extra base hits for the GCL Pirates (Pittsburgh’s Rookie Level Affiliate) in the Gulf Coast League. During this season Castro began to split his time defensively almost exactly three ways, between second base (15), third base (17) and shortstop (19). It was clear that his best positions were his natural SS and his adopted second base, but he performed well at third as well.

 After his second full winter off in a row, Castro joined the West Virginia Power (Pittsburgh’s former Low A Affiliate) in the South Atlantic League for the 2018 season. The consistency that he had exhibited in his first two years in the Pirate’s farm system did not continue through his third season. His strike out rate swelled to 26%, his walk rate fell to 6.8%, his batting average dropped to .231 and he only totaled 35 extra base hits in twice as many games as the previous two seasons. Another change was that for the first time in his career he played more games at another position, second base (89 Games) than he did at his drafted position, SS (12 Games). 

Due to his struggles during this season, as well as an stint on the IL at the end of July, with the Power it was determined that Castro would be assigned to Gigantes de Carolina of the Puerto Rican Winter League during the 2018-2019 off-season. Castro would only go on to appear in 8 games for Carolina that off-season and get 27 plate appearances. Unsurprisingly his numbers were not that impressive as he batted .269, with a .672 OPS and 12 strike outs. 

Following this disappointing season it was not a shock when he was assigned to the Greensboro Grasshoppers (Pittsburgh’s Low A Affiliate beginning in 2019) of the South Atlantic League, his second year in a row at this level. However, this year was going to be a little different. For the first two months of the season, his strike out rate still hovered between 25% and 30%, but his batting average once again returned to around .263 and his power rebounded as he hit 13 home runs, accounting for a .901 OPS. 

This resurgence led to a promotion to the Bradenton Marauders (Pittsburgh’s High A/Advanced Affiliate) of the Florida State League at the end of June. At this point Castro began to labor and slump more than he had in his entire career thus far, as he batted only .132/.192/.206 in the month of July and hit a only a single home run. It looked like things might not get better for the young Dominican. Luckily for Castro things did get better, a lot better. For the month of August he hit .299/.346/.443, with 2 homers and 10 extra base hits in only 26 games. It should be noted that in his short time in Bradenton he did play third base in 4 games, which has always been the position where he performed the worst. It is possible that this change in position and level threw off the rhythm that he found earlier in the season.

6) Matt Eckelman

If you can think back to the Pirates Spring Training game with the Phillies on Tuesday February 25, you should remember seeing Eckelman on your screen. He is a little bit on an imposing figure. It should also be noted that he pitched 1.1 innings that day and recorded 2 K/0BB, no hits and no earned runs.

Eckelman was drafted in the 21st round of the 2016 June MLB Amateur Draft out of St. Louis University. An imposing figure, Eckelman stands 6’3” tall and weighs in anywhere between 240 and 280 lbs. When the Pirates drafted him Eckelman had just spent his senior season as the #1 starter for the Billikens, where he posted an impressive 8-4 record with 3.12 ERA. He rebounded during his senior season after his junior season was cut short by an elbow injury that limited him to only 14 innings.

The 2018 season was a turning point for Eckelman, as he started the season for Bradenton as the team’s closer. After only 17 appearances for the Marauder’s, he was promoted to the Altoona Curve. For the season, between the two levels, he had a 5-1 record, a 2.05 ERA, a 1.241 WHIP and 17 saves. This earned him some attention from the big league club and a spot in the Arizona Fall League after the season. 

Unfortunately for Eckelman, he struggled in his 9.0 innings; posting a 13.00 ERA, walking 11 batters and only striking out 3. This was a disappointing ending to an otherwise successful season for him. 

Eckelman started and finished last year in Altoona where he got off to a very slow start in April and May by giving up 16 ER in 16.2 innings and only striking out 13 batters. It should be noted that one of his worst outings was when he was deployed as an “opener” in late May. He gave up 6 ERs on 6 hits, including 2 HRs.

June was a completely different story. He didn’t allow a single run the entire month in 11 games and 11 innings, while striking out 11 batters and earning 8 saves. Eckelman’s success continued in July and most of August as he added 10 additional saves in 19 appearances. He ended his season in Altoona with a 3.33 ERA, 23 Saves and 45 Ks in 48.2 Innings. 

Due to his performance in Altoona, he earned a late season promotion to the Indianapolis Indians. However he had a 15.34 ERA, a 4.286 WHIP and only 2 Ks in 3 appearances. Prior to the season it was my belief that he would be reunited with his pitching coach from last year, Joel Hanrahan, who was promoted to the Indians during the off-season. However, we all know now that this reunion would take place, but in at a different time and in a different, yet familiar place.

7) Cody Bolton

Bolton was drafted by the Pirates in the 6th Round of the 2017 MLB June Amateur Draft from Tracy High School in California. As it has been with many high school draftees his professional baseball career with Pittsburgh began in the Gulf Coast League, where he started 9 games; posting a 3.16 ERA and 1.208 WHIP in 25 innings, relying mostly on soft contact and command to get him through.

Bolton would go on to spend the entire 2018 season, the first full one of his career, with the West Virginia Power in Low A. He once again started only 9 games due to being placed on the IL with a forearm strain in late July of that year. This decision was noted to be a precaution at the time, based on the amount of innings he had already thrown in Extended Spring Training. Over 44.1 innings with the Power, Bolton’s ERA rose slightly to 3.65, but so did his K/9 (7.71 to 9.14).

