It's that day :)

 

Today's Young Buc is?

 Gotta love it when the scores of the last 2 games are 12-1 and 7-1.  I just wish we could do that against the Reds and Brewers.  I think we just need to keep calling up guys from the minors, because they just keep coming through in Pittsburgh.  Roansy Contreras kept the Cubs offense mostly in check tonight and one of yesterday's young contributors, Bligh Madris smacked his first Major League Home Run.  You know, I think Captain Bligh might have turned Pirate after his crew mutinied against him, so it makes perfect sense that Bligh is a Pirate.  Don't go fact checking that one though.  Anyway, Bligh is a Pittsburgh Pirate and he's been invaluable the last 2 games.  So keep it up Cap'n.  

Daniel Vogelbach just looks like he should be clearing a path for Najee Harris.  He is one tough looking baseball player.  He can hit too, despite what his average says.  He went 2 for 2 with a couple RBIs and threw in a few walks for good measure.  

Keep it going Bucs.

Oneil Cruz Day

 Well, Father's Day young Buc was Jack Suwinsky with his 3 homers, including a walk off.  Then yesterday there were more young Buc sightings.  O'Neil Cruz showed up with his bat and finished 2 of 5 with 4 RBIs.  In the 3rd inning he put on a little show with his arm.  A ball was hit to the third base side of him.  It wasn't hit exceptionally and wasn't a difficult play, but what followed made you think maybe the outfield isn't a bad place for him.  He backhanded it easily, double clutched as he moved toward first base and uncorked a fireball to Michael Chavis at first.  Chavis extended and easily made the play, but I'm wondering if he expected the ball to drill a hole in his glove when it was released.  Hopefully he has practiced with Cruz and knew that it was a possibility.  The throw was clocked at 96.7 mph.  

As I said about Jack Suwinski the other day, I hope his potential is as good as the flashes of talent he's shown in his highlights and I hope they find a spot where he is comfortable.  

It also didn't escape my attention that JT Brubaker was finally able to put together a win and a scoreless 6 innings.  It didn't hurt that the offense scored 12 runs too.  It's a little easier to pitch with some offensive help.  

I'm a little disappointed in Jack Suwinsky.  C'mon Jack, I expected at least 1 HR after the hat trick.

Yet another Bucco made his Major League debut in the game in pretty impressive fashion, Bligh Madris.  He contributed 3 hits, 2 RBIs and a stolen base.  Quite a debut, what's he going to do next? hit 3 home runs in a game.  We can only hope.

The Pittsburgh Pirates

 

SUWINSKY!

 

One thing I love about sports is you get to watch a group of players become a team and hopefully succeed with each other.  You get to know the players and their strengths and weaknesses.  You hope that players will develop and be stars.  As a fan of the Pirates it seems like they always have some promising players but they have had huge problems developing any talent to the point where we have superstars.  

Right now we have Bryan Reynolds, and Ke'Bryan Hayes.  They both have provided the leather and Reynolds has hit for average and power, but it seems like there's another level to hit before he's considered one of the best in the game.  He's young though and maybe it will happen at some point.  Hayes will definitely provide the defense that we need from the hot corner, but he hasn't been an offensive machine that you want from a third baseman.  Again, though, these guys are still young and maybe it will happen soon.  

The reason I'm talking about this is the next group of hopefuls have been making appearances in the field and at the plate.  The latest of which provided the fireworks during the game.  Jack Suwinski picked Father's day with his Dad present at the game to give a show at the plate.  He smacked 3 home runs with the last one being a walk off shot in the 9th to finish things off.  He even walked on his other plate appearance.   Pretty good Father's day present, I'd say.  He's now tied with Reynolds for the home run lead for the Pirates.  There are other players I'm looking forward to see grow with the Pirates, but for now Suwinski was the man for one night early in this season and gives us some hope that the new guys have potential to achieve something in this league.

Just a thought

 At some point in every game, they should play the clip of Captain Kirk yelling Khaaaaannnnnnn.  I just don't know the scenario it would be in.  Omar might not appreciate it though, so let's put that on the backburner til the time is right.

Have the Pirates already Peaked This Year?

 

Back on June 6 I was looking at the standings and complaining to myself that the Buccos were still 4 under .500 despite the fact that they were looking decent and making the Dodgers look like they were in the cellar instead of vice versa(I know they're not quite in the cellar). It was nice while it was going on and it was nice to sweep a series and end that drought that lasted through last season and part of the season before. Reality is this is a team of promising young players and some older players that are closer to AAA caliber than Major League caliber. That short bit of success does give us a taste of what is expected of every team, but not familiar to the Pirates. After a 9-game losing streak, they're sitting 10 games under .500. Hopefully they are not done with sweeps and successes for the season. We can look forward to watching Bryan Reynolds bat and glove and KeBryan's golden glove. There's also a minor league with talent scattered. I think everybody is looking forward to a 6'7" shortstop/position tbd player to arrive and show off his bat. As they say, there's always next year.