I hope this is not true but the pirates seem to be the major league minor leagues for the rest of the baseball teams. Players come up to the pirates prove their ability and then they are traded for little in return. I guess it takes the risk out for other teams to get a proven player in a trade. if the Nut doesn't open his wallet that is exactly what the pirates seem to be.
If we actually were at 19th, or even in shouting range of it, we would probably be at or above .500 and looking to add at the deadline. Man baseball is crazy
There has been a noticeable shift in recent years. We went way too long without developing any MLB caliber hitters from Latin America, it’s nice to see some guys start to take positive strides.
“We’ve seen the hitting space grow exponentially in the last few years,” Shelton said. “I think when you find guys who have done it, they’re not as open-minded as we thought Andy was. We thought that was kind of a unique blend: A guy who has been a Major League hitting coach, been around some really good hitters, but he’s still open-minded to [practicing differently]. We will continue to break boundaries on that.”
I.e., it seemed to me at the time that they hired Haines because he'd be willing to help implement Shelton's and Cherington's philosophy. To the extent* that the recent hitting has to do with coaching, it has as much to do with Kelly being able to move away from the Cherington/Shelton "break(ing) boundaries" as it does with Hague replacing Haines.
*I think it has more to do with personnel (e.g., Gonzales), regression, and randomness, but coaching surely plays a role.
“We're not trying to go up there and be overly aggressive in the count, but if we get a pitch to hit, [we’re] letting it rip earlier in the count,” Kelly said. “We're not going up to walk. I think that's the big thing. Guys are going up there to get their swings off. If we get a pitch in the middle of the plate that we can drive into the middle of the field, [we’re] looking to get the swing off, and we did a really good job that inning."
The Haines' effect has come to an end at long last, though some will probably continue to insist that there never was a philosophy of waiting for the perfect pitch, despite Haines having said multiple times, over many years, that this was his preferred approach.
Waiting on a pitch that he could pull was his style before he came to Pittsburgh. It was why they targeted him in trade. He was trying to change on his own, and it resulted in his demotion. He might be better off waiting for a pitch he can pull and trying to take a walk if he can't get it.
Suwinski needs to use the 2 approach method, like you said pre 2 strike counts. Once he gets to 2 strikes just become contact oriented, even slap happy lol. Choke up put the ball in play or take your walk if you don't get your pitch.
NickyG, Spencer Horwitz, and Hank Davis all enterer the top 9 in PA and all have career swing rates above who had the most PA at their respective main positions through June.
Couple regulars definitely inched up though, for the better (Reynolds) and the worse (Cruz, Cutch, IKF).
exceptionally weird that nobody wants to admit this, but Bryan Reynolds having the third highest differential in expected vs actual slugging percentage *in all of baseball* probably has more to do with his performance than taking called strikes at a rate of 0.2% above career average.
The DKPS guy said of the seven hits in the 6-run inning yesterday, five came on the first or second pitch. That’s not the Pirateball we’ve been watching for six years.
I've always been one to look at the lineups and see those averages up around .300, but these days, the pitching has really got the bats on the ropes.
Nevertheless, It is nice to see our lineup averages begin to percolate up.
Nick The Stick and IKF are really the everyday linchpins to this lineup.
Key, Bart & B-Rey are working on getting up over .250 with a hot June.
Even tho O'Cruz is only hitting .212, he's on base at about 33% of the time AND he leads the team in strike outs AND walks. AAAAAAND he's second in slugging (to Nick the Stick) at .420 (no weed jokes allowed).
The team is playing - refreshingly - the way I'd hoped in preseason.
I think the return of Hooorowitz (unblemished fielding %) and Nick the Stick have made us a pitching and defense team that can also hit doubles. We've suffered enough. Time to get to it.
C Luke Scherrer and OF Andrew Patrick promoted to Bradenton. I’d guess a couple guys will move up to Greensboro. If Plaz isn’t healthy then Derek Berg. And maybe Braylon Bishop.
Dominic Perachi finally surfaces, on rehab to FCL.
My sources tell me that the visa process is working much more quickly and smoothly now, at least at the embassies here and in Brazil. My wife's friend's fiance just went to the U.S. embassy and got a visa immediately after a 2-minute interview.
