Buccos Cove

Yesterday, the baseball world mourned the passing of home run legend Hank Aaron, who passed away at 86-years-old. In his memory, we relive a moment where Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron both hit grand slams in a wild back-and-forth affair. Yesterday, the baseball world mourned the passing of legendary Atlanta Braves slugger Hank Aaron at the age of 86. He ranked second all-time in career home runs with 755 home runs and is the leader for career RBI with 2,297 over his 23-year Major League career. He will be known as one of the greatest pure hitters in the game of baseball and was named an all-star in 21-consecutive seasons. He was the last player called to the Major Leagues from the Negro Leagues and spent the majority of his career in the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Braves organization. He may have never played for the Pirates, but there was a time that he and The Great One Battled it out in a game that showed off both of their skills. It was a game on June 15th, 1962, at...

Our 2021 Pittsburgh Pirates previews continue with the lone left-handed starting pitchers in the projected Pirates rotation. Steven Brault changed his approach at the end of the 2020 season and is looking to bring some of that momentum into the rotation in 2021. The Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation looks a lot different entering Spring Training 2021 than it did a year ago. Three of the five projected starters from last year are gone as Ben Cherrington and his staff starts a rebuild. Despite the rotation's struggles last season, there was one pitcher who had a breakout season and pitched his way into the starting rotation. Left-handed pitcher Steven Brault has gone from a swingman to a permanent fixture in the rotation. He completely changed his approach last season calling himself a "Freaking Throwing Machine" and it ended up working as he worried about just throwing the ball rather than overthinking things. In the end, he went from piggyback starter to fu...

One of the latest rumors involving the Pittsburgh Pirates is surrounding first baseman, Mitch Moreland. The Pirates have shown interest in the slugger the last couple of seasons, and we see how he would fit if the Pirates pull the trigger in 2021. Even though the Pirates are in the middle of a rebuild, General Manager Ben Cherrington said the team is still in on some free agents. In his later press conference, he said "We expect to add players to the Big League roster before Spring Training begins. We have oars in the water." So far in his tenure as GM, Cherrington has done what he said he was going to do, and that is acquiring talent for the organization. So, there is no doubt that the rumors have been swirling about who the Pirates are interested in. The latest rumor is surrounding a slugger who would bring both a veteran presence and a potential power bat to the Pirates bench. Moreland spent last season with the Boston Red Sox and San Diego Padres and appeared ...

Spring Training is right around the corner, and it is time to preview what the Pirates roster is going to look like. Tyler Bashlor was acquired in a trade with the New York Mets last season and is looking for a spot in the Pirates bullpen. Last season, the Pittsburgh Pirates suffered several injuries throughout the season, and a lot of those came to the pitching staff. Of the 11 players that ended the year on the injured list, eight of them were pitchers forcing guys to be accelerated into roles they weren't ready for. To combat that, General Manager Ben Cherrington made a series of small moves to bring in younger, but more experienced talent to fill the gaps. One of those pieces that he added was right-handed pitcher Tyler Bashlor in a trade with the New York Mets. The Pirates sent cash to the Mets and in return received the 27-year-old who has bounced up and down between the Major and Minor Leagues for the past three seasons. It hasn't been an easy road in the Maj...

As part of the Pittsburgh Pirates' three-team deal earlier this week, the team acquired Pittsburgh native David Bednar. We look to see if the hard-throwing righty has a spot in the Pirates bullpen during the 2021 season. Growing up, David Bednar was your stereotypical yinzer coming from a sports-oriented family. His dad was the head baseball coach at Mars High School and he and his two siblings all played baseball in some form or fashion. Bednar was also a fan of all things Pittsburgh sports, rooting on the Pirates, Penguins, and Steelers whenever he could. He graduated from Mars high school in 2012 and went on to play college baseball at Lafayette College. