Buccos Cove

As we await the start of the 2020 MLB season due to Corona Virus concerns, we will take a look at every player on the Pirates roster and outline what they will bring to the table and projections for the 2020 season. I hope this brings some positive reading to the current situation and helps us all as we wait for baseball. While the main focus of with pitching prospects is with the starting pitchers, there are plenty of Minor Leagues looking to pave their path to the Major Leagues in the bullpen. One of those pitchers in the Pirates system is reliever Joel Cesar, who is slated for his first full season in the Altoona Curve bullpen. Coming out of the Dominican Republic, Cesar has been trying to follow the path of many of his fellow Dominican Republic comrades and get to the Major Leagues. After being a middle-of-the-road reliever during his first three years in professional baseball, but finally, put it all together at Single-A Bradenton last season. Between Single-A and Doub...

As we await the start of the 2020 MLB season due to Corona Virus concerns, we will take a look at every player on the Pirates roster and outline what they will bring to the table and projections for the 2020 season. I hope this brings some positive reading to the current situation and helps us all as we wait for baseball. During the Neil Huntington regime, the Pittsburgh Pirates would routinely target high school pitching arms in the draft. They would develop them through their Minor League system and mold them into the pitchers they wanted. During the 2017 MLB Draft, the Pirates took five high school pitchers, with one of them being right-handed pitching prospect Cody Bolton. Bolton produced consistent numbers through his first two years of professional baseball, with ERAs under 3.75, but last season was a different story. He had a breakout year for the Class Advanced-A Bradenton Marauders, which earned him a spot in Double-A at the end of the season. However, once he got ...

One of the keys to any good team is the strength of their man suiting up behind the plate. He controls both the defense and the pitching staff and the best ones add offensive punch to the middle of the lineup. Here is a look at the Pittsburgh Pirates top five catchers since the 2000 season. As the Pirates transitioned from MLB bottom feeders to playoff contenders, the strength of their starting catcher got better and better. You don't see everything that the catcher does on a day-to-day basis, but without his tireless preparation, the game wouldn't run smoothly. Over the past couple of seasons, some of the Pirates' biggest off-season trades and signings came from behind the plate. For this list, we will be focusing on catchers that played for the Pirates since the 2000 season. Any catcher that had stats before 2000, will be considered but only for his performance from 2000 on.  The Pirates have always had a good backstop behind the plate from Doogie Miller in th...

As we await the start of the 2020 MLB season due to Corona Virus concerns, we will take a look at every player on the Pirates roster and outline what they will bring to the table and projections for the 2020 season. I hope this brings some positive reading to the current situation and helps us all as we wait for baseball. The Pittsburgh Pirates Minor League system is hurting for top outfield prospects who can make an impact at the next level. Jared Oliva and Travis Swaggerty headline the list, but after that, the field is pretty low. One guy trying to step up and make his name known by the front office is outfielder Logan Hill. Hill started his professional baseball career as a speedster on the basepaths but has since bulked up and turned into a budding power hitter who could fit in the number six or seven-hole of the Pirates lineup one day. His power started showing through during the 2016 season and that is when his professional baseball career started to take off. Last s...

Welcome to part five of our Feature Friday series as we look at the team that brought home the 1909 World Series trophy. It was the first World Series win in franchise history and solidified the Pirates as one of the top teams of the first decade of the 1900s. From 1900 to 1908, the Pittsburgh Pirates had been one of the top teams in not just the National League but in all of Major League Baseball. During those nine seasons, the team had secured four NL Pennants and appeared in the first-ever World Series, where they fell to the Boston Americans five games to three. The one thing that still eluded the organization was a World Series trophy, and they were out to claim that prize during the 1909 season. Many of the same cast of characters returned for the Pirates, including manager and right fielder Fred Clarke and shortstop Honus Wagner. Both players had been a part of the team since that 1900 season and knew a thing or two about how to play winning baseball. It was a new er...

As we await the start of the 2020 MLB season due to Corona Virus concerns, we will take a look at every player on the Pirates roster and outline what they will bring to the table and projections for the 2020 season. I hope this brings some positive reading to the current situation and helps us all as we wait for baseball. Infield prospect Mitchell Tolman has gone through his fair share of adversity during his baseball career. Between ineffectiveness and a suspension early in his career, Tolman has had to scratch and claw his way to the Triple-A level last season. The Oregon product is trying to continue to uphold the winning tradition the university sets forward and will try to make the MLB squad. He is one in the line of many middle infield prospects in the Pirates Minor League system and is looking for a way to stand out from the rest of the competition. Over his professional career, Tolman has put up middle-of-the-road numbers and continued that in 2019. Between Double-A...