In the end the choice to shut him down turned out to be a favorable one, as evident by Bolton’s electric start to the 2019 season. In 12 starts for the Bradenton Marauders he earned an exceptionally low ERA (1.61) to go along with his ever declining WHIP (.859). His K/9 also continued to rise, just as it had over the previous season, reaching a career high 10.1. Due to such his breakout performance he was promoted to Altoona mid-season. Unfortunately this jump in levels would not come without its hiccups. Bolton’s ERA ballooned to 5.85, his WHIP rose to 1.325 and his K/9 dropped for the first time; back down to 7.4.

However, the Pirates new regime clearly saw the potential in his two-seam/four-seam fastball combination (60 grade) with a strong and firm slider (55 grade) mixed in by inviting him to join the taxi squad; without an invitation to the first round of Spring Training.

8) Mason Martin

Martin was drafted in the 17th round (508 overall) of the 2017 MLB June Amateur Draft out of Southridge High School in Kennewick, Washington. Upon being drafted he started his professional career in the Gulf Coast League where he split his time between 1st Base and each of the outfield positions. After hitting .309 with a 1.087 OPS and 11 home runs he was promoted to the West Virginia Black Bears and ultimately the Bristol Pirates by the end of the 2018 season. His power continued throughout this season as he hit 11 home runs, but his batting average sank to .220. Because of these 2018 struggles Mason started this past season with the Pirates Low A team, the Greensboro Grasshoppers instead of beginning the year in High A. It was apparent from the beginning of the season that Mason was ready to move up to the next level. 

He hit 23 home runs in 82 games for the Grasshoppers, to go along with a .262/.361/.578 slash line and 83 RBI’s. After earning the promotion to the Bradenton Marauders of the Florida State League, Martin went on to hit 12 additional home runs and drive in 46 more RBI’s for a total of 35 home runs (tied for 4 in all of MILB) and 129 RBI’s (#1 in all of MILB). 

Since he entered the Pirates Minor League system his power has never been a question. He is rated as a 65 for his raw power on a scale from 20-80, with 50 being the average. His two main issues thus far has been his strike-out rate and his speed, which at times limits his defensive ability . This past summer he posted a 29% Strike-Out Percentage in Greensboro and a 32.3% Strike-Out Percentage in Bradenton. Both a lack of speed and a high strike out rate are common among hitters with Martin’s power, but we’ve seen guys become successful at the Major League level with very similar tools. 

Currently his Major League options are limited to playing 1st Base and DH, which could ultimately be a benefit to him if the designated hitter remains in the National League beyond the 2020 season. Other potential good news for Mason is that the only people I really see as obstacles to playing time for the Pirates are Will Craig and Josh Bell. Craig has seen very limited action thus far for the Pirates and Bell will be an unrestricted free agent in 2023, if he remains on the Pirates through his entire contract. Prior to the 2020 season most experts were of the opinion Martin was set to reach the major league club in 2023, which would put him right in line to take over the starting role from the word go.

9) Chris Sharpe

I had my first interaction with Sharpe during the 2019 MiLB season when he was playing left field for the Altoona Curve and he threw a ball to my nephew after making the final out of the half-inning in a double header at the end of June. Kids remember that kind of stuff and so do the adults in their lives; it leaves a really good impression.

Sharpe was drafted by the Pirates in the 14th round of the MLB June Amateur Draft from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. He then began to follow the same path that many in the Pirates organization have trailed over the years by starting in West Virginia with the Black Bears immediately after being drafted, moving to the West Virginia Power from there and then ending up starting the year with the Bradenton Marauders this past season.

Sharpe had decent stats during his time in West Virginia, but nothing that really jumped off the page. Then last year we started seeing something a little different. He started to hit at a higher rate, raising his average to .292 in 64 games. With that higher average, power that he had only flashed in final year in college began to show itself again as he hit 5 home runs and slugged .451. He was also getting on base more and striking out less; his strike rate dropped from 29.4% the previous year to 19.5% in his time with the Marauders. Everyone can already see where this is going, as I tipped my hand at the beginning of this evaluation.

With his new found success in many of the major categories, Sharpe earned a promotion to Altoona approximately a week before I attended the double header with my family. Initially he struggled with the transition only batting .218 for the month of July. However, the power never went away as he hit 11 home runs in 68 games. Following the season Sharpe went on to play 25 games in the Puerto Rican Winter, where it was obvious that he was focusing on working the counts, recognizing pitches, etc. as his strike out rate had also swelled during his transition to AA, back up to 26.0% and his walk rate had dropped from his normal average of around 10% down to 6.6%.

10) Quinn Priester

Priester was drafted in the first round (18th Overall) in the 2018 MLB June Amateur Draft from Cary-Grove High School in Illinois. A self taught 6’3” 195 lb hurler, he is an enigma in a world of pitching clubs; settling for YouTube videos in his back yard and at the local high school field. Through hard work and repetition he developed an arsenal of two above average fastballs (60 grades), a curveball (60 grade) with spin and movement and strong out pitch, a change up (50 grade) that he has started to deploy on a more consistent basis.

Since being selected by the Pirates, Priester pitches at two levels in the Gulf Coast League and for the Black Bears in Short Season A ball. In nine appearances, eight of them starts, he posted a 3.19 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP with 41 strikeouts in 36.2 innings.

