Pittsburgh Pirates - Looking Forward

3SN viewer becomes 3SN analyst for a day. That's the way we like it! Hometown fan Tony Borrelli breaks down what Pirates fans have to look forward to for the rest of the season. Enjoy!

Alright Pirates fans, here's what we can look forward to in the next couple months now that the home run derby is over and the all star game will prove to be lackluster once again. Since Cutch didn't win the home run derby, pack it in Bucco fans think things will be rough. No, not really. There are a couple factors that I think about when watching this year's Buccos that makes me think there is a light at the end of the 19 year long tunnel.

1. The pitching is much deeper this year. The Pirates are getting production from their entire starting rotation. Burnett is the first pirate in almost 20 years to have 10 wins at the break. McDonald was leading the league in ERA at one point in the year and isn't far off now and he's only one win behind Burnett. Other then Karsten's looking like an alien every time he throws he's had some great outings but only posts a 2-2 record, as pirates fans all we can hope for is .500. Looking at the Pirates starting rotation you hope that guys like McDonald and Burnett are going the full 9 and not leaving it up to relief and closers, although Hanrahan is one of the best in the league, but they're not. McDonald has the one and only complete game for the pirates. That means that the pirates bullpen is able to keep games close or lock it down. Both are improvements from last years Pirates who were riding the best lucky streak ever recorded. It was fun to watch but everyone knew the collapse was coming. It took a 19 inning beautiful game to make it happen.

2. The hitting has been on a tear. Obviously, McCutchen is at the top of that, in fact he's on top of the league. Hosting a .362 average, he makes a strong case for MVP. Pedro Alvarez is showing signs of life, he needs to thank the gods for June because the coroner almost declared him dead. He batted a respectable .270 and started off July right with a .300 he's slowly bringing up his average after a terrible May where he batted .207 and an even worse April where he batted .203. Then the Pirates have guys like Garret Jones and Neil Walker who are batting around the 300 mark. And then there is young talent(ish) in Tabata. He's only 23 years old so if he can continue to develop the Pirates could have a solid core with Cutch, Pedro, and Tabata. Even with Tabata now in the minors, there are still other young guns like Drew Sutton to maintain or even take Tabata's spot.


3. Andrew McCutchen. Plain and simple he is the best thing to happen to the Pirates in a long time and the best talent since Barry Bonds. And, unlike Bonds, McCutchen plans on sticking around for a bit. He is signed through 2017 for an adequate amount of money in terms of baseball players, because I think $51.5 million is slightly above adequate. But he's worth it and he is showing it this year. He is in the top 10 in almost every major batting category. Tied for eighth in runs, second in the league in hits, tied for seventh in triples, RBIs he is tied for eighth, fourth in on base percentage, second in slugging. And the other categories not in the top ten? Doubles which he has 17, home runs he's only in the top 20 and as everyone knows participated in the home run derby, and stolen bases he is in the top 30, for a number 3 batter who is 5-10 and 185 pounds, I'll take every one of those. Voting starts today for MVP? He has to win. He is the most important and crucial piece of the entire Pirates organization, he's a natural leader and mentor that the entire team thrives around. He is the definition of MVP.

4. Zoltan. Call it what you want, the Pirates are playing with a fire and intensity. Their bats have come alive and they're scoring double digit runs. Whether Danny Glover is at home flapping his arms or it's something else, let's hope they stay alive and at the end they find the Continuum Transfunctioner, or at least the playoffs.