After the Penguins won the Stanley Cup last night, the bulk of the city now turns its attention to the Pittsburgh Pirates. In case you haven’t been watching baseball this season, here’s a cheat-cheat on the 2017 Pirates.
Welcome back.
Yes, for many of you, the 2017 Pittsburgh Pirates season started on June 12, 2017.
However, Opening Day was a little over two months ago.
You were distracted, I understand. The Penguins just won the Stanley Cup last night and they’ve distracted you for the last two months on this incredible postseason run.
But now, the Penguins’ season is over and the Pirates are the only of the three major professional sports teams in Pittsburgh playing right now.
When the confetti clears from Wednesday’s parade on the Boulevard of the Allies, the Pittsburgh sports spotlight will shine once more on the Pirates.
Sure, plenty of you will only watch the Pirates for the next two months until Steelers training camp starts. Regardless, the Pirates are the main attraction in Pittsburgh for the summer.
Let’s get you caught up to date on the Pirates so that when you make the inevitable trip down to PNC Park this summer, you’ll know what you’re talking about.
The basics
Entering play on June 12, 2017, the Pittsburgh Pirates are 28-35 and are last in the National League Central division. Though posting a sub .500 record, the Pirates are only 10 games out of a Wild Card spot and four games back of first place in the division. The Milwaukee Brewers (33-31) are the only team in the N.L. Central with a winning record.
Ivan Nova, Josh Harrison and Felipe Rivero have been the team’s best players to date. Nova’s six wins, 2.83 ERA and 89 innings pitched are the best of any Pirates starter. Nova has also thrown PIttsburgh’s only shutout and has only walked seven batters in 2017. In all 13 of Nova’s starts, he’s gone at least six innings.
Meanwhile, Harrison is having his best season since 2014, when he finished ninth in N.L. MVP voting. Harrison’s .307 batting average and .377 on-base percentage both lead all position players with at least 100 plate appearances.
Rivero, acquired from the Washington Nationals along with Taylor Hearn in the Mark Melancon trade last July, has been lights-out with a 0.53 ERA in 33 appearances in 2017. Besides two outings in which he gave up a single run in each of them, Rivero has put together spotless work all year. He’s allowed only 13-percent of his inherited runners to score and has struck out at least one batter in all but eight of his appearances.
The Pirates are 19th in MLB in batting average (.248), 15th in on-base percentage (.324) and 29th in home runs (57). In terms of pitching, Pittsburgh is 20th in ERA (4.40), 14th in quality starts (29) and 27th in opponent batting average (.270). The Pirates are a very average to below-average team in 2017.
Jung-Ho Kang and Starling Marte still aren’t playing
Even if you haven’t watched a single Pirates game this season, you had to have heard that Jung-Ho Kang still has not returned from South Korea and that Starling Marte was suspended in April for usage of a performance enhancing drug. Otherwise, you live under a rock.
The loss of Kang and Marte has been costly for the Pirates because of what they have meant to the Pirates for the last few seasons. Kang has hit at least 15 home runs in both of his two seasons with the Pirates, including 21 last year despite playing in 23 fewer games than in 2015.
In the offseason, Kang got in legal trouble for a DUI hit and run incident. It was Kang’s third DUI and he’s still waiting to get his visa approved to return to North America.
Marte won a Gold Glove in left field last season and led the Pirates with a .311 batting average. This season he was moved to centerfield because of Andrew McCutchen’s struggles there last year (-28 Defensive Runs Saved, -18.7 Ultimate Zone Rating). Once Marte was suspended on April 18, McCutchen was moved back to center. Marte’s first game in which he is eligible to play again is July 18, a home game against the Brewers.
Jameson Taillon faces more adversity
Last season, Jameson Taillon was a bright spot in a tough season for the Pittsburgh Pirates as he went 5-4 with a 3.38 ERA. He finally made his big-league debut in 2016 after missing the 2014 and 2015 seasons due to Tommy John surgery and a sports hernia, respectively.
This season, Taillon was expected to put up similar numbers and help the Pirates improve in terms of pitching. He started out well, going 2-1 with a 3.31 ERA in his first six starts. Then, something went wrong; Taillon was diagnosed with testicular cancer on May 17.
