On Thursday night, MLB Network continued their lists of the top ten players at each position in the Majors. The Pittsburgh Pirates had two representatives on the relief pitchers list, with Tony Watson coming in tenth place and Mark Melancon finished seventh.
The show also has personal lists from Brian Kenny and Dan Plesac, plus recaps from a panel of experts that includes Bill James. Surprisingly, only the shows main source(The “Shredder”) ranked the two Pirates players in the top ten. Both Plesac and Kenny gave their complete lists and neither had Watson or Melancon.
During the panel of experts portion, which included James, Mike Petriello from Fangraphs and Vince Gennaro from SABR, neither Pirates players came up in the conversation. The experts didn’t give their lists, but they talked about numerous relievers(15-20), so it doesn’t sound like Melancon or Watson made any top tens.
In earlier episodes, the Pirates had Andrew McCutchen first among center fielders, Starling Marte fourth among left fielders and Jordy Mercer sixth for shortstops.