Pittsburgh Pirates Summer Check Up


Pittsburgh Pirates

36-36 (4th in NL Central)



Eye Popping Number

146

Francisco Cervelli has primarily been known as a defensive catcher, with a passable bat throughout his career, which is why he’s been able to play 11 years. However this year, he’s caught the power wave with the rest of the league. Cervelli leads all catchers with at least 100 plate appearances in creating runs with 146 weighted runs created. He’s already set a career high in home runs, while closing in on doubles and RBIs. He’s still providing his good glove, while also leading the charge for the team’s biggest surprise…

Biggest Surprise

The offense for the Pittsburgh Pirates this season has been very, very good this year. After trading arguably the team’s two biggest names in Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole this offseason, the offense was supposed to be ok at best. Instead, players like Cervelli, Colin Moran and Corey Dickerson are scoring a lot of runs, 331, or 4th in the NL to be exact. They are doing this by hitting for average as well as getting on base at high rates, 7th in baseball for both, and both key to creating runs. The team ranks 10th in creating runs with 101 weighted runs created, or in other words, as a team, they’re better than average.  

Player to Watch

On May 18th, the team called up uber prospect, Austin Meadows, and ever since, all he’s done is rake. Even though it’s his first action seeing Major League pitching, he’s hitting .326/.351/.598, which is very good even for a seasoned vet. After trading McCutchen, it opened a spot for a fourth outfielder for the Pirates, but now they have a bit of a log jam at the position. It will be interesting to see what they’ll do with either Corey Dickerson or Gregory Polanco, because they need Meadows’ bat in the lineup every day. Perhaps one of them starts to get playing time at first base, or traded.

What to Watch for at the Deadline

While the team is at a .500 winning percentage and in contention for a playoff spot right now, I don’t think that they’ll be buyers at the trade deadline. They're pitching is spotty at best and they're offense will have to keep their hot start to keep them in contention. They also spent this past offseason trying to build up their farm system, and after graduating Meadows, they’ll look to add more top tier prospects by trading players like Jordy Mercer to a team looking for a shortstop or Corey Dickerson to a team looking for a designated hitter or left fielder. Josh Harrison is a free agent after the season, and he is a super utility player that can fit in on a multitude of teams.


*All stats as of 6/19 via fangraphs.com and baseball-reference.com

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