The Pittsburgh Pirates currently have NINE major players hitting under the Mendoza line. NINE OF THEM. And one of them is Oneil Cruz, who was thought midway through the year to be one of the people destined to save this team.
That's the unsettling bit. A lot of the people who aren't hitting in Pittsburgh are prospects and people recruited to help the team evolve into its next stage. Bligh Madris, like Cruz, was brought up as a heroic signal of things to come, and now he's hitting .175 with 30 strikeouts and 18 hits. Jack Suwinski was a big part of the first half, with 14 home runs and some great outfield play, but his average dipped under .200 and he hasn't been in the majors in a few months. Nobody who has suited up behind the plate for the Pirates this year has hit over .250. Tyler Heineman and Michael Perez didn't break .200, Roberto Perez was around the 210s, and Jason Delay is at least doing better.
The team is working with an accumulated batting average of .221. By far the lowest average in the NL, and the second worst average in baseball, only ahead of the Oakland Athletics. Though, at this rate, with all the rookies they've been bringing up getting hot recently, that may change very soon.
The Pirates, for the record, are also in the bottom 5 in terms of accumulated ERA. Honestly, I think they're pitching is close to okay, though. They at least have people like J.T. Brubaker and Mitch Keller who can go several innings and provide results despite the lack of run support. But when it comes to this lineup, which, without Ke'Bryan Hayes, is relying on people like Michael Chavis and Ben Gamel for the bulk of their runs? No wonder Rodolfo Castro had his phone handy last week.
At this rate, I have no idea when this team will be watchable again. The majority of the team is replacement level, and while there are decent pieces and performances, I don't know how much longer they'll stay in Pittsburgh. Bryan Reynolds and Ke'Bryan Hayes are this team, but Reynolds might be gone in the next year or so, and Hayes, while he's locked up for a while, hopefully won't be the only gun in town for the next decade.
Coming Tonight: An infielder who is doing his best to keep good news coming through to his team after all the collapses.
No comments:
Post a Comment