During the shutdown Priester continued to work on his craft, eventually getting to put it on full display at the alternate site in Altoona. It was reported that in 3 innings of work in a sim game, he struck out 6 and allowed only one hit; touching 98 with the fastball.

This is in no way a Top 10 Pirates Prospects or a ETA guide from one to ten in order of when the could and/or should arrive in Pittsburgh. It is more more of a free flowing process of those Minor League Players that could have an impact in the upcoming years; each of them to varying degrees because not many players will burst onto the scene like Hayes has and others will never reach any top prospect list, but still contribute to the big league club.

It should be noted that Braeden Ogle, Aaron Shortridge, Max Kranick, Travis Swaggerty, Rodolfo Castro, Cody Bolton and Mason Martin were all on the original Taxi Squad in Altoona, Quinn Priester was brought in toward the end on September 2nd and neither Matt Eckelman nor Chris Sharpe made it beyond the Spring Training invites back in February and March.

For the purpose of research in compiling data and assisting me drawing conclusions for this article many different sites were used; including MLB Pipleline, FanGraphs, Pirates Prospects, Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus and Baseball Savant.

Everyone Wants to Know; What Will the Pirates Do Now?

For sixteen teams the point of this 60 game season has just become apparent. A chance to win a championship, for some a rare opportunity, for others an annoying extended battle more difficult than their yearly coronation tends to be.

Here in Pittsburgh, a familiar position, outside looking in, but the path to get here has provided less evidence than a typical 162 game season would provide. Today we’re going to discuss what we learned, what we would have liked to have learned and potential paths forward. I’m not ready to try to predict how they’ll proceed yet, truth be told anyone who is you can bet is guessing, but we still can easily lay out the possible paths.

What We Learned
1. Ke’Bryan Hayes isn’t a hopeful figure anymore. I mean he isn’t going to hit .380 next season either, but I’m quite sure we now know he has power to all fields and an ability to bat in the middle of the order. If anything he’ll be challenged more next season as scouting reports make their way around the league. The exciting part there is his hits have come from all over the zone and to all fields, typically I’d tell you that is scouting kryptonite but I watched Bryan Reynolds this season so…
2. Young Starting Pitching isn’t Hopeless. Mitch Keller, JT Brubaker, Cody Ponce and Steven Brault all showed sparks of brilliance right along side growing pains but still overall impressive. Focusing on the young starters is important if only because we can be reasonably assured they’ll be here in 2021.
3. Joe Musgrove has the stuff. We’ve known this for some time, but we’ve rarely seen him put it together for more than a few innings at any one time, this season we saw him finish the season with two elite starts. That’s not an overstatement in any way either. Now, will they keep him or deal him?
4. Jacob Stallings is an elite defender. If we’re honest, most of us knew this before we started the season, but he really stepped it up. He’ll be a Gold Glove finalist in all likelihood and the season could have been 500 games long, he’d still have gotten that recognition.
5. Trevor Williams Odd man out? Unless the Pirates move multiple starting options out of town, I can’t see a spot for Trevor in the rotation. His last start was pretty good, but pretty good is his pinnacle. If you got that consistently you could make an argument that he is an anchor type pitcher, no extreme lows in exchange for no extreme highs, but he hasn’t been that. I think we’ve seen enough evidence to know what he is now.

What We Didn’t Learn
1. What Does Cole Tucker’s Future look like? Is he the center fielder? Does he jump back to SS? Let’s be honest, he’s not a natural in the outfield. He’s a talented defender with speed and athleticism but he needs real training. If they choose to continue using him as an outfielder they have to help him find the confidence to recognize what balls are his and to recognize when to break off the bat. I believe he could do this, but it isn’t fair to the pitching staff or the team to have him learn by attrition in MLB.
2. Who is this club’s first baseman? Colin Moran outplayed Josh Bell for most of the season. I wish that meant he hit .320 but he did hit 10 home runs and held down the position with more confidence than bell. If the league reverts to no DH this is very much so an either or situation. Heading back to third isn’t an option for Colin now that Hayes has provided a sample of what he can provide. This is one of those real 60 game discussions because Josh could very well have hit one of those meteoric hot streaks and surpassed Colin’s output but there is little denying that Moran provided the closest thing they have to a consistent power bat in 2020.
3. Did Kevin Newman’s analytics match his output? In a word, yes. He came back to earth a bit but his saving grace is he also didn’t have the same contact numbers he enjoyed in 2019. I still consider Newman as someone who needs to play, and while he isn’t the best defender at SS, it might just be where he fits.

What Option Will They Take this Off Season?
1. Option 1, Almost Nothing This would be an option for more than a few reasons. One the starting rotation of Taillon, Musgrove, Keller, Brubaker, Kuhl, Brault (and yes I know I listed 6) could actually be pretty solid. I could see them potentially moving one (probably Musgrove) and leaving it alone beside that. The next wave of prospects are really Cruz (and who knows what will come of that), Craig (I already talked about first base being congested) and Oliva. They may not feel they’re ready to dismantle.
2. Option 2, Tear Down This is making the most of positional depth and players who have value. For this to work they need to put themselves in position for the team to take a leap in 2022-23 and moving a Musgrove, Bell, Moran, Gonzalez, Polanco if you can, Frazier and a few relievers who showed themselves useful. Next year would suffer but honestly it certainly couldn’t be much worse than this season was.
3. Option 3, Strategic Alterations Move players they have ready replacements for. One of the starters, Maybe Frazier or Gonzalez, Moran or Bell, Polanco (could really fit any option) and give some of the youngsters a chance to increase their value or show you their worth.

