Get The Towels and Black Shirts Ready for Buctober

The Pirates are 39-54 at the break and nowhere near to playing meaningful baseball late in the season. With series against the Marlins and Rockies before the break the Buccos could have set themselves up to actually be competitive in the second half, but alas, they are the Buccos and things will never go right. I will say this team has something about them though, on paper they should not be good in any aspect of the game but here they are battling everyday and easily not the worst team in baseball and actually look somewhat good from time to time. In this post I'm going to talk about The Great, The Good, The Bad and The Future of these Buccos.

The Great

• Grittiness, this team has shown great heart and grit to start the year and outside of a handful of complete and utter disaster games they've been competitive all year

• Ke'Bryan Hayes, only complaint about Hayes is that his homerun numbers are so low. I believe if he had 12+ HR he'd probably be an All-Star. Hayes is the cornerstone of the future after signing an eight year deal with the Buccos at the beginning of the year and his consistent hitting and phenomenal defense has proven he's been worth it

• Bryan Reynolds, after a slow start to the year the people who doubted BR are idiots. Guys swing is absolute butter and he just rakes and covers the fuck out of center field. I hope the Buccos can lock him up for a long time but for now they have him secured for the next two years

• The Renegade, having the nickname 'The Renegade' and being given IC Light to celebrate your all star bid, David Bednar is the ultimate yinzer and absolute Hoss on the mound. He looks pissed off every time he pitches and just throws straight heat and no one can hit him. I hope they keep him as a hometown hero, Neil Walker esq. vibes, but his trade value is climbing with every save he gets

• O'Neil Cruz, yes he's only batting .204 but he only has 98 at bats, lets relax on the bust takes but also relax on the generational talent takes. Let the kid ball, enjoy the homeruns, cannon of an arm and hope he can pull it together this second half.

The Good

• Young Bucs, this year has felt different than most with all the young Buccos that have been brought up this year. Between Jack Suwinski's first half power display out of nowhere to Roansy Contreras solidifying himself as a starting rotation pitcher, the future is bright for these guys and the Buccos

• Mitch Keller, in the first time in his career Mitch Keller went seven innings against the Marlins on July 11th and his stuff looked absolutely filthy. If he can turn into the Ace that we all thought he was going to be and become the leader of the rotation over the next several years, then look the fuck out.

• Vogelbach & Chavis, the addition of these two players have been exceeding every expectations all year, from Chavis being looked at as a rotation/utility guy at the beginning of the year to now being the Buccos everyday first baseman and hitting .240 with 10 HR and 32 RBIs. Vogelbach on the other hand just rakes, that meat stick should not be good but my god he just hits the shit out of the ball.

The Bad

• Catcher Situation, at the beginning of the season Roberto Perez was the everyday starting catcher and his stats were not the best at the moment, but he was building momentum and started to hit the ball really well before suffering a season ending injury. Ever since, the rotation of Mike Perez, Tyler Heineman, Andrew Knapp (worst Bucco catcher ever, how the fuck as a back up catcher do you get thrown out of a game then we lose the game because Roberto Perez got hurt and Vanmeter had to catch) and Jason Delay have been nothing short of awful.

• Derek Shelton's Lineups, Some of the lineups Shelton has put out this year are baffling to say the least. For instance numerous times Diego Castillo, a middle infielder, would be starting in the outfield and inevitably makes an error to let up a run. Or when Yoshi Tsutsugo or Josh Vanmeter continue to play even though I am not sure if they have batted over .200 this season. I wanted Shelton fired at the beginning of the year still do because of the idiocy he continues to show. One nice thing about Shelton is I did see the video of him announcing Bednar would be an all star. Guy is fully embracing Pittsburgh and I can appreciate that.

Video curtesy of @Pirates on Twitter

The Future

The future of the Buccos will always be in question because we as a fanbase have never been given a product to look forward to watch and have faith in since the Cutch years. Even then, that was 3 years of meaningful baseball. With the likes of 2021 number 1 overall pick Henry Davis, 2022 first round pick Termarr Johnson, top first basemen prospect Mason Martin and top pitching prospect Quinn Priester (just a few of my personal favorite prospects) waiting to get the call up, the future is bright for a fanbase that has been dying to be passionate about the Pirates their entire lives, and for once I actually do have faith. 2024 THE YEAR BUCTOBER RETURNS.