Just last year the process required 30-day advance scheduling for an interview that was often 30 minutes, followed by a 30-60 day waiting period. Some of this may be due to the embassies being understaffed during the Covid years and shortly thereafter. Whatever the case, the process is moving very quickly and smoothly now.
The Pirates seem to have something going and congrats to Manager Don Kelly for achieving a .500 record - 24-24 in his 48 game tenure. It may be time for BC to pat himself on the back for making the decision to dump Shelton and put Kelly in place. Oh, and it could be a good time to lock him into a Manager contract similar to what he did for Shelton which I think was for 4 years. Nice to see a lineup where every player had a hit, and they are developing a positive mentality.
Nice to see Cruz, Reynolds, Hayes, Gonzales, and Cutch leading the way, but the most impressive was the two hits of Spencer Horwitz - a HR to RC to start the game and then a line drive double one hopping the fence in LC. The bat speed contact and power are excellent indications that the wrist injury is completely behind him. Hoping we can add a bat or two between now and the Trade Deadline.
Another positive for BC - between mid 2024 and into the 2025 season he added 8 pitchers - one SP Heaney, and 7 RP's Santana, Ferguson, Lawrence, Shugart, Mayza, Rainey, and Mattson. The cost of those adds was roughly $14.75 mil. To date, they have returned roughly $22.5 mil in fWAR Value in 2025. Probable that Heaney and Santana will be heavily pursued by contenders looking for help down the stretch. I also think that some contender will come looking for Mitch Keller. On the other side of the ball, position players IKF, Pham, and Frazier will also leave.
I think it was reported that Nutting forced Cherington to move on from Shelton, or at least that was implied by the wording of the announcement. Maybe I'm just more attuned to it, but it seems that players often cite Kelly's influence in helping them feel comfortable and supported.
To be fair to Shelton, though, he did have them at .500 through July last year. But he seemed to lose them sometime after that with his consistent focus on individual player's lack of execution. I don't think there was any way for Shelton to win back players' trust after that, and the change was past due.
I wonder what the relationship was with Kelly and the players over the last 6 years. Maybe someone can help with this, but I don't remember players talking about him.
I also wonder what the relationship was between Shelton and Kelly. I don't remember Shelton talking about Kelly's role very often. I also don't hear Kelly giving any credit to Shelton. It's not like Kelly hasn't been with the players and team for the last 6 years. It's almost like he has been watching bad things happen for the last 6 years and finally gets his chance to change it.
Kelly was a local and married into the Walker Clan - therefore, probably not a choice of BC or Shelton, but instead, more of a hire by Ownership recognizing the need to try to play up to a well respected local support group.
I just think Shelton got stale and they needed a new voice.
As for Shelton consistently blaming players for lack of execution, I missed that. I remember him occasionally saying stuff like "we didn't execute well"
I don't remember him calling out individual players but spoke to the team as well as himself.
I never saw the benefits, if any, of having a Manager like Shelton. To me, he was always in BC's pocket, and a way for BC to play GM and Field Manager. In a very short period of time, DK has established himself as being in full control of the dugout and the Clubhouse. I never saw that in Shelton's tenure.
I hope this is not true but the pirates seem to be the major league minor leagues for the rest of the baseball teams. Players come up to the pirates prove their ability and then they are traded for little in return. I guess it takes the risk out for other teams to get a proven player in a trade. if the Nut doesn't open his wallet that is exactly what the pirates seem to be.
weird stat of the day, for me:
this club is all the sudden on track to have at least three 1-WAR relievers for the first time since 2018.
the pen and offense underperforming at the same exact time to start the year really, reaaaallllyyyy sucks.
RIP to that first half Greensboro club, I'll miss you!
Quite a few Pirates underachievers on this list: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/checking-in-on-zips-zstats-for-hitters-at-the-halfway-mark/
We almost made up half the OPS underachiever category.
Off to a good start for overachieving in the second half, though.
which is exactly the kind of ebb and flow you expect over 162 games and had been missing until now.
and what equally sucks is zero in the overachiever category.
This club ain't the '27 yanks, probably not even average, but they got a really shitty time to underachieve.
EDIT: just checked Savant and they're current 19th in team expected wOBA (wOBA probably being slightly better metric than OPS).
If we actually were at 19th, or even in shouting range of it, we would probably be at or above .500 and looking to add at the deadline. Man baseball is crazy
i put 'em at about a .500 club this year for that exact reason, so of course i'll use this to confirm my priors. ;)
pirates slowly gathering an interesting group of latin hitting prospects in the minors.
valdez and alfonzo just promoted to altoona
de los santos starting to figure things out in bradenton
florentino just promoted to bradenton, a very intriguing hitter
ramirez also someone to keep an eye on in bradenton
morel/de los santos off to nice starts for this season's signing class. santana also a hitter to keep an eye on
mola, a top signing from 2023 is finally starting to show some potential
brazoban, top signing from 2024 showing a bit better, so we'll see how it goes there
There has been a noticeable shift in recent years. We went way too long without developing any MLB caliber hitters from Latin America, it’s nice to see some guys start to take positive strides.
I think we may need to unload the contracts of all of Keller, KeBryan, Reynolds and Bednar so that we can sign Skenes and Oneil to an extension
I'm not sure that is the incentive Skenes is looking for in building a winning team he wants to play for.
BOBBY!!!!
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/checking-in-on-zips-zstats-for-hitters-at-the-halfway-mark/
For those that are not subscribers...Maybe this offensive breakout is real, maybe not 9 runs per game real, but maybe a middle of the pack offense.
OPS underachievers list is littered with Buccos - Cruz, Reynolds, Hayes & Bart.
Sorry I just posted the same basic thing not seeing yours.
Here’s an interesting statistical tidbit: through the end of May, the Pirates were 29th in swing frequency. In June they were fourth.
Maybe Haines WAS a big part of the problem and it took a while to shake the passivity. Probably wouldn’t bet on that, but something has changed.
Haines gets too much blame as he was hired primarily to help implement an organizational philosophy. From a story on his hiring (https://www.mlb.com/news/pirates-announce-changes-to-coaching-staff):
“We’ve seen the hitting space grow exponentially in the last few years,” Shelton said. “I think when you find guys who have done it, they’re not as open-minded as we thought Andy was. We thought that was kind of a unique blend: A guy who has been a Major League hitting coach, been around some really good hitters, but he’s still open-minded to [practicing differently]. We will continue to break boundaries on that.”
I.e., it seemed to me at the time that they hired Haines because he'd be willing to help implement Shelton's and Cherington's philosophy. To the extent* that the recent hitting has to do with coaching, it has as much to do with Kelly being able to move away from the Cherington/Shelton "break(ing) boundaries" as it does with Hague replacing Haines.
*I think it has more to do with personnel (e.g., Gonzales), regression, and randomness, but coaching surely plays a role.
From Kelly's postgame comments:
“We're not trying to go up there and be overly aggressive in the count, but if we get a pitch to hit, [we’re] letting it rip earlier in the count,” Kelly said. “We're not going up to walk. I think that's the big thing. Guys are going up there to get their swings off. If we get a pitch in the middle of the plate that we can drive into the middle of the field, [we’re] looking to get the swing off, and we did a really good job that inning."
The Haines' effect has come to an end at long last, though some will probably continue to insist that there never was a philosophy of waiting for the perfect pitch, despite Haines having said multiple times, over many years, that this was his preferred approach.
When (if?) Pham goes, they have to get Suwinski back up with the see it and rip it approach. The Haines wait for the perfect pitch just killed him.
Waiting on a pitch that he could pull was his style before he came to Pittsburgh. It was why they targeted him in trade. He was trying to change on his own, and it resulted in his demotion. He might be better off waiting for a pitch he can pull and trying to take a walk if he can't get it.
Was the demotion because he changed his approach, or was it because he didn’t produce?
Yes.
Suwinski needs to use the 2 approach method, like you said pre 2 strike counts. Once he gets to 2 strikes just become contact oriented, even slap happy lol. Choke up put the ball in play or take your walk if you don't get your pitch.
Head down; swing hard. Hunt strikes.
