The Pittsburgh Pirates have a number of rookies that will contribute in the second half. Who will have the biggest impact?
Last year, the Pirates didn’t have any rookies that had a significant impact on the season outside of Jung Ho Kang, and he went down to an injury before the year ended. This season, the Pirates have a multitude of prospects that not only could but will help determine whether the Pirates make the postseason this year or not.
For starters (pun intended), the Pirates need to upgrade their rotation if they have any chance at making it four consecutive years in the playoffs. Jameson Taillon, Tyler Glasnow, Chad Kuhl, and Steven Brault are all internal options that could be better than Jon Niese or Jeff Locke at the back-end. On the offensive side, we saw the potential Josh Bell brings to the table and he could be a huge help off the bench or at first base. Adam Frazier has filled in off the bench admirably, and a guy like Alen Hanson could even find his way onto the big league club in September. But which of these guys will make his presence felt the most in the stretch run?
A guy like Glasnow has the highest upside out of all of the aforementioned pitchers, but whether he stays with the big league club is an unknown at the moment. He could start in the second series out of the break, or he could be down in Indy for a few more weeks. He also has the potential to be erratic and his control problems could be an issue, especially in his first season in the bigs.
Josh Bell is going to be a future star at first base. His bat is major league ready and his defense at first, while not good, isn’t bad enough to be a significant issue moving forward. But the likelihood of him staying with the Pirates is worse than Glasnow, although he should be the Opening Day starter with the Pirates at the beginning of next season. He should be up in September this year at the latest and could be a force towards the end of the season and into the playoffs.
Kuhl and Brault are more spot starter guys this season, but both could be back-end of the rotation guys in future years. I believe they’ve both served their role this season and will serve that same role moving forward, as spot starters.
But one rookie that should have a big impact moving forward is Jameson Taillon. Set to come off of the disabled list in the opening series out of the break against the Nationals, he should slot into the second or third spot in the rotation immediately. The recent DL stint seems to be nothing more than an opportunity to rest Taillon, considering his injury history, and he is now with the big league club to stay. He’s already made five starts and has posted a 3.86 ERA, including a marvelous game against the Mets on June 14th in which he pitched eight scoreless innings. And again, unlike the rest of the rookies the Pirates have, Taillon will be in the majors for the entirety of the second half (barring injury).
Taillon has the ability to impact this team like Gerrit Cole did in 2013 when he was called up. In that half-season, Cole posted a 3.22 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP in 19 regular season starts. Taillon could make 20 total starts this year depending on how the Pirates limit his innings. In 2013 Cole also made two starts against the Cardinals in the playoffs and had a 2.45 ERA and a 0.64 WHIP in those games. Clearly a rookie pitcher can have a significant impact in his rookie season for a contending team, and we have to look no further than Cole in 2013 to see that.
Taillon can make that kind of impact this year, and the Pirates may need them to if they want to make it back to the postseason.
Image Credit – Daniel Decker Photography
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