Certainly not all the options but I really don’t feel like having an argument that they won’t spend any money right this second. Especially when I don’t have any evidence they will. But I do see a way they could add about 30 million in payroll and make the club more competitive for 2021 plus give themselves more trade capital to accelerate the restocking of the system. I think it’s fair to say even a Corey Dickerson type pick up would accomplish this sort of change and with the likelihood that MLB returns another expanded playoff in 2021 why not see if you can stumble into the dance?

First things first, let’s watch for organizational changes, the Pirates clearly didn’t experience a whole lot of success with the bats this season and the last two weeks gave hope that the pitching program might take root. For those of us who love team building, this is the best time of the year, well, you know, aside from actually enjoying the fruits of a successful build in the first place.

Pirates End The Year By Giving Away Another Game

It feels like the Pittsburgh Pirates season should just be hitting its stride with only 59 games completed. However, thanks to an unexpected shutdown, a lengthy back and forth between MLB and MLBPA and Commissioner Rob Manfred finally telling the players when and where, 60 games is all we will get. Some have said that this is more than enough or too much to take, mostly due to the Pirates disappointing 19-40 record coming into today’s contest. However, in what is clearly a year of evaluation for the future, I can’t help but think that this small sample size isn’t enough; at times leaving us, and possibly General Manager Ben Cherington, with more questions than answers. Unfortunately it is the hand that was dealt and everyone will have to make do in preparation for what should be a pretty interesting off-season. Nevertheless, there was still one more game to be played before the Pirates Front Office could continue the process of building and looking toward the next window of opportunity.

Up until the bottom of the sixth inning it looked like the Pirates were almost certain to Raise The Jolly Roger to end the year as Ke’Bryan Hayes hit his fifth home run on the “season”, Adam Frazier had himself a pair of doubles, Jose Osuna was three-fourths of the way through a potential cycle and JT Brubaker had only allowed two runs on a homer by Carlos Santana. Unfortunately that’s when when the wheels started to come off as Brubaker gave up another home run; a three run job to Franmil Reyes, which ended his day.

The Pirates bullpen, that has become a little shaky recently, was unable to hold the lead as Nik Turley surrendered three runs in the bottom of the seventh. That combined with Pittsburgh’s bats falling silent, resulted in a 8-6 loss to end the season.

News and Notes:

  • Ke’Bryan Hayes extended his consecutive hit streak to eight with a single and a home run before being intentionally walked in his third plate appearance of the game.
  • Since being recalled by the Pirates on September 17th Jose Osuna went 8 for 24, including 6 extra base hits, 3 which went out of the park. Don’t be fooled. Osuna is what he is; a solid bat off the bench with some defensive flexibility.

  • A little bit of disappointing last outing of the season for JT Brubaker. In 5 innings of work he gave up 5 earned runs on 7 hits, two of them homers, while striking out 3 and walking 2, all on 89 pitches. In spite of his last appearance not being ideal, I would still pencil JT in for the starting rotation competition of Spring Training 2021.
  • Geoff Hartlieb had his second strong relief appearance in a row
  • The Pirates season came to a close with loss and a final record of 19-41. It wasn’t a great year to be a Pirates fan. They were the only team in the NL Central to not make the playoffs.

Trust is Earned, Not Given. A Lesson the Pirates Rarely Capture

There are many things one encounters while writing about the Pirates, none more prevalent than the overall mistrust of Pirates ownership. That is something Bob Nutting has actually earned.

Believing he will never spend money on high priced free agents is pretty much like understanding we’re all made of star stuff. It’s true based on a long history and obeys the laws of the universe he operates in.

That said, it’s frustrating when someone writes a piece about Ke’Bryan Hayes going 5 for 5 and the comments are littered with ‘oh they’ll trade him this off season’ or ‘he’s calling his agent to get out of here’ and so many more. There is a ton of evidence that the Pirates actually do quite a good job of retaining players they manage to develop, their biggest problem has been not developing enough.

See, the real problem is the trust between ownership and fan has been fractured so severely that many can’t see anything good. If Hayes had come up and gone 2 for 65 the Pirates would be called on the carpet for not knowing how to develop talent. A truth nobody could really argue. Instead he’s come up and hit .370 and the attention turns to him having one foot out the door. I could list all the players like him who have come up and played a season or two before signing extensions that carried them past arbitration but that won’t matter because the Bucs let Gerrit Cole go.

There is very real reason for negativity, I never discount that, but in a way it’s like raising a child. When you punish a child for bad behavior you have to give them a way to make it better. They have to apologize to their sister for cutting the hair off that doll or call Grandma and say sorry for acting up at Christmas.

Two things have happened here, one the Pirates never say they’re sorry for breaking your trust, so healing never has a chance to begin. And they never really changed the behavior so you just continue to wait for the next Christmas tantrum.

Oh, there was one attempt at saying they were sorry, and it came in the form of an action that only further fractured the trust. Trading three top prospects for Chris Archer. After allowing the competitive teams from 2013-2015 the club felt the wrath of trying to sell a still competitive team in 2016. Many fans understood the dismantle because the guys they let go had either lost it or were headed in that direction but they didn’t explain it as a window closing with an eye toward opening a new one. Instead they tried to paint trades like Walker to the Mets for Bastardo and Neise as ‘trying to compete’. Everyone knew it wasn’t a good move, including the Pirates but they wanted to get something for Walker and retaining him, aided by hindsight, would have been equally stupid.

