The Pittsburgh Pirates managed to pull me back in, while also pulling themselves back into the National League Wild Card race. Let’s talk about where they are at the halfway point of the season.
When we last checked in a week ago the vibes were not particularly good with this team. They were in the process of losing an important home stand against two teams they were chasing in the standings (St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets), and doing so with some infuriating baseball. Mental mistakes. Wasting more outstanding pitching performances. Not being able to hit. When they wasted a spectacular Luis Ortiz start on Sunday they were five games under .500 and looked to be positioning themselves into a situation where they would again be sellers at the trade deadline.
It seems, however, that I underestimated the the state of that Wild Card race, the mediocrity of the other teams in it, and perhaps even the Pirates themselves.
Over the past week they managed to do something they have not really done at any point over the past couple of months — build some momentum.
It started on Monday with a huge win over the New York Mets to earn a split in that series, continued by taking two out of three against a first place Milwaukee Brewers team in their stadium, and then by sweeping the Chicago White Sox over the weekend. In all they are a very respectable 31-26 since starting pitcher Paul Skenes made his debut they have won six out of their past seven games, have climbed back to .500 are back to within just 1.5 games of a playoff spot.
On one hand, nothing about that is really worth celebrating. That is a mediocre team by every objective measure and your goals should always be higher than that. But this is also far more than I actually expected from this team at this point in the season, especially with where things were as recently as a few days ago. Basically I am just happy to still see meaningful baseball games being played in mid-late July, and I am especially excited for another significant six-game home stand ahead with the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals visiting starting on Friday. It should be exciting.
Now for some first half grades and superlatives.
Best Player: Starting pitcher Paul Skenes. You could make a convincing argument for Bryan Reynolds. I would not be mad at that answer if you tried to make that argument. Especially since Skenes has only played in 11 games and Reynolds has been, statistically speaking, one of the best outfielders in baseball this season. But be serious here. Paul Skenes is the best player on this team. He just is. He is already one of the best starting pitchers in baseball and seems to be doing something unheard of every single time he takes the mound. He is the most exciting player. He is the most must-see player. He has put the team back on the map on a national scale. He has been so good in those 11 starts that he is already leading the team in Wins Above Replacement at 3.2 for the season and is third among all National League starting pitchers, just 0.5 behind the leaders. They are 8-3 in his starts, and he has pitched well enough for them to be 11-0 in those games. In the three starts they did not win he allowed three earned runs (combined) in 19 total innings with 20 strikeouts. He is the best player. The most impressive thing about him is that he is not just an arm talent getting by on throwing 102 mph. He is a pitcher. He knows how to pitch. He already knows how to dissect opposing lineups, figure out what they are looking for and keying on, then adjusting to it.
Biggest Positive Surprise: Starting pitcher Jared Jones. Entering the 2024 season Jones was an intriguing prospect with great stuff and a potentially bright future. I do not think anybody expected him to be a regular part of the rotation when spring training started, or that he would be emerging as a potential front-line starter so quickly this season. It was encouraging when the Pirates rewarded him for his dominant spring training performance by putting him in the Major League rotation. It has been even more encouraging to see him immediately produce results. Like Skenes, he has been appointment viewing and has a 115 ERA+ (with 100 being league average) as a 22-year-old starter. Not even the most wildly optimistic Pirates fan saw him being this good, this fast, this season.
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