Cervelli Pirates Agree to 3-Year Extension

The Pittsburgh Pirates and catcher Francisco Cervelli have agreed to a 3-year 31 million dollar contract extension today that will keep Cervelli in Pittsburgh through the 2019 season.

"When the moon hits your eyes like a big pizza pie that's amore." These sweet sounds of singing legend Dean Martin fill the air as Francisco Cervelli comes to bat for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Well the love affair will continue for the next three seasons as today Cervelli agreed to a 3-year 31 million dollar deal that will keep him in Pittsburgh for the foreseeable future.

Cervelli has been a big part of the Pirates success over the last two seasons both in and off the field. He came over in the trade that sent lefty reliever Justin Wilson to the New York Yankees and was thrusted immediately into the starting catcher role, something he had been striving to be for the New York Yankees.

Once named the Pirates starting catcher, he took off and became an instant hit in Pittsburgh. Last season, Cervelli had a break out year hitting .295 with seven home runs and 43 RBI. He set career highs in both home runs and RBI and helped secure what had been a revolving door at the catchers position.

Offensively, Cervelli has been a huge asset in the middle of the Pirates order. While he isn't a huge home run guy, he consistently gets on base and delivers the clutch base hit when he needs to. He tied his career high in on base percentage last season coming in at .370. Pair that with his ability to get the clutch base hit and he is a very tough out to get in the Pirates lineup.

Another plus with Cervelli is his patience at the plate. He walked 46 times last season in 451 at-bats. He coupled that with 91 strikeouts for a strikeout to walk ratio of 1.97. As a major league hitter, when your SO/BB ratio sits under two you are in good shape.

Cervelli has been a force behind the plate for the Pirates as well. He committed only seven errors behind the plate last season good for a .994 fielding percentage. He also managed the run game well throwing out 28% of base stealers last season (29 in 101 attempts).

What Cervelli excels at most behind the plate however is pitch framing. Cervelli was one of the best catchers in the league in terms of getting pitched out side of the zone called strikes. He had 14.4% of balls called strikes last year which was the best mark of any catcher on the year.

In total, Cervelli got 95 calls to go the Pirates way throughout the 2015 season. This goes a long way to helping your pitching staff succeed. That means 95 less pitches had to be thrown do to called strikes and over the course of a long season, those 95 pitches make a big difference.

Cervelli's success for the Pirates goes beyond just the stat line. His chemistry with this pitching staff is so good. He knows exactly what his pitchers want to throw in certain situations and knows the strengths and weaknesses of each guy on the mound.

His hard work on and off the field match the blue collar work ethic that this city was built on. When times get tough for the Pirates, Cervelli keeps fighting through them and always comes out on top in the end.

I love this signing by Neil Huntington and the rest of the Pirates front office staff. They went out and spent the money to secure the catching position for this team in the future. This and the two year extension the Pirates gave to backup catcher Chris Stewart this off-season gives the Bucs to viable options behind the plate for seasons to come.

So Dean Martin's classic hit will keep ringing through the stands of PNC Park for years to come. In Pittsburgh the fans and the team alike will keep singing their praises and their love of Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli.

Pittsburgh Pirates Highest Team OBP In the MLB

The Pittsburgh Pirates Lead Major League Baseball in On-Base Percentage. Francisco Cervelli and Gregory Polanco Lead the Team. The Pirates ability to get on base has fueled their offense this season creating many run scoring opportunities.

Bucco Bomber Pittsburgh Pirates Players of the Week: Week 1 Francisco Cervelli and Juan Nicasio

Francisco Cervelli and Juan Nicasio are your Bucco Bomber Pittsburgh Pirates Players of the week. Cervelli leads the team in RBI and Average, and Juan Nicasio had an impressive Pirates debut against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Pittsburgh Pirates Week In Review: Hot Start Puts Pirates on Right Track

The Pittsburgh Pirates started the first week of the Major League Baseball season on the right foot with a record of 4-2 against the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds.

After one week of play, the Pittsburgh Pirates are off to a good start to the 2016 season. They currently sit at 4-2 on the year which is good for third place in the National League Central behind two 5-1 teams in the Cincinnati Reds and the Chicago Cubs. Even though this team has a decline in power from last season, they are still finding ways to score runs when they need to.

In the first series of the year, the Pirates swept the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-game set at PNC Park. They managed to outscore the Cardinals by a combined score of 15-7, and they were able to do it against three quality starting pitchers in Adam Wainwright, Michael Wacha, and Mike Leake. The offense was tested early and showed that they can compete with one of the best teams in all of major league baseball.