Andrew McCutchen was fading but perhaps they could have found a way to extend him to keep the face of the franchise in place. Well, this isn’t a club that can afford to have 14-17 million a year sitting on the bench and Cutch, while a beautiful person, had shown a history of being more of an issue if he didn’t start where and when he wanted. Trading him was the right move from a team building aspect, but again, they’d rather believe you are too stupid to see it for what it was. Wanting to get something for a guy who they knew retaining was not in the cards.

Sometimes this sort of move will be welcomed, for instance should the Pirates find a taker for Polanco this off season they should rightly accept a bag of balls. It’s not to cast an unfair light on Gregory its simply because they have zero plan to retain him beyond next season and anything they could get would be better than nothing. This will absolutely be met with cries that Bob Nutting doesn’t want to win or Ben is exactly the same as Huntington. When it comes to things like this, yes, he absolutely will be just like Neal because this is the type of move a club like this has to make.

GM’s by their nature are guarded, they tend to tell you what they think you want to hear and that leads to fans feeling lied to or misled. Sometimes a GM spends so much time trying to make sure your rose colored glasses are still perched on your nose that they wind up believing the statements themselves, this is exactly what Neal Huntington did.

Neal actually did a wonderful job rebuilding this club from the ground up, but when it came time for him to start the process over again, this time with his own players, he found it much harder to make the hard choices. If he had, we’d have already been well into the next window opening, instead we’ve passed it onto a new face.

What does success look like for Nutting? For instance say Ben get’s the job done and this window opens in a year or two, things fall right and they win. Let’s not even take it all the way to championship, let’s just say they win and are near the top of the division for 3 or 4 seasons. The success will be in spite of Nutting right?

Bob Nutting isn’t going to sell this team, he doesn’t want to and the league won’t ever force him to. The other owners won’t ever support something like that because the same thought process of being ‘good for the league’ could easily be turned on them. There is a better chance that the league adopts a cap than to every see Nutting leave. And spare me the comments that there has to be a floor, caps don’t come without them, they’re baked in, always.

The draft will come, the Pirates will select one of the top guys available and yes, they’ll sign him. No the player won’t want out immediately, no they won’t trade him. Of all the things MLB has done wrong the slotting has eliminated much of the drafting of ‘sign-able’ talent. It has taken one arrow out of the quiver for the Pirates, no team has spent more on the draft than Pittsburgh, so they actually didn’t benefit from this until this coming draft.

None of this is to tell you how to fan, at the end of the day if this team wins everyone will jump on board, that’s just how it is. They’ll jump back off just as quickly mind you, but the only thing this club can really do to improve relations is to win. Easier said than done surely, but apologies and placating the fan base won’t help. Only winning can rebuild the trust and even that won’t spare Bob Nutting. He’ll be hated in this town for as long as he wants to be involved. No matter how much charity he gives to, no matter who he allows to be signed, no matter how his team performs.

Many of us have survived more than a few owners and front offices, and that comes with a realization. Since free agency was implemented in baseball, Pittsburgh lost the ability to compete with regularity. Partially because they’ve run the club like morons and partially because the game is rigged. Even the Tampa Bay Rays, envy of every small market, have never won it all. They could at any time, and they certainly do an excellent job of remaining relevant but at some point close but no cigar will be just as maddening as never close and can’t remember what cigar’s look like.

The point is the Pirates changed the face of the management, but the man who hired them is still the picture of failure. Could they succeed? Of course, but expecting the new hire to be a reset button ignores the reality that everyone noticed the real issue remained.

They’re selling hope, hope that they have secured a change in philosophy from a guy who’s never shown willingness to do so. Hope that they recognize where they are and aren’t afraid to tackle the challenges ahead.

Time heals all wounds, but in Baseball only winning will get that done.

The Pirates and Hayes Put the Wood to Cleveland; Musgrove Dominates in 8-0 Win

We’ve gone all season waiting for some of these guys to get healthy or perform closer to their norms to no avail.

The past two weeks have brought the starting staff real success, it hasn’t always resulted in wins, in fact it mostly hasn’t, but Joe Musgrove who entered tonight’s contest having only received 4 runs on days he pitched and a 0-5 record, delivered yet another big start for his ballclub.

Tonight he tossed 7 scoreless, with 9 Ks, 1BB and 3 Hits. Shelton let him stretch his legs a bit tonight too, throwing 111 pitches. The curve ball was filthy but controlled. The fastball had tailing life, the slider was a perfect compliment. If by some chance this is Joe’s last game in a Pirate uniform, he did the logo proud the way he closed out the season.

Bryan Reynolds continued to show he’s on the way back, hammering his seventh home run of the season, he’ll finish under .200 for the season but you get the impression if he has 4 more months he’d get it to acceptable. Positive to see from a guy the Pirates can ill afford to have play badly.

Jose Osuna went 2 for 4 with a home run and a double, taking an opposite field approach for both hits.

Colin Moran went 2-5 with 4 RBI in the contest belting his 10th home run. Josh Bell went 2 for 4 and looked good all night.

And those are just some of the guys we expected to contribute but haven’t often enough.