Image Credit – Daniel Decker Photography
Fortunately, he’s made a full recovery and you jumped back on the Pirates bandwaggon just in time to see him return to the team. Taillon starts tonight in the Pirates 7:05 game with the Colorado Rockies at PNC Park. It’s the first game that Taillon will pitch since May 3, when he gave up six runs in a five inning start against the Cincinnati Reds. Before that game, Taillon had only given up more than two runs in a start just once in his five previous games.
With Taillon back and Marte only a month way from returning, the Pirates are slowly getting pieces of their team back together and hoping that it can lead to a second half turnaround.
Andrew McCutchen started slow, but has been red-hot lately
Similar to last year, Andrew McCutchen struggled at the plate. After a career-worst .256 average and 143 strikeouts, McCutchen struggled out of the gate in 2017.
April was poor for McCutchen as he only hit .244, but May (.206) was worse. After an 0-5 day in a 6-5 loss at the Atlanta Braves on May 23, McCutchen’s average dropped to .200. McCutchen did not start the next two games.
Three days after McCutchen scuffled against the Braves, manager Clint Hurdle dropped the five-time All Star in the batting order from third to sixth. McCutchen, who has 3,813 of his 5,435 plate appearances as a No. 3 hitter, has responded to the change by carrying a big stick.
| Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Batting 3rd | 45 | 45 | 188 | 170 | 19 | 34 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 17 | 34 | 0.200 | 0.271 | 0.359 | 0.63 |
| Batting 6th | 15 | 15 | 66 | 55 | 13 | 22 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 14 | 0.400 | 0.485 | 0.673 | 1.158 |
Since May 24 (the last game that he batted third), McCutchen is hitting .404. However, the Pirates have gone 8-9 in that span. Perhaps moving to the six hole has helped McCutchen, but it shows that he isn’t the team’s only problem.
Tony Watson is no longer the Pirates closer
The middle days of last week were rough for the Pirates. In back-to-back days, the Pirates entered the ninth inning of a game with the Baltimore Orioles with a lead. Both nights, Tony Watson was called upon to lock down the save. Both times, he failed to do so.
Watson gave up a combined four runs on four hits and as a result, blew his fourth and fifth save attempts of the season. In a contract year, Watson is 4-1 with a 4.28 ERA and 10 saves. Watson was 7-7 in save attempts in April, but was 3-6 in May. The left-hander hasn’t collected a save since May 21 in a 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
So, who is the new closer?
In place of Watson, the Pirates have turned to the dynamic duo of Juan Nicasio (1.27 ERA, 11 holds, zero saves) and Felipe Rivero (0.53 ERA, 13 holds, two saves). In the two save opportunities since Hurdle made the decision on June 9, Rivero has collected both saves. Hurdle has said that the two will split the role based on the situation in the game.
Saturday afternoon, Hurdle was faced with his first situation to test out his new closer(s). The right-hander Nicasio entered in the eighth inning to face the Florida Marlins. He struck out both left-handed hitters that he faced, but allowed two single to two righties.
With the top of the order and three consecutive left-handed hitters coming up, Hurdle called on the lefty Rivero for a four-out save. Rivero struck out all three lefties and then got right-handed hitting Marcel Ozuna to ground out to second to end the ballgame.
On Sunday, Rivero got his second save in as many days as he had to clean up Daniel Hudson’s mess in the eighth inning. The right-handed Hudson allowed a home run to Ichiro Suzuki and then a single to Dee Gordon, both lefties, before getting two outs.
Rivero then entered and got another four-out save by retiring three lefties and a righty. Nicasio did not pitch on Sunday after pitching in back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday. Though Rivero has both saves so far, expect Nicasio to get more opportunities against right-handed hitters in the ninth inning.
Still a young season
The Pittsburgh PIrates are off to a slow start, but have lots of interesting storylines. Even if this team does not make the playoffs or even have a winning season, it will be worth following going forward.
The biggest question for the Pirates will be whether they buy or sell at the trade deadline. The return of Marte could be a huge boost down the road as could Kang’s potential return. With those two back, the Pirates’ record could drastically improve and suddenly put them atop the division.
We aren’t even at the halfway point of the season yet, so it’s pointless to say the season is over with the slow start. Taillon coming back tonight and McCutchen’s recent turnaround are both huge, but the Pirates need more help to get back in contention. It will be an interesting summer on the North Shore.
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