When your not picky in how you score your runs, it opens all sorts of possibilities.
The Pirates have flexed some of their power numbers, showing the ability to send the ball over the fence. At the same time, they have fully taken advantage of the rule changes that are opening up opportunities on the base paths.
No other National League team has more stolen bases than the Pirates right now. After their 8-7 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, they only trailed the Cleveland Guardians.
Ji-Hwan Bae (7) trails only Corbin Carroll (8) and Anthony Volpe (8) among rookies when it comes to stolen bases, and 13 different Pirates have swiped a bag this season.
Their aggressiveness put them in position to score a couple of runners on a hit and run play, with Bae and Austin Hedges (from first) coming home on a Ke’Bryan Hayes double.
Bae himself didn’t even hit the ball out of the infield on either of his base hits, but stole a couple of bases and eventually scored twice.
The more ways you can put runs up on the board, the better suited you are from slumping. While the Pirates aren’t going to be always scoring the kind of run they’ve been during this streak, the fact they can score multiple ways will only help lessen any kind of regression they do have.
Good teams take advantage of what is given to them. The recent rule changes really put teams that are aggressive on the bases at an advantage. The success from the Pirates shouldn’t be surprising.
Prospect Notes
— The bench is starting to get thinner and thinner in Indianapolis, with names like Travis Swaggerty and Endy Rodriguez on the injured list. So, in their absence, Cal Mitchell had himself quite the day, going 5-for-5 with his first home run on the season.
It hasn’t been the best of starts for Mitchell, but he’s picked up hits in seven of his past nine games, including Tuesday’s game.
— He’s still figuring things out at the plate, but Liover Peguero made a pair of fantastic plays while playing second base on Tuesday. Ranging over to the shortstop side of the bag, he had to stop, pivot, and release strong throws twice, the second of which was really impressive.
Liover Peguero with not one but TWO strong plays at second, ranging all the way to the shortstop side. Not an easy play to stop turn and throw accurately that far to that side pic.twitter.com/RaDyZkAnVu
— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) April 25, 2023
Peguero has the range and arm to play shortstop in the majors, something just happens when he goes to throw the ball, either mental or something else.
— Enmanuel Terrero picked up two more extra base hits on Tuesday — a double and home run. He’s been fantastic this season, and has shown a great approach at the plate along with some added power he didn’t show in the complex league.
I’ll have a breakdown of his hitting at noon today.
Check out the rest of the daily minor league action in the Prospect Watch.
Daily Video Rundown
Mike Jarvis with a solo shot to pull the Grasshoppers within one run #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/IlqVGuqKgq
— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) April 25, 2023
Mike Jarvis picked up his third home run of the season for the Greensboro Grasshoppers.
The pitcher elevated, and Cal celebrated. 😤 pic.twitter.com/WncV0lYQOy
— Indianapolis Indians (@indyindians) April 25, 2023
One of five hits by Mitchell on the day, which was also his first home run of the season.
PIRATES PROSPECTS DAILY
By Tim Williams
The big news of the day was that the Pirates reached an agreement to extend Bryan Reynolds.
I wrote my column about this deal and how this organization continues to change for the better. They look like they’re ready to contend in every way. I’ll have more in the upcoming days, including a column on the subject that Anthony talked about above.
Williams: Bryan Reynolds and the Pittsburgh Pirates Are Ready to Contend
Pirates Recap: Pirates Streak Ends With Late Inning Loss Against Dodgers
Prospect Watch: Cal Mitchell Breaks Out of Slump
Minor Moves: Rodolfo Nolasco and Abrahan Gutierrez Return; Chase De Jong Heads to Indianapolis
SONG OF THE DAY
Anthony began writing over 10 years ago, starting a personal blog to cover the 2011 MLB draft, where the Pirates selected first overall. After bouncing around many websites covering hockey, he refocused his attention to baseball, his first love when it comes to sports. He eventually found himself here at Pirates Prospects in late 2021, where he covers the team’s four full season minor league affiliates.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
Bae is great on the bases, in the batter’s box, not so much, but he doesn’t need to improve much to be a viable everyday bat with that speed. I have yet to see him make a good strong throw from the outfield. Marcano’s swing looks better this year than last, so if he out-hits Bae for the second base position, then Bae becomes a utility type player. Right now Bae and Marcano are redundant, as are CSN and Suwinski. With only 3 bench players and a backup catcher the redundancy is not optimal and reduce flexibility for lineup construction and in-game maneuvers. Swaggerty in CF continues to be obvious.
Not for this thread, but very nice start for chandler today, hoping his early bumps lead to significant growth and progress this season
Can they please stop the nonsense of Bae in CF? Suwinski is mile better than Bae out there.
That said, he’s an absolute weapon on the bases. I haven’t seen this type of speed on a Bucco roster since Tony Womack.
I still think his speed works better in the outfield but he wasn’t an outfielder so he’s going to have those moments. I don’t know if he should build experience up here though unless he starts hitting at the very least…
He’s not a CF’er. Maybe LF in a pinch.
He certainly doesn’t have the arm to be out there and he doesn’t get good reads.
Maybe so. I just didn’t think his 2B is impressive enough to play him everyday there either. I see Swaggerty as a true CF’er.
I don’t like Bae in CF as much as Suwinski either and I still have hopes for Swaggerty. However, as good as Suwinski has looked, he still hasn’t reached a year of service time and who knows if Swaggerty will ever make it. So until we have someone take hold of that position, developing Bae there is a reasonable plan. They’ve said all along that development has to continue at the major league level, which I’m okay with.
Great song in 7/8 time. Makes it difficult for some musicians. My band, Stone Man, does Pink Floyd very, very well.
We’re looking for places to play in the Burgh, if any of the membership has any suggestions.
https://www.cultureandcriticism.com/stoneman
Appreciate the generally aggressive baserunning from the Pirates.
Bae’s speed is truly elite, but he’s really struggling hitting and a little lost in the outfield due to lack of experience. Wish he could make more contact. I don’t know if he’s always been a bad contact guy but it feels like it right now.
If Money was just remastered, is it still worth the same as in the 70s? Inflation, ya know.
Bae’s infield singles make up for some of his l8me drive outs.