Now we come to Ke’Bryan Hayes who has already gotten some folks designing the bronze statue that will one day rest to the right of Stargell, he really put on a show tonight. Hitting 5 balls really hard to go 5 for 5 with three doubles and score 3 runs. The biggest question about Hayes was if he could hit for power, well he’s slugged .592 and is squaring up everything people put anywhere near the zone. Can’t ask more from a rookie, far too short to consider this proof of ‘what he is’ but it sure shows what he can be. After all we’re talking about less than 100 at bats here.

Dovydas Neverauskas (hopefully written for the last time) pitched the 9th for the Buccos trying to preserve the shutout for the staff. So 4 pitches in he gave up an easy grounder up the middle which he deflected and then threw the ball away.

He would regroup and finish the inning and the Pirates shutout the Tribe on an 8-0 beat down.

News & Notes:

  • Ke’Bryan Hayes went 5 for 5 with 3 doubles in the ballgame. His average rests at .370.
  • In tonight’s matchup, the Pirates provided Joe Musgrove 4 more runs than they had in any of his previous starts combined.
  • Musgrove has 21 strike outs in his last two starts. He has 54 on the season to pair with 16 walks. He finished his season with 16 consecutive shutout innings.
  • The Pirates move to 19 wins and it probably doesn’t mean anything to most fans, but trust me the room will want to get that 20. They’ll face an all reliever game tomorrow.

The Pirates Clinch Probable Number One Pick

There are still two games remaining in this season but last night the Pirates grasped defeat from the jaws of victory and the Texas Rangers won their contest last night. Now, the only hiccup remaining would be Rob Manfred playing with the rules to determine the order.

Thoughts on this have leaked over the past week or two that lead one to believe he will leave the order alone, or leave it based on this season’s results, but you never know until you know. Concerns that the Pirates will somehow not pay whomever they choose is just silly. I understand this is fueled by the club taking obvious lesser talents in order to reach for that blessed sign-ability but slotting has all but eliminated this sort of thing.

Provided the player wants to be drafted at all, there is nothing to be gained by bucking who drafts them. For instance, next year the Pirates can expect to have somewhere around 1 or 2 million more in slot bonus money than their next closest competitor. The number one overall pick will be slotted at around 9-10 million and the number 2 will be 8-9.

Teams can dip into their pool beyond those suggested slot values but not by much due to penalties baked in and they’d also hurt themselves in the ability to pay draft picks in future rounds by doing so. It’s just not something to worry about.

In other words, if they want Rocker or Leiter, they’ll get Rocker or Leiter.

Now, if you’re worried that their system will ruin one of them, ok, that’s fair based on what you’ve heard for the better part of 20 years. Ben Cherington himself has spoken to the development system being sub par and some of his first actions were to invest in more tools for all levels to employ. They’ve hired new coaches for most stops on the journey and what happened in 2020 prevented us from seeing the benefits, if they actually were going to be beneficial.

This off season he’ll need to dive back in, and early too. He has stated all the changes he wanted to make were impossible since he was too far into the process when he accepted the position. I’d anticipate removals to start relatively quickly once the season wraps and moving parts start to fly around the league.

The Pirates have put themselves in this position, no not the number one pick, the fact that they have their own fan base believing the club has just as much a chance of destroying a can’t miss draft pick as they do discovering a diamond in the rough. The Pirates organization has certainly failed to develop talent, but that’s why they replaced them isn’t it? None of that means Ben has some magic touch, or we should blindly trust that those days are in our rear view, at some point he has to prove it.

He comes to Pittsburgh with a reputation for evaluating talent in the draft, but when all you have to base his Pirates story on is one five-round draft and a handful of pitiful free agent signings I can see why folks would question his ability to identify talent.

The most comforting thing I can tell you is signing a JT Riddle is not equivalent to making a selection in the draft. You can’t look at Riddle or John Ryan Murphy and believe this is what constitutes his eye for talent. Totally different animal.

There are things no GM will say and the top of the mountain in this category is probably we didn’t think this team was worth spending money on. That doesn’t mean we can’t infer based on what he’s done so far that they very much so felt that way.

As many of you who follow me are aware I just spent a few days away from the day to day of covering the Pirates for a little vacation, one that made internet connection a rare luxury. I’d check in on social media when we found our way to a place with WIFI or returned to the cabin for the evening but stepping back from everything for a few days really helped me put this season in perspective.

Realistically, this team is not as bad as their record indicates. They’d probably find themselves somewhere between a .400 and .500 winning percentage (heavy lean on the .400 side) and a draft pick in the top ten. This short season and the incredibly awful start to the season put them in position to get this pick.

The sinking feeling that they need to trade a bunch of players but have precious few that anyone else would want pervaded most of my thoughts. Stepping back has really allowed me to look more broadly at the league and realize the Pirates are in no way alone in needing to change course.

After the season wraps, Craig, Anthony and I will begin the post mortem on 2020 and looking at the path forward. Don’t be caught off guard when the plan isn’t as drastic as some have predicted, and don’t discount the effect of other clubs trying to reduce costs.

This is setting up to be one of the more eventful off seasons we’ve seen in the city in recent history and I can’t wait to dig in.

Two games left, I guess we can all finally come together and root for the actual players who are here now that the number one pick is decided. It’ll be nice to feel the fan base all together again if only for a couple days.