Protect and make contact once you have two strikes.
This kind of advice is as old as it gets. When you deviate too much from this approach, you are asking for trouble.
This. He tried to be Cody Bellinger, but Cody Bellinger he is not, so he needs to find a way to make Jack Suwinski work.
Mostly looks to be change in player usage.
NickyG, Spencer Horwitz, and Hank Davis all enterer the top 9 in PA and all have career swing rates above who had the most PA at their respective main positions through June.
Couple regulars definitely inched up though, for the better (Reynolds) and the worse (Cruz, Cutch, IKF).
I specifically thought about Nick, who’s probably their most aggressive hitter.
As they say, hitting is contagious. Approach might be too.
and i love it.
That would be worth a deeper dive article from people who know better than I do.
If I was an editor over there, you'd be on this already... but you'd need to come back in amonth or two to really have sommat to talk about
I know this is not a popular answer, but I think it was just severe bad luck.
exceptionally weird that nobody wants to admit this, but Bryan Reynolds having the third highest differential in expected vs actual slugging percentage *in all of baseball* probably has more to do with his performance than taking called strikes at a rate of 0.2% above career average.
Unfortunately for hitters, fWAR does not factor in luck or bad luck like they do with arms. Not sure why they don't use xwOBA like they do with fip.
fair point. xwOBA came way after the WAR equations were baked so maybe that's why?
Curse of the Carribean
That's some deep bad mojo ... but, honestly, a lot of little injuries really sunk us early.
Now. If I was an editor over at Bucs On Deck, ....
Seeing change is really all we can hope for at this point. Watching the same thing over and over without any attempt to switch it up is insanity
The DKPS guy said of the seven hits in the 6-run inning yesterday, five came on the first or second pitch. That’s not the Pirateball we’ve been watching for six years.
That might be why we have been getting pitches to hit early.
Pro athletes adjust. If pitchers know you’re not gonna swing 0-0 . . . .
Interesting take. Again. If I was an editor over there....
FG has the Bucs and Skenes at 61% to whup the Crads today.
I wish I hadn’t seen that.
His numbers against them has not been good so far in his young career.
Regression time!
It's absolutely pouring down rain here in downtown Pgh at the moment. Hopefully it clears up for tonight.
Having some fun with the stats.
I've always been one to look at the lineups and see those averages up around .300, but these days, the pitching has really got the bats on the ropes.
Nevertheless, It is nice to see our lineup averages begin to percolate up.
Nick The Stick and IKF are really the everyday linchpins to this lineup.
Key, Bart & B-Rey are working on getting up over .250 with a hot June.
Even tho O'Cruz is only hitting .212, he's on base at about 33% of the time AND he leads the team in strike outs AND walks. AAAAAAND he's second in slugging (to Nick the Stick) at .420 (no weed jokes allowed).
The team is playing - refreshingly - the way I'd hoped in preseason.
I think the return of Hooorowitz (unblemished fielding %) and Nick the Stick have made us a pitching and defense team that can also hit doubles. We've suffered enough. Time to get to it.
Some more MiL moves.
C Luke Scherrer and OF Andrew Patrick promoted to Bradenton. I’d guess a couple guys will move up to Greensboro. If Plaz isn’t healthy then Derek Berg. And maybe Braylon Bishop.
Dominic Perachi finally surfaces, on rehab to FCL.
Everyone’s favorite prospect writer Keith Law has his final top 100 draft prospects up. Not a mock, but his top 100.
Lining up at the Bucs four picks in the top 100 are:
Jamie Arnold, LHP FSU
Mason Morris, RHP, Ole Miss
Tre Phelps, OF, Georgia
Trent Grindlinger, C, prep bat.
I have no idea what is going on, but I'm enjoying it while it last.
37-4 last 4 games vs NYM & STL.
Exactly. I’m enjoying the ride.
Beats that feeling of doom when they’re batting, especially when they get a runner to third.
do we see some dsl to fcl promotions this year? mola finally hitting well in the dsl. already 19. could he move up?
They don’t usually do that much. The visa process makes it a pain, I guess.
