The Pittsburgh Pirates three year playoff streak has come to an end here in 2016 as they are mathematically out of the race. However, Young Bucs have gotten a chance to show what they can do and give a glimpse of what the future holds for the Pirates organization.
The Pittsburgh Pirates could not harness their success of the last three seasons in 2016 and as a result there will be no Buctober coming to Pittsburgh this year. For many fans, this means that the season is a complete bust. While the Pirates have definitely not met their expectations from the beginning of the season, there is still room to celebrate as the season winds down. Many of the young Pittsburgh Pirates stars have come up and performed rather well at the major league level.
During the 2016 season we have seen the debut of many young players including Jameson Taillon, Tyler Glasnow, Adam Frazier, and Josh Bell among many others. Many of these young players have not only been playing at the major league level, but doing so at a very high level. These young guns have provided some big moments this season and will look to do that in the many seasons to come of Pittsburgh Pirates baseball.
The 2016 Pirates rotation was one full of injury and un-reached potential. Gerrit Cole was on and off the disabled list all season long and guys like Francisco Liriano and Jeff Locke failed to pitch up to their potential. And, as the saying goes, You live and you die by your pitching and the Pirates certainly went down with their struggling rotation this season.
There is room for some optimism as we look ahead to the 2017 season, however. Both of Pittsburgh's top pitching prospects, Taillon and Glasnow, made their debuts this season and have shown bright spots. Taillon has come up with great poise this season and has pitched to a 4-5 record with a 3.38 ERA while striking out 85 and walking 17 in 104 innings of work. He has shown poise on the mound and has a work-man like mentality that is going to serve the Pirates well in the future.
Glasnow, while having some struggles early on, was moved to the bullpen and showed some key adjustments there that helped him in his last start of the season yesterday against the St. Louis Cardinals. He finished his season with a record of 0-2 and a 4.24 ERA while striking out 24 and walking 13 in 23.1 innings of work. He had a strong start to finish his season yesterday going 5.0 innings giving up one run on one hit while striking out four and walking four.
Other pitching prospects that showed what they have in 2016 included Chad Kuhl and Steven Brault. If you mentioned these two names a year ago, not many people would know who you were talking about. However, Kuhl delivered one of the most electrifying pitching debuts during a Sunday night game where he defeated Clayton Kershaw and lead the Pirates to victory. Brault was used more in a spot starter role with some bullpen appearances and provided quality innings for the Pirates. Kuhl would finish 5-4 with a 4.20 ERA while Brault went 0-3 with a 4.86.
Having these four young pitchers grow one year older over the off-season is going to create some major competition for next year's rotation. If the Pirates were to stay completely put this off-season, their pitching competition next year would have Cole, Taillon, Glasnow, Brault, Locke, Drew Hutchinson, and Wade LeBlanc. There are also rumors going around that the Pirates are trying to bring back Ivan Nova for next year. You can never have too much pitching, and I feel the Pirates are in a good place in that department going into this off-season.
The young pitchers weren't the only ones to shine this season, as we saw some of the top position player prospects debut for the Pirates as well. Guys like Josh Bell, Adam Frazier and Alan Hanson got shots at the major league level. Some were looked upon to play key roles in the Pirates future and they showed that they could do just that for years to come.
Pirates highest ranked first base prospect Josh Bell got the call to the major leagues on July 8th against the Chicago Cubs and did not waist much time making his presence felt. On July 9th he would hit a pinch hit grand slam that helped lift the Pirates over the cubs by the score of 12-6. Bell's first major league home run came through in a big way and showed he was here and ready. Bell would end up hitting .273 with three home runs and 19 RBI in 2016.
A pair of middle infielders also made their debuts in 2016 and helped to sure up some defensive problems up the middle. Adam Frazier got more of the playing time and performed well hitting .298 with two home runs 11 RBI. Frazier came up in the middle of June and has provided clutch hitting and good defense from the middle infield position. Alan Hanson also made hit MLB debut in September and in limited action has hit .259 with no home runs and one RBI.
Hanson has been the expected shortstop of the future for this team, but has been stopped by offensive short comings the last couple of seasons. Fraizer was another one of those surprise prospects who came up and produced very well for the Pirates. The young core for Pittsburgh is here and they are ready to take the league by storm.
The Pirates are a small market team meaning they can't spend the money that the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox do, but they have the ability to build from within and get better that way. It may be frustrating sometimes as a fan, however, the patience will pay off when the Pirates make that next leap and go deep into the MLB playoffs.
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