Pittsburgh Pirates: Holding Steady In Top Ten Of MLB Power Rankings
By Larry Snyder
The Pittsburgh Pirates announced Thursday the signing of five more picks from the 2015 MLB First-Year Player Draft. The quintet were third round pick Casey Hughston out of the University of Alabama, fourth rounder Jacob Taylor from Pearl River Community College, 14th round selection Chris Plitt out of South Mountain Community College, 16th pick Nick Hibbing from the University of Iowa, and the 28th rounder out of Newberry College, Albert Baur.
More from Pittsburgh Pirates
- Pittsburgh Pirates: A Look Back at 2019
- Pirates: Hiring Don Kelly Yet Another Smart Offseason Move
- Pirates’ Solid Offseason Continues with Hiring of Derek Shelton
- Pirates: Derek Shelton Makes Most Sense As Next Manager
- Pirates: Drew Smyly Makes Sense as Potential High-Reward Signing
The Pirates added two more on Friday with the signing of 18th round selection Stephan Meyer from Bellevue University, and Sean Keselica, the 33rd round pick out of Virginia Tech University. Enough now about the Pirates of the future. Let’s check out the Jolly Roger’s manifest for some news and notes on the current crew.
Bleacher Report‘s Joel Reuter takes a look at each MLB team’s top trade priority before the deadline at the end of July. He believes the Pirates will be going after a low-cost, back-of-the-rotation arm to keep both Jeff Locke and Vance Worley from being the fifth starter.
Meanwhile at Rumbunter, Tyler Waite examines whether Pittsburgh should be going after Oakland A’s lefthander Scott Kazmir as a solution to beef up the rotation.
The addition of Arquimedes Caminero to the Pirates’ bullpen continues to pay dividends as he retired all three batters he faced during the eighth inning in his last appearance Thursday against the White Sox, and has been scored upon just once in his last 12 appearances. In fact, coming into Saturday’s match-up, the Bucs’ bullpen has a 2.49 ERA. Since Wednesday, June 10, the relievers have posted a 0.39 ERA.
With the Nationals halting the Pirates eight-game winning streak Friday, you have to go back to the 2004 campaign for the last time the Bucs collected a double-digit win steak which was 10 consecutive victories.
As we check in on the internet experts, most have the Pirates in their Top Five. Here is another round-up of the MLB Power Rankings.
Bleacher Report – This Week #3 / Last Week #2 – Joel Reuter likes the hitting results coming from the catching combo of Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart.
Pittsburgh Pirates
CBS Sports – This Week #2 / Last Week #7 – Matt Snyder asks the question, “How about those Pirates?”
ESPN – This week #4 / Last Week #4 – The panel of experts at the four-letter network is impressed by the recent run of pitching by the Bucs.
FanSided – This Week #4 / Last Week #8- Kyle Franzoni feels that the trio of Cole, Liriano, and Burnett could be a formidable opponent in the postseason.
FOX Sports – This Week #7 / Last Week #9 – Ben Carsley thinks with a little help at the trade deadline, this team is a serious contender.
Rant Sports – This Week #5 / Last Week #7 – Jacob Kornhauser joins the band wagon in appreciating the Pirates pitching of late.
SI.com – This Week #5 / Last Week #4 – The staff at Sports Illustrated has the Pirates moving down one this week.
USA Today – This Week #4 / Last Week #7 – The writers at USA Today move Gerrt Cole into serious consideration for the National League Cy Young award.
Can the Pirates keep up the pace and remain in the Top Ten week after week? Let your fellow fans know in the comments section below.
Next: Which Steelers Games Are You Looking Forward To?