Tonight Was A Wild Ride As Pirates Fall 4-3 In Ninth Inning Collapse

This evening the Pirates began their final series of season as they traveled to Cleveland to take on the Indians. In the first of three games, Pittsburgh fans would get one more look at Mitch Keller, with his previous outing being the controversial six inning no-hitter from which he was pulled by Derek Shelton and potentially the medical staff due to a reported pitch count of 85; a decision I fully support by the way. Another point of interest, and maybe the only one aside from seeing Ke’Bryan Hayes continuing his September hot streak, is the battle for last place in MLB that has gotten closer by the day; a battle that someone forgot to tell Pittsburgh they were in, evident by the late season surge.

Coming into tonight’s contest the Pirates had won three in a row, tied for their longest on the year, while the Indians had strung together five victories, including a sweep of the Chicago White Sox in the midst of tight AL Central race; preparing for the playoffs. Two teams on completely different paths, but each of them with something to play for.

What I personally wanted to see from Keller was command/control and consistent velocity on his fastball. In the first inning, needless to say, I was a little disappointed as he couldn’t find the zone or a feel for any of his pitches; walking the bases loaded with only two called strikes, and it never really got a whole lot better. Over the next four innings he would go on to give up five more free passes. However, on a positive note he was always able to work his way out of every situation and did not allow a single hit before exiting after the fifth.

Carrasco on the other hand was absolutely dealing; striking out six Pirates batters in the first three innings. This was until he ran into Gregory Polanco, who put Pittsburgh ahead 2-1 with his seventh home run on the year. Ke’Bryan has would add an insurance run on a single in the top of eighth, which looked to be enough until the Indians came up in the bottom of the ninth.

Chris Stratton walked the first batter and gave up a double to former Pirate Jordan Luplow; bringing the Indians within one. A few batters later Delino Deshields would single in Luplow to tie the game up. Ultimately another single would bring in DeShields, lifting Cleveland to a 4-3 victory over Pittsburgh. Stratton who had been solid for the majority of the season was just left out there dry and I really have no explanation as to why.

In a game they should have lost, but then seemed to find a way to win; the Pirates eventually let it slip away to drop to 18-40 on the season. With only two games left in the season, the Pirates and Indians will be back at it tomorrow night. Joe Musgrove (0-5, 4.68) assumes the usual position against Anthony Civale (4-5, 3.99) for the 7:10 start.

News and Notes:

  • Mitch Keller totaled 11 innings of no-hit ball to end the year, although the first six went a lot smoother than the last five.
  • Gregory Polanco has 24 total hits on the season. Over half of them have been extra base hits; 6 doubles and 7 homers. He is also batting just .158.
  • Jared Oliva gets his first MLB stolen base after totaling 36 in AA last year.
  • I can’t believe what I witnessed tonight. 5 innings of no-hit ball with eight walks, Gregory Polanco trying to play hero, Stratton blowing it in the ninth and almost everyone Twitter, including media members, “cheering” for a Pirates loss.

Looking Toward The Off-Season and Beyond

With the quick turnaround from a Wednesday night game to a Thursday matinee, my mind has been on the Pirates a little bit more than usual; which is really saying something because if you ask my wife I rarely take the opportunity to rest and recharge when it comes to the Buccos. Most of this is probably due to the almost constant discussions about the #1 Overall Pick in the MLB July Amateur Draft, Ke’Bryan Hayes near historic start to his career and the impending roster decisions that will certainly come in the off-season. As I sat down to watch yesterday afternoon’s game against the Cubs I started to wonder which Pirates players would be taking the field or had already done so for their final time at PNC Park; at least in a Pittsburgh uniform, if I was going to be able to step through the gates, guarded by many of the former greats of the game, in 2021 and mostly importantly, how am I still a Pirates fan after all these years.

As these thoughts and many others passed through my mind during the afternoon, evening and into the early morning hours, I decided to write some of them down for what could be the final Five Pirates Thoughts at Five…AM of the regular season.

1) Why does it seem that am one of the only human beings alive questioning the #TankforKumar movement? Yes I want the #1 Overall Pick. It’s much better to be in control of your own destiny, rather than relying on the possible leftovers when the guy you really wanted isn’t on the board anymore. But why the rush to judgement. We have already heard one expert report that Rocker doesn’t have a defined third pitch and someone that has watched him play on a regular basis said his fastball control is an issue. I am not saying that the Pirates won’t pick him or that they shouldn’t. All I want is for everyone to step back, take a breath and wait to see what unfolds in the coming days and months. The draft isn’t for another 10 months and if 2020 has taught us anything, a lot can happen in that amount of time.

2) General Manager Ben Cherington should contact Ke’Bryan Hayes and his agent to discuss a contract extension. This isn’t an original idea from me. I wrote about it after the first game of his career. It had been also been brought up by others prior to the season. This is not an overreaction to his hot start, but more of a simplified reaction as we look forward to the when the next window of competitive baseball will open for the Pirates.

3) The Pirates most likely trade pieces this off-season are Adam Frazier, Colin Moran and Joe Musgrove. I am not saying these guys will be traded. that they have to be traded or that no other Pirate will be traded; I just think they are the ones that have the best chance not to be back in Pittsburgh next year.

4) GMBC needs to make one at least one “big” acquisition before 2021. We all know that the Pirates are not going to bring in any of the top tier, high priced free agents. I am just asking for something more than Luke Maile, Guillermo Heredia, JT Riddle and Jarrod Dyson type signings.