Then the Pirates hit a bump in the road losing two out of three games against the Reds at Great American Ball Park. Throughout the course of the series, the Pirates had many opportunities to win every ball game. They took advantage of that opportunity in the first game when Starling Marte hit a grand slam that ultimately gave the Pirates a 6-5 victory. However, they did not take advantage of opportunities in games two and three including leaving 14 runners on base in today's contest.

This offense has shown that it has the ability to score a lot of runs against any team. Manager Clint Hurdle's tweaks to the lineup have proven to pay-off early on. Jon Jaso has done a nice job working out of the lead-off spot, and moving Gregory Polanco to the middle of the order has allowed him more opportunities to drive in runs. This new lineup has been successful early on and looks to continue for the rest of the season.

Another strong suit for the Pirates in this first week was the bullpen. The group combined to throw a total of 21.2 innings and have only given up six runs. They have done a nice job of coming into the game and shutting the other team down when they need to. Their best showing was the second game of the year against the Cardinals when they threw 5.0 scoreless innings and held a very potent Cardinals offense to a total of three hits and allowing the Pirates to score the game winning run in the eleventh.

The best of the bullpen, however, has come from the back-end of the bullpen. Neftali Feliz, Tony Watson, and Mark Melancon have done some very good work out of the bullpen. Melancon is the only one of the trio who has given up a run, but that was on opening day. When these three pitchers are on, the game shortens and forces you to beat the Pirates before the seventh inning.

The starting rotation has both some ups and downs in the first week of the season. Juan Nicasio, Jeff Locke, and Francisco Liriano each had great starts this week in their first victories of the season. Nicasio impressed in his Pirates debut throwing 6.0 innings giving up one run on two hits while striking out seven. Nicasio had a great spring training for the Pirates and carried that over to the regular season.

Locke pitched very well against the Reds in today's game going 6.0 innings allowing one run on seven hits while walking two and striking out one. Liriano struck out ten on opening day and allowed no runs over 6.0 innings of work. However, the rotation also had some bumps this week as Jon Niese and Gerrit Cole each struggled in their season debuts.

Cole only went 4.2 innings in his start against the Reds, and Niese went 5.0 innings while giving up five runs, four earned,in his start against the Cardinals. Both of these guys will be fine moving forward and I am looking for big things from this starting rotation. If they can keep the Pirates in ball games through the first five innings, this bullpen will take over and shut down any offense in the league.

Overall, the Pirates showed flashes of being a great team in this first week of the season. The offense showed that it is capable of scoring runs, and the pitching has shown that it can shut down any offense. It is just a matter of bringing things all together and letting this team mesh as one. Once they do that, this team will be a force to be reckoned with across the MLB.

Play of the Week: Starling Marte Grand Slam Against the Reds

This was not a hard choice as the biggest play of the week for the Pirates had to be the grand slam hit in Friday night's game against the Reds that gave the Pirates a 6-5 win. The Pirates and Reds had been going back and forth all evening and the Reds pulled ahead with a 5-2 lead. The Pirates had loaded the bases the inning before and loaded them again in the eighth. Then Starling Marte hit a 1-0 pitch out to left field to put the Pirates ahead for good and giving them a 6-5 win. It was the first home run of the year for the Pirates and it could not have come at a better time.

Hitter of the Week: Francisco Cervelli (.389 average 4 RBI, 4 Walks, 1 Triple)

The offensive leader for the Pirates this week was Francisco Cervelli. The Pirates starting catcher capped off a first week of the season with a .389 average, four RBI, four walks, and a triple on the week. He leads the team in both average and RBI to start the season and has done a nice job behind the dish as well. He provided a key RBI double in the final game of the series with the Cardinals driving in David Freese and Starling Marte to pull the Pirates away from the Cardinals and ultimately earn them the victory. Cervelli has a break out year for the Pirates last season, and so far in 2016 he has continued his success from last season.

Pitcher of the Week: Juan Nicasio (1-0 1.50 ERA, 7 Strikeouts 0 Walks)

Juan Nicasio had a great Pirates debut in the third game of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals where he threw 6.0 innings giving up one run on two hits and striking out seven batters. Nicasio had a great spring training for the Pirates striking out 24 batters in 15.0 innings pitched. Nicasio's control was much better in his first start of the year then it had been in the past. He looks to continue that this season and bounce back as a member of the Pirates rotation. He is currently tied with Jeff Locke for the team lead in ERA and looks to continue to lead this team throughout the 2016 season.

Up Next:

The Pirates return to action tomorrow afternoon when they travel to Comerica Park to take on the Detroit Tigers. For the Tigers, it will be Justin Verlander (0-0 4.50) on the mound. The Pirates will oppose with left-hander Jon Niese (0-0 7.20) who is looking to bounce back after a rough start his last time out. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.