The Pirates are getting a much needed day off, before a return home to face the Padres this week. After opening the month of June with four wins, the Pirates have gone on a 3-15 run, which included a ten game losing streak.
During this stretch of losing, the Pirates have given up five or more runs in 13 of 18 games. If we drop that number to four runs, we get 15 of 18 games. On the flip side, the Pirates have scored five or more runs on three occasions during this stretch. You can add two more games if you drop the number to four. The problem here is that the Pirates lost the two games where they gave up four runs. They also lost the two games where they scored four runs.
If we look at the month of June, the Pirates rank pretty low across the board in baseball. Here are the offensive rankings:
AVG: .214 (29th)
OBP: .295 (24th)
SLG: .331 (30th)
At their peak, the Pirates were a middle of the pack offense. They’ve regressed to being one of the worst in the league this month. That provides a huge concern, as they were among the worst in the league last year. Outside of a hot start to the 2023 season, this offense has not shown many signs of hope for improvement. At the moment, that start hasn’t been maintained.
Hitting coach Andy Haines is obviously the big focus. There are currently four players in the Pirates offense who have combined for a 1-for-101 stretch.
More on this. On June 14, Hedges homered in top of 4th & Castro singled in 6th. Since then, including today's game:
Ji Hwan Bae 0-for-30
Jack Suwinski 0-for-29
Rodolfo Castro 1-for-25
Austin Hedges 0-for-17In total: 1-for-101. Hitting a combined 0.0099. Remarkable. #Pirates https://t.co/Qi074JoBah
— David Todd (@DTonPirates) June 25, 2023
Last night, Derek Shelton said that “at some point guys getting the opportunities have to produce.” This is true. Andy Haines can’t step into the box and hit for Bae, Suwinski, Castro, or Hedges. It is on him to try and turn things around from a slump. It’s on him to progress hitters. Right now, multiple Pirates hitters can’t break out of a huge slump. And which young hitters have taken a lasting step forward?
On the pitching side, the Pirates haven’t been as bad:
ERA: 4.31 (18th)
FIP: 4.15 (17th)
That’s slightly below average. When you break up the starters and the bullpen, you see the strength of the team.
Starter ERA: 4.17 (13th)
Reliever ERA: 4.53 (24th)
Starter FIP: 4.01 (6th)
Reliever FIP: 4.38 (24th)
The starting group is looking great, even ranking top ten in FIP. This makes a lot of sense. We just saw a four game series where the starters combined to allow five runs in 27.2 innings. That’s a 1.63 ERA. The Pirates lost three of four in 36 innings, getting that production from their starters in 77% of those innings. The offense averaged 2.5 runs per game, and the bullpen averaged almost a run per inning.
You can give the bullpen a pass from the field level. They’ve been short-handed from injuries, and from some questionable moves from the front office. The Robert Stephenson trade, for example, seems needless. Especially in hindsight as the depth has been depleted.
There’s a reason you wouldn’t call for Oscar Marin to be held accountable for the bullpen struggles. On the pitching side, there are a lot of players stepping forward, and very few stay in prolonged slumps. Pitching is the strength of this team, and the weakness of the pitching is depth.
The frustrating thing is that the pitching staff isn’t yet good enough to overcome an offense that ranks bottom of the pack. The Pirates need to find a way to get this offense going.
If the Pirates offense struggles agains the Padres, it would make sense. The Padres rank as a top ten pitching staff this year. If the Pirates struggle offensively against the Brewers, it would be more of a concern. The Brewers are middle of the pack with the Pirates in ERA and bottom of the pack in FIP.
After that, the Pirates take on the Dodgers, who have a bottom-third ERA and FIP. There should be no excuse for the Pirates to not score runs against the Dodgers this year. Unless they’re still one of the worst offenses in the game. If that’s the case, then I think there need to be a serious look at the impact of Andy Haines on this offense.
The Pirates are off today. John Dreker will have all of the rookie ball action in the Pirates Prospect Watch below.
PIRATES (35-42) OFF
INDIANAPOLIS (33-41) OFF
6/21: Changeup Helps Jared Jones In Strong Triple-A Debut
6/7: Aaron Shackelford adjusts swing and relocates power
6/6: Carmen Mlodzinski improves all the way with aggressive approach
ALTOONA (34-34) OFF
6/22: Power Continues To Come Through For Liover Peguero
6/9: Jared Jones Continues Incredible Development With Altoona
6/1: Matt Gorski Displays Athleticism And Versatility
GREENSBORO (37-30) OFF
6/25: Jase Bowen Turning Into An Offensive Threat
6/15: Anthony Solometo Promotion A Win For 2021 Draft Class
6/14: Bubba Chandler Looking To Limit Big Innings
BRADENTON (38-30) OFF
6/26:Bradenton Rotation Leading FSL Through First Half
6/22: Young Bradenton Hitters Making Progress
6/20: Termarr Johnson: Patience Brings Career Day At The Plate
FCL PIRATES (11-4)
Game Time: 12:00 PM EST
Projected Starter: TBA
Latest Features:
6/16: Is This The Year For A Solomon Maguire Breakout?