5) I really hope to be able to attend a Pirates game, and some MiLB action, with my friends and family in 2021. Going to PNC Park, and Three Rivers Staduim before that, has become a part of who I am. Whenever I go on vacations and day trips with my family, we always check out the local Minor League team, especially the Altoona Curve and Bradenton Marauders. I miss all of this more than I could ever have imagined.

In narrowing it all down to just five thoughts, I know I missed some stuff and had to leave others out. Let me know what you are thinking and what I may have left out!

Pirates Extend Winning Streak To Three As They Blank Chicago

On a cool afternoon in September the Pirates took the field for what would be their last home game of the year. The only things riding on the outcome were a possible series victory over the Cubs or the potential of moving one step closer to the 1st Overall Pick in the MLB July Amateur Draft. All of the end of the season awards had been announced by the Pittsburgh Chapter of the BBWAA earlier in the day, in spite of the fact that there are three games remaining in the season; with Jacob Stallings taking home the Clemente (Team MVP) and Steve Brault being selected for the Blass (Best Pitcher). Stallings also received the Tanner (Media Cooperation) award.

For the Pirates, Chad Kuhl would place his foot on the rubber in his final start of the year. In a season returning from injury Kuhl, that has had its ups and downs, he ended on a high note; taking a no hitter into the 6th and ending with seven shut out innings. And for the first time in what seems like forever, the Pirates bats collectively woke up and backed their pitcher’s play. On the game they tallied 14 hits, four of them for home runs; leaving only John Ryan Murphy behind without a hit.

As the game entered the eighth inning, the bullpen came up huge for the second game in a row; not allowing a single base runner and extending the scoreless innings streak for Pirates relievers to six and a third. For Pittsburgh this was one of their more complete games of year as they shut out the Cubs 7-0; taking the series 3 games to one.

The Pirates are back at it again tomorrow, this time in Cleveland at 7:10 PM EST, for the first of three to finish out the year. Mitch Keller (1-1, 3.24 ERA) is on the bump for the Buccos as they take on “Cookie” Carrasco (3-4, 2.90 ERA) and the Indians.

News and Notes:

  • Jared Oliva got his first Major League hit on a single off starter Alec Mills in the bottom of the second. He added another in the 4th, but was called out when he couldn’t avoid a JT Riddle ground ball.
  • Adam Frazier continues one of his patented hot streaks by going 2 for 5 and launching his second home run in as many days over the Clemente Wall.
  • Moran was obviously mad the he was not named MVP as he hit his team leading 9th homer of the season in a 3 for 3 day at the plate.
  • Geoff Hartlieb and Blake Cederlind both bounced back nicely with back-to-back 1-2-3 innings.

Williams Leads The Pirates To Victory In Final Start Of The Season

Tonight Trevor Williams took the mound for what could be his final time in a Pittsburgh Pirates uniform. Once labeled as a potential stalwart in the rotation, he has become a potential non-tender candidate or trade piece in the upcoming off-season according to multiple rumors that have been swirling around. Coming off a near historic second half of 2018 and an injury riddled 2019, Williams looked to turn things back around under the tutelage of Pirates first year pitching coach Oscar Marin.

During the shutdown and at the beginning of Spring Training 2.0 there were talks about his workouts with Marin, including how he had started to make the curveball more of a centerpiece in his pitching arsenal. At points in time during the beginning of the year it looked as if this this extra time was possibly going to pay off. Especially in his third start of the year, where he struck out five batters and allowed only one earned run in seven innings. However, after this particular outing it has been mostly downhill for Williams. Prior to this evening’s contest, on the season, he has earned a 1-8 record, a 6.70 ERA, and a 1.63 WHIP; all of which are career lows for Williams in his four years as a full-time starter for Pittsburgh.

After striking out the first batter of the game, Williams wasted no time in giving up his 15th home run of season, moving him back into first place in the category; a feat that he achieved in only 50 innings. For reference it took him 170.2 innings to reach this mark in 2018. Luckily for him the Pirates put together some home run power of their own as Adam Frazier and Ke’Bryan Hayes led of the bottom of the first with back-to-back solo shots.

Apparently this lit a fire under Trevor because for the next 4.2 innings he looked more like the pitcher many hoped he would be, rather than the one we have been watching for most of the year. He did not allow another run, ended with a total of four strikeouts and most importantly kept the lead. Now I am not saying this changes my opinion of him and his future in Pittsburgh, but it was nice to see.

And for once the bullpen was able to do something they haven’t done over the past five games, they didn’t waste a strong performance from one of their starters. Austin Davis, Nik Turley, Chris Stratton and especially Richard Rodriguez, with his three strikeouts in the 9th, looked sharp; preserving the Pirates second victory in a row over the Chicago Cubs.

There’s only one game left in this series; the last one on the Pirates home stand. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 PM EST as Chad Kuhl (1-3, 5.03 ERA) steps on the rubber to face off with Alec Mills (5-4, 4.14 ERA), who is only one game removed from the no-hitter he tossed against the Brewers.

News and Notes:

  • Ke’Bryan Hayes just keeps on hitting; going 2 for 4, including what would be the eventual game winning home run in the 1st inning.
  • The 1-2-3 batters for the Pirates were a combined 6 for 12 with 2 home runs.
  • Since it seems to one of the only things a lot of Pirates fans care about these days, you should know that the Rangers lost again to pull with in two games of Pittsburgh for the worst record in MLB