Next Challenge: The Resurgent Pirates

I was born in 1971 and went to my first Major League game in 1979. I graduated from college in 1993. By virtue of my age, the quality baseball being played by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2011 is not a shock to my system--I've seen it before.

The Pirates of the 1970s were always first or second in the National League East, with the exception being the lone sub-.500 season of the decade in 1973. And that was the season following the tragic death of Roberto Clemente. Barry Bonds was a Giant by the time I put on my cap-and-gown, but he had two MVPs as a member of the Pirates by that time, too.

While the 80s weren't exactly a heyday for the Bucs, it was more of a space between two eras in my mind. The bookend champions of '71 and '79 (with the We Are Family club occupying a permanent space in my brain) gave way to some lean years under Chuck Tanner, but Jim Leyland and Barry Jr. showed-up and things came back to life. Briefly. 1992 was the last time the Pirates had a winning record.

Since the wonderful 1990-1992 stretch, things have been historically ugly. Only three times have the Pirates finished over .450 and they've been under .400 just as often. Their last two seasons under John Russell were rock bottom, so the turnaround under Clint Hurdle has been hard to miss. Perhaps harder to anticipate.

The Cubs, struggling with the .400 mark themselves, are in town. There's not too much good news in this match-up for the North Siders, but if there is an edge it's actually their good health. The Pirates are without their top two catchers, a few infielders, pitchers and an outfielder.

Pirates DL as of July 8, 2011

7-day
Ronny Cedeno

15-day
Pedro Alvarez
Joe Beimel
Ryan Doumit
Evan Meek
Steven Pearce
Jose Tabata

60-day
Kevin Hart
Ross Ohlendorf
Chris Snyder

Our old buddy Ronny is eligible to come off the concussion DL this weekend, but he won't return until after the break.

The active Pirate catchers (Eric Fryer and Michael McKenry) have a combined big league experience of 28 games, with only six by McKenry coming prior to this season (2010 with Colorado). They're handling a staff that's been the key to their success, along with an improved defense. Both the pitching and defense are top 5 in the NL this year after being dead last in 2010 (ERA+ and DER, per Baseball Reference). The offense has gone from bad to nearly average, but the pitching and defense are leading the way.

Let's check-out the Buc's pitching staff, as currently assembled for the weekend. Pitch data is for 2011 only. First # is average MPH, second #, in parentheses, is times thrown. All pitch classifications are my own, speed is measured at 55ft from home plate.

As a staff, the 2011 Bucs have not struck out a ton of guys, but they've limited the walks giving them a better than average K:BB ratio. They're also good at getting ground balls and have (so far) been well better than average at limiting home runs.

Starters

James McDonald (Friday)

Fastball 93 (874)
Curveball 77 (333)
Sinker 93 (231)
Change-up 82 (138)
Slider 80 (5)
Cutter 89 (4)

And right off the bat we get the exception to the staff. McDonald is a decent-ish strike out pitcher but he struggles with the base on balls. He's also a fly ball pitcher who has picked-up a lot of infield pop flies along the way. So he's got that going for him.

Kevin Correia (Saturday)

Fastball 91 (445)
Sinker 91 (443)
Cutter 88 (434)
Curveball 79 (218)
Change-up 87 (135)

Typical of this staff, Correia pitches to contact. Not many walks or strike outs, he does get plenty of ground balls but it's not like he limits the fly balls. In 2011 his line drive rate has been superb, probably reflecting some combination of poor contact (good pitching) and good luck (line drives that are caught don't always get called a line drive).

Paul Maholm (Sunday)

Sinker 88 (674)
Change-up 82 (277)
Fastball 88 (265)
Curveball 73 (190)
Cutter 84 (152)
Slider 80 (129)

The veteran lefty, Maholm is having a solid season but is getting away with too many free passes. Being a ground ball pitcher helps mitigate that flaw, so he's fitting the crafty lefty mold nicely these days.

Charlie Morton (not scheduled)

Sinker 93 (1012)
Curveball 79 (175)
Fastball 93 (158)
Change-up 86 (128)
Cutter 90 (39)

Similar to Maholm, Morton is on the wrong side of the K:BB ratio (well below average) but is a Ground Ball Machine^TM.

Jeff Karstens (not scheduled)

Sinker 88 (456)
Fastball 90 (338)
Curveball 71 (207)
Change-up 81 (206)
Slider 79 (202)

Karstens is yet another pitch to contact guy. He doesn't walk many batters, but he's prone to the deep fly.

Right-handed relievers

Joel Hanrahan (closer)

Fastball 98 (451)
Slider 87 (79)

Hanrahan may also throw a two-seam sinker, but what ever. Not as extreme as Morton, but Hanrahan is another worm killer. He rarely walks batters and strikes out plenty. He's just nasty, and no one seems to be able to lift his pitches with any authority.

Chris Leroux

Fastball 95 (36)
Slider 84 (15)

Not much to go on, but he's been effective in limited work this year (11 batters faced).

Daniel McCutchen

Sinker 91 (338)
Slider 85 (141)
Change-up 84 (128)
Curveball 80 (18)

Not to be confused with snubbed All Star and emerging super star Andrew McCutchen, Daniel is ... wait for it ... a pitch to contact guy! Doesn't walk many, hasn't been getting as many ground balls as you'd expect so far.

Chris Resop

Fastball 94 (490)
Curveball 80 (134)
Sinker 92 (28)
Change-up 83 (20)

Power pitcher with swing-and-miss stuff. Looks to be trending towards fly ball territory.

Jose Veras

Curveball 79 (226)
Fastball 95 (216)
Sinker 95 (103)
Change-up 84 (80)

Strike outs, walks and fly balls. Kinda scary if things don't go his way. Good stuff, though.

Left-handed relievers

Danny Moskos

Sinker 92 (79)
Fastball 93 (75)
Slider 84 (75)
Change-up 85 (25)

Another pitch to contact arm, this one a southpaw. Does not seem to be a ground ball pitcher.

Tony Watson

Sinker 93 (151)
Change-up 85 (30)
Slider 85 (26)

A left-handed Veras, but worse.