My sources tell me that the visa process is working much more quickly and smoothly now, at least at the embassies here and in Brazil. My wife's friend's fiance just went to the U.S. embassy and got a visa immediately after a 2-minute interview.
Just last year the process required 30-day advance scheduling for an interview that was often 30 minutes, followed by a 30-60 day waiting period. Some of this may be due to the embassies being understaffed during the Covid years and shortly thereafter. Whatever the case, the process is moving very quickly and smoothly now.
Hey. They aren't immigrants when MLB does it. It's just human trafficking for our entertainment. When MLB does it, I guess it's just fine.
(Da Wabbit with the rare dark message... Clip it... Put it on the fridge...)
i figured as much. oh well
Kinda sucks for Mola especially. He basically spent his first couple years hurt. Now he’s raking and a promotion might help him catch up a bit.
yeahhh i was really hoping to see him moved up too
Heck, bat Davis leadoff today and see what happens.
Like Tee Ball. Be fair and give everyone their chance to bat lead off.
The Pirates seem to have something going and congrats to Manager Don Kelly for achieving a .500 record - 24-24 in his 48 game tenure. It may be time for BC to pat himself on the back for making the decision to dump Shelton and put Kelly in place. Oh, and it could be a good time to lock him into a Manager contract similar to what he did for Shelton which I think was for 4 years. Nice to see a lineup where every player had a hit, and they are developing a positive mentality.
Nice to see Cruz, Reynolds, Hayes, Gonzales, and Cutch leading the way, but the most impressive was the two hits of Spencer Horwitz - a HR to RC to start the game and then a line drive double one hopping the fence in LC. The bat speed contact and power are excellent indications that the wrist injury is completely behind him. Hoping we can add a bat or two between now and the Trade Deadline.
Another positive for BC - between mid 2024 and into the 2025 season he added 8 pitchers - one SP Heaney, and 7 RP's Santana, Ferguson, Lawrence, Shugart, Mayza, Rainey, and Mattson. The cost of those adds was roughly $14.75 mil. To date, they have returned roughly $22.5 mil in fWAR Value in 2025. Probable that Heaney and Santana will be heavily pursued by contenders looking for help down the stretch. I also think that some contender will come looking for Mitch Keller. On the other side of the ball, position players IKF, Pham, and Frazier will also leave.
I think it was reported that Nutting forced Cherington to move on from Shelton, or at least that was implied by the wording of the announcement. Maybe I'm just more attuned to it, but it seems that players often cite Kelly's influence in helping them feel comfortable and supported.
To be fair to Shelton, though, he did have them at .500 through July last year. But he seemed to lose them sometime after that with his consistent focus on individual player's lack of execution. I don't think there was any way for Shelton to win back players' trust after that, and the change was past due.
I wonder what the relationship was with Kelly and the players over the last 6 years. Maybe someone can help with this, but I don't remember players talking about him.
I also wonder what the relationship was between Shelton and Kelly. I don't remember Shelton talking about Kelly's role very often. I also don't hear Kelly giving any credit to Shelton. It's not like Kelly hasn't been with the players and team for the last 6 years. It's almost like he has been watching bad things happen for the last 6 years and finally gets his chance to change it.
Kelly was a local and married into the Walker Clan - therefore, probably not a choice of BC or Shelton, but instead, more of a hire by Ownership recognizing the need to try to play up to a well respected local support group.
also Nutting forced McCutchen signing
come to think of it, maybe Nutting himself is not such a bad general manager...
It would be really cool if Nutting would sign a free agent for more than 1 year.
Or sign a FA who is actually wanted by other teams.
meh
our role in the league is to introduce young players to the MLB and also to offer one last chance to bounce their career back
I just think Shelton got stale and they needed a new voice.
As for Shelton consistently blaming players for lack of execution, I missed that. I remember him occasionally saying stuff like "we didn't execute well"
I don't remember him calling out individual players but spoke to the team as well as himself.
I never saw the benefits, if any, of having a Manager like Shelton. To me, he was always in BC's pocket, and a way for BC to play GM and Field Manager. In a very short period of time, DK has established himself as being in full control of the dugout and the Clubhouse. I never saw that in Shelton's tenure.