The Pirates have played 37 games thus far. By the time another batch of talking points comes out next week, they will have passed the one-quarter mark of the season.
Let’s go back to our schoolyard days and grade the Pirates at the end of the first quarter then. I’ll start:
Offense: D
Even when they weren’t beat up, this lineup was hardly complete. Bryan Reynolds, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Adam Frazier and Colin Moran are a decent top four, and Jacob Stallings is having a good year at the plate, but there’s very little pop in this lineup. They might not even have someone hit 20 homers, which would be insane, even with a slightly dejuiced ball.
Pitching: B+
It’s hard to imagine that even with Mitch Keller’s regression, this team is pitching really well. JT Brubaker looks like he is having a breakout year, Richard Rodriguez/Kyle Crick/David Bednar is one of the best backend trios in the game and Tyler Anderson is looking like one of the best free agent pickups across the league. This could be bumped up to an “A” later this year if Keller rights the ship.
Fielding: C
We’re back to last year’s problem assessing this defense. The +5 defensive runs saved as a team are good! The 25 errors (tied for fifth-most in baseball) are not. Call it a wash.
Coaching: C
Pitching coach Oscar Marin and bullpen coach Justin Meccage’s groups are clicking. It’s hard to put too much blame on hitting coach Rick Eckstein considering the injuries. Same goes for Derek Shelton, who came into this year with a team that was going to go through some growing pains.
Overall: C-
This is largely based on the early season predictions for this team. They’re on pace to avoid a 100 loss season at the moment. Not exactly a great benchmark, but that was a common prediction coming into the year. Avoiding that should count for something. But if we’re going based on actual results with no curve, yeah, D- or F.
YOUR TURN: What grade would you give the Pirates so far?