Pittsburgh Pirates Wake Up Call – Two Stocks Headed in Opposite Directions?

In our Daily Wake-Up Call, we get you ready for the day with a complete look at all things Pittsburgh Pirates.

Two Pittsburgh Pirates are seeing their respective stocks taking opposite directions.

Sponsored By

We start with Andrew McCutchen. Yesterday, #22 provided the heroics by walking off the Diamondbacks with a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. In the four games since being moved into the sixth spot in the batting order, McCutchen has, simply, responded.

Kudos to McCutchen for attacking this new paradigm with vigor. It became clear through some post-game quotes from McCutchen that the two-game break given to him by Clint Hurdle during the Atlanta series has done far more than the three-game benching endured last year, and the break had just as much of a mental effect as physical.

It has been an admittedly small sample size, but since the move, McCutchen has gone 5-for-14, slashing .357/.471/.857. Now, Clint Hurdle will need to resist the temptation to move McCutchen back up in the order until this improvement has shown to be real and lasting.

Tony Watson, on the other hand, continues to see his stock drop with another blown save yesterday. The month of May has not been a pretty one for the Pittsburgh Pirates’ reliever, with three home runs among his 20 hits allowed for the month, which comprises 13 innings.

With Watson’s name bandied about liberally in trade rumors, the Pittsburgh Pirates find themselves in a bad spot with their closer. Though the team needs to win games – they are 24-28 after all, just 3.5 games back of the NL Central division leading Milwaukee Brewers – taking him out of the role can hurt his trade value. Keeping him in the role and watching him struggle can also hurt his trade value.

The team may have no other choice but to hope that Watson can find himself. With McCutchen’s move to a lower spot in the order, the team had nothing to lose. That is simply not the case with Watson.

Baseball Talk On the Web

• John Perrotto has a nice little tidbit on McCutchen’s body language after the walk-off.
• Our own Alex Stumpf wraps up his Fangraphs residency with a look at one of the most tired adages in hitting.
• In a blow to baseball and fantasy teams everywhere (your author included), Mike Trout is headed to the DL.

Subscribe To Pirates Breakdown Radio

Our podcast feed has been reborn as Pirates Breakdown Radio. On one singular feed, you will find a variety of shows, interviews, quick hits and much more. All designed to keep Pittsburgh Pirates fans informed and entertained no matter where they are.

We are on all the major podcast platforms, including iTunes and Google Play. So whether or not you have an Android or an iPhone/iPad, click on the corresponding button below to get subscribed!

Download Our Mobile Apps

The introduction of our new FREE Mobile Apps gets fans closer to their favorite Pittsburgh Pirates coverage than ever before. Click here to learn about some of the features of our new app – or, if you just can’t wait, click the corresponding app store for your device and grab your copy now.

Thanks for checking us out here at Pirates Breakdown. Please make sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook for the best Pirates coverage all year long!