Slowly but surely, the Pirate ship is sinking akin to the Titanic. Once a powerful, full-steam-ahead ship that rolled through April began leaking and eventually sunk all the way to the bottom of the NL Central’s waters. The prospects are finally making their debuts to some mixed results in the early going. Much of the problem, in my eyes, is the Bucco coaching staff and their lack of accountability but we’ll get into that soon.
The Pittsburgh Pirates limped through a 2-4 week with their newest group of prospects now on the major league roster. They actually held Shohei Ohtani fairly quiet in the first two games of the series until he hit a first inning home run off fellow all-star Mitch Keller on Sunday. On Friday evening, Henry Davis became the first player ever to hit two home runs off Ohtani in the same game. So while the Pirates actually got the better of the league’s ultimate two-way threat, Ohtani’s team sealed the series win.
The Pirates now enter trade deadline week at an embarrassing 43-56. Their current pace has them losing around 99 games, just a one-game improvement from last season. That’s a big yikes for a team that seemed like it might begin to turn the corner starting this year. They will be sellers at the deadline selling off veterans and likely replacing them with younger counterparts.
The season has gone awry and there is plenty of blame to hand out. A lot of the onus, however, falls on the coaching staff and their failures to even so much as competently attempt the fox any of the teams’ glaring problems.
So the Pirates are 43-56. To finish with 74 wins, they'd have to go 31-32 over their final 63 games. Given the way things have gone, doesn't seem likely.
If they go 26-37, that means 69-93, which was their record in 2019, the last season before all of this started.
— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) July 23, 2023
Bucco Coaching Staff Failing Miserably
You can assign the blame wherever you’d like for the Pirates. Bryan Reynolds isn’t hitting the ball much at all this year. Ke’Bryan Hayes wasn’t either prior to his injury. Keller has pitched to an ERA north of 5 in his last 11 starts. Roansy Contreras flopped harder than James Harden. The common theme here is that guys who were supposed to play big roles on the 2023 team have underperformed for a long time now.
Reynolds got a nice contract this season. Likewise for Hayes prior to last season. Keller started the season in the NL Cy Young race but has since reverted to a shell of that form. Contreras’ ERA ballooned and he is now spending his days in the Florida Gulf Coast League. Call me crazy, but all of these talented players suddenly hitting a wall feels like a coaching problem.
Derek Shelton has overseen the on-field day-to-day operations since the COVID season. The Pirates win totals in that time: 19 (in 60 games), 61, 62, and 43 in 98 games this season. As it stands, the Pirates look to be on a track to win no more than 65 games. I understand the growing pains of a rebuild, but less than a five win improvement across the last few years just doesn’t cut it.
In Shelton’s defense, this is the best roster he’s had in a few years. His rosters haven’t been good but that should’ve led to legitimate improvement this season in hopes that next season could be the next step forward.
Hitting coach Andy Haines seems to have no plan to pull Pirates hitters out of slumps. Outside of Jared Triolo and Davis – more on him later – no young Pirates have come to the big leagues and hit well. All of the guys who were hitting early in the season have cooled considerably with no signs of reheating.
Pitching coach Oscar Marin hasn’t shown much in the way of making the young pitchers on the roster better. Keller had to seek outside help in the past few offseasons to find his footing. Contreras hasn’t been as advertised. Johan Oviedo and Luis Ortiz have been pedestrian at best.
I don’t care about Shelton’s extension he received earlier this season. If Pittsburgh limps to the finish line with another sub-65 win season, his job, along with his assistants, should be in serious jeopardy.
Davis Hitting His Stride at Plate
If you draft someone as the first overall pick, you’d imagine them playing the position you drafted them at once they reach the big leagues. Well, the Pirates enjoy being the comedic relief amongst the major league peers. Davis caught at Louisville, played catcher for most of his minor league career, then poof! Davis now plays right field for the Pirates.
Derek Shelton is on the “hot seat” because shit like this shouldn’t be happening.
Hank Davis played 17 career games in the outfield before his major league debut.
He was a catcher in 197(!!) games from college until now.
I mean, what are we doing? pic.twitter.com/NqVH4gyjVp
— Duff (@nocontextduff) July 16, 2023
The 23-year old has made three errors in 25 chances in right. His routes to balls have been a bit interesting but none of this can be blamed on him. Instead of prioritizing his catching development, the Pirates continue to push Austin Hedges and his miles-below-the-Mendoza-line bat in everyone’s faces. Regardless, Davis is at least not allowing the position change effect his bat.
Davis’ approach at the plate is a winning approach. He took Ohtani deep twice on Friday night and cared more about the loss the Pirates suffered. The kid has his head on right and has the attitude the Pirates need for their future. He’s slashing .286/.386/.449 and he’s doing so at a time where the Pirates’ offense as a whole has dried up. He’s hit four hime runs in 114 plate appearances and is giving hope to Pirates fans that he can be a guy in this next wave of winning that management continues to throw in everyone’s faces.
Endy Rodriguez and Liover Peguero have struggled to hit in their first full week in the big leagues. They’re both still so young and have time to develop. I know many wanted to see them come up and tear the league apart right away. That’s not how this whole thing works. Baseball is a game where most people fail more than 70% of the time at the plate. Davis looks like a major leaguer.
Holderman a Shell of Himself
Much of the Pirates’ roster played their best baseball in April and Colin Holderman is no exception. Holderman had the eighth inning on lock and became the preferred option to hand the ball off to closer David Bednar. He did an awesome job of that in April as he went his first eight-straight appearances without allowing an earned run. Then, Holderman went the entire month of May without giving up an earned run. It seemed he was immune to the Pirates’ stench. Not so fast.
Since June 1, Holderman has an ERA of 7.15 in just 11 1/3 innings of work. He’s struck out just seven batters after being a hair above a strikeout per inning to open the season. He’s given up three long balls in that time frame and his stuff isn’t fooling hitters like it was.
The Pirates have since tried to use him in lower-leverage situations to try and get his confidence back. It isn’t like the Pirates have had many save opportunities lately.
The 26-year old RHP was acquired at last season’s trade deadline in a move that sent Daniel Vogelbach to the New York Mets. He earned the set up role last season after pitching to a 3.81 ERA across 24 appearances in 2022. In an ideal world, Holderman regains that confidence, holds onto the set up role and becomes a massive part of the 2024 bullpen. The Pirates don’t have many reliable pieces in that facet of the game as things stand right now.
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Photo Credit- Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Players Mentioned- Shohei Ohtani, Mitch Keller, Henry Davis, Bryan Reynolds, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Roansy Contreras, Jared Triolo, Johan Oviedo, Luis Ortiz, Austin Hedges, Endy Rodriguez, Liover Peguero, Colin Holderman, David Bednar, Daniel Vogelbach
