It was another great pitching performance that gave the Pirates a 3-1 victory over the Braves. Bubba Chandler went 5 and 2/3 innings, giving up 1 run on 4 hits. He struck out 6 and issued no walks. He threw 86 pitches. Chase Shugart, Justin Lawrence, and Dennis Santana finished up in grand style. Together they gave up just one hit, striking out 6 and did not walk a batter. The AAA boys had a big game. They went 5 for 12, including a Henry Davis home run. The only bad thing about this game was the nauseating optimism coming from the Pirate broadcast booth. This Pirate team has big problems. Having some lousy players come up with good performances in meaningless games is no reason to sound optimistic. It is time to get real here. Let’s take a look at how bad this team is position by position. The following rankings are determined by Baseball Reference. Remember there are 30 teams in baseball.
The Pirates have the 26th best catcher. Those duties have been split pretty much equally by Joey Bart and Henry Davis. Bart has 303 plate appearances and Davis 276. The 1st base position is ranked 15th. Spencer Horwitz’s recent batting surge has helped move this position to the top half barely. Spoiler alert: This is the only position that is in the top half. Nick Gonzales and Adam Frazier early in the season have played 2nd base the most. Combined, they rank 27th in baseball. Even with Ke’Bryan Hayes’s outstanding glove, the 3rd base position is ranked 21st. The Pirate shortstops, led by IKF, come in at 20th. Tommy Pham has played the most in left field with 420 plate appearances. With his recent slump, the Pirates rank 20th. Oneil Cruz, with all his offensive and defensive issues, ranks 27th when it comes to centerfielders. Bryan Reynolds, who has appeared in right field the most, is ranked 21st. Andrew McCutchen is ranked 29th as a DH. To put this in perspective, McCutchen is a worse DH than Cruz is a centerfielder when compared with others at the position. Anybody see the glass half full here? The body of work here borders on the embarrassing. If the Pirates do not make any changes, they would probably set the record for bounce back seasons by their players. These rankings are based on each player’s overall play, including fielding, hitting, and baserunning. The Pirates, through most of the season, have had 13 position players on the team. It makes you wonder if they should keep any of them—maybe 3 to 5 at the most. What will most likely happen is that all but 1 or 2 will be on the team next year. But let’s hear some more optimism from that shill of a Pirate broadcast booth. Thank God it is over today.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 