What a weird little team the Pirates are right now. I mean, aside from the fact that they played a series with the Astros this week and are still coming out of it with the better record despite dropping two games.
This is a Pirates team where Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen are the top hitters, the top reliever is a guy named Colin Holderman, who also leads the league in holds, and Rich Hill at 42 can get you through a start against the defending champions without allowing more than 2 runs, that also an MLB record for having two Korean players, Ji-Hwan Bae and Ji-Man Choi, homer in the same game for the same team, and is going to be without one of their best young players for the majority of the rest of the year.
Oh, and it's even weirder that Reynolds is doing as well as he is considering that for months he was begging to be traded, knowing he wouldn't get anywhere for the Pirates, and yet since talks fell through and he agreed to start in the outfield for the team he still proceeded to blast a ton of home runs in his first week back and is now sitting on 5 homers, 14 RBIs and a .356 average. This is your star. He doesn't wanna be there and he's still playing like he wants to be here for another team years.
Meanwhile, Andrew McCutchen is off to a better start than he's had since 2019 with the Phils. Something about being on his old team has rejuvenated him, I think. He's hitting .357, has 10 hits and has stolen 2 bases, which is pretty cool for a 36-year old. I guess I'll give the pitch clock that, if Cutch can get back to stealing you have to be doing something right.
Other than those two, the lineup's pretty spotty. I'm fine with Rodolfo Castro taking short again as Cruz is out, he's pretty nifty and plays decent defense. Having Connor Joe, Carlos Santana and Ji-Man Choi in the same lineup means the output is gonna be more interesting than good. Hayes and Suwinski aren't hitting yet. Look, if you sign Carlos Santana and Rich Hill, you know what you're up against, and they're both doing decently, I suppose.
Surprisingly Mitch Keller and Johan Oviedo have been great starting options, the bullpen has been genuinely terrific, and the Pirates are above .500 as the season's third week begins. I...do not think this is indicative or anything, nor do I think they're a very good team, but I like that they can surprise me like this, and put out interesting baseball even in a dire position. Of course, right now the Cardinals, even with Jordan Walker's streak, are in last, so as they rise...maybe the Pirates might fall a bit.
Coming Tonight: Oh yeah, one of the guys they had to play this week.
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