6/12: Pirates 2023 Minor League Preview: FCL Pirates
6/11: Pitching Depth Continues To Grow With Jun-Seok Shim Debut
DSL PIRATES BLACK (6-9)
Game Time: 11:00 AM EST
Projected Starter: TBA
Latest Features:
**Pirates 2023 Minor League Previews: Dominican Summer League Pirates
DSL PIRATES GOLD (10-5)
Game Time: 11:00 AM EST
Projected Starter: TBA
Latest Features:
**Pirates 2023 Minor League Previews: Dominican Summer League Pirates
THE NEW PROSPECT WATCH
With all of our game reports now going into this daily article, the Prospect Watch has been repurposed as a daily look at three prospects throughout the system. Check the site each day at noon for the latest edition. We’ll keep the archives updated here.
6/25: Quinn Priester, Canaan Smith-Njigba, Jhonson Pena
6/24: Nick Gonzales, Jared Triolo, Adolfo Oviedo
6/23: Michael Kennedy, Po-Yu Chen, Wyatt Hendrie
6/22: Braxton Ashcraft, Jase Bowen, Maikol Escotto
6/21: Termarr Johnson, Connor Scott, Enmanuel Terrero
6/20: Cal Mitchell, Travis MacGregor, Alessandro Ercolani
6/19: Henry Davis, Bubba Chandler, Julian Bosnic
6/18: Jared Jones, Matt Gorski, Tony Blanco Jr.
DAILY PIRATES NEWS
If you missed yesterday’s Live, it included a game recap from Miami, with comments from Derek Shelton.
**P2Live: “At some point guys getting the opportunities have to produce”
Anthony Murphy writes about how the Bradenton rotation is leading the Florida State League.
**Pirates Prospects Daily: Bradenton Rotation Leading FSL Through First Half
MLB Pipeline updated their top 100 prospect list.
**Updated Top 100 Prospects List from MLB Pipeline Has a New Name for the Pirates
More Recent Pirates Features
6/23: Nick Gonzales Bringing Successful Hitting Adjustments to the Majors
6/23: Nick Gonzales: What The Exit Velocity Numbers Say About Potential Impact
6/23: Offensive Struggles During the Ten Game Losing Streak
6/18: The Book on Henry Davis
6/17: Carmen Mlodzinski Becomes First Cherington Pick To Reach Big Leagues
PIRATES PROSPECT WATCH
By John Dreker
ROOKIE: FCL PIRATES
Final Score: Braves 4, Pirates 3
Player of the Game: Javier Rivas 3-for-3, HBP
Recap:
Starter Antwone Kelly allowed one run over 3.2 innings, working around some base runners to limit the damage. He gave up six hits and a walk in his short time, though he also picked up six strikeouts.
Jackson Grounds followed with 1.1 scoreless, while stranding two inherited runners. He has given up one run in eight innings. Jose Garces allowed two runs in 2.2 innings, with some help from Eliecer Romero, who stranded three runners to finish the eighth inning.
Romero sent the game to extra innings with 1.1 scoreless, but a run allowed by Kevinson Hernandez in the ten was the difference in the game. Pirates pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts.
The Pirates scored first on a first inning single by Yordany De Los Santos. He would later add his fifth double.
They added runs in the seventh on back-to-back RBI singles from Esmerlyn Valdez and Wesley Zapata.
Javier Rivas reached base all four times up, with three singles and a HBP.
Lonnie White Jr went 1-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base
ROOKIE: DSL PIRATES BLACK
Final Score: Pirates 7, Cubs 1
Player of the Game: Clevari Tejada 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 SO
Recap:
Clevari Tejada was a late signing for this international signing class, but he impressed on Monday morning. He tossed five shutout innings on two hits, no walks and nine strikeouts. He now has a 2.30 ERA in 15.2 innings over his first four career starts.
The Pirates won this game 7-1, as the two sides decided to play a seven-inning contest.
The Pirates scored first in the first on an Angel Perez single and an error on the play (no RBI).
Miguel Rodriguez made it 2-0 with a third inning single. Perez then followed with a bases loaded triple. An error on a stolen base led to the fifth run of the inning. Carlos Caro capped the scoring with his second homer in the seventh, a solo shot.
Perez and Caro each had two hits. The Pirates had six hits total.
ROOKIE: DSL PIRATES GOLD
Final Score: Pirates 3, Red Sox 2
Player of the Game: Eduardo Oviedo 1-for-2, HR, 2 RBI, BB
Recap:
The Pirates won 3-2 over the Red Sox on Monday to give them a 11-5 record.
Starter Dermis Ordonez has struggled during the early part of the season, but he lowered his ERA to 10.00 with one run over 3.2 innings. Luis Joseph did great work in long relief, tossing 3.1 shutout innings, while striking out four batters.
Eduardo Oviedo had the big hit of the game, a two-run homer in the fifth inning, his second homer of the season.
The Pirates won this game in the bottom of the ninth on two infield singles, a walk to load the bases, then a wild pitch. They had just three hits and one walk prior to that point, going 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position over the entire game.