As we await the start of the 2020 MLB season due to Corona Virus concerns, we will take a look at every player on the Pirates roster and outline what they will bring to the table and projections for the 2020 season. I hope this brings some positive reading to the current situation and helps us all as we wait for baseball. When you are making the climb to the Major Leagues as a young player, versatility is a good quality to have. For Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Hunter Owen, he has that on his side as he has played seven of the nine positions on the field more than once in a season. His primary position is third base, with over 2,000 innings of play at the position. He has consistently kept his batting average in the .260 to .290 range and has played sure defense at every position that he has played. After an adjustment period, he has found his footing at every level of the Minor Leagues and made the jump to Triple-A Indianapolis for the first time I'm his career thanks ...

With the modified 2020 MLB First-Year Player Draft just two weeks away, it is time to look at who the Pirates might pick with the seventh overall pick in the draft. One name that keeps popping up is local high school star, and West Allegheny High School graduate Austin Hendrick. Entering PNC Park as a fan can be a feeling like no other if you grew up around the Pittsburgh area. The smell of the fresh-cut grass, the crack of the bat, and the notion that baseball is right around the corner are enough to get anyone excited. What would be even more exciting is getting to enter that PNC park clubhouse as a player. You grew up rooting for a team your whole life, dreaming you could make a difference, and now it's your time to shine. For West Allegheny High School prospect Austin Hendrick, that dream could be a reality as he is projected as one of the top high school players in the 2020 MLB Draft class. Despite not getting to play his senior season due to the Coronavirus pandem...

As we await the start of the 2020 MLB season due to Corona Virus concerns, we will take a look at every player on the Pirates roster and outline what they will bring to the table and projections for the 2020 season. I hope this brings some positive reading to the current situation and helps us all as we wait for baseball. For Pittsburgh Pirates pitching prospect Brandon Waddell, his rise through the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system was a quick one. He was drafted in 2015 and the next season he found himself in Double-A making the biggest jump of a Minor League prospect's career. However, since making the jump his career has gone stagnant as he has bounced around between Double-A and Triple-A for the past four seasons, failing to make the jump to the Big League club. Injuries have held Waddell back throughout his career, and 2019 was his first fully healthy season in the last three years as the left-hander worked through two forearm strains. Waddell spent the 2019 ...

In our new series Trade Talk Tuesday, we will examine some of the best, worst, and middle of the road trades in Pittsburgh Pirates history. Today, we look at the trade that sent Ronny Paulino to the Philadelphia Phillies and brought back a catching prospect that would make an impact in the Major Leagues. The Pittsburgh Pirates have not had a lot of catching depth over the years and have always seemed to have to go outside of the organization looking for the help they needed. At the end of the 2008 season, the Pirates were left with a dilemma behind the plate. Catching prospect Ryan Doumit was starting to emerge as the team's starting catcher and veteran Ronny Paulino was seeing his career start to spiral downward. Paulino wasn't happy about the drop in playing time, and the Pirates didn't have a variable back-up option in the Minor Leagues. The Pirates had been shopping Paulino the entire off-season,  and it wasn't until the Winter Meetings that they found a partner. Th...

As we await the start of the 2020 MLB season due to Corona Virus concerns, we will take a look at every player on the Pirates roster and outline what they will bring to the table and projections for the 2020 season. I hope this brings some positive reading to the current situation and helps us all as we wait for baseball. When talking about Pittsburgh Pirates pitching prospect Cam Vieaux, Altoona Curve Manager Michael Ryan put it best. "He got ahead of hitters and we were in every game he pitched," said Ryan. "He always gave us a chance to win and that's all you can ask of a young starting pitcher." Vieaux, a product of Michigan State, has spent the last four seasons climbing the ladder in the Pirates Minor League system. He made it one step closer to the Majors last season when he got his feet wet with the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, pitching in 13 games for the Tribe. The 26-year old has been consistent throughout his career and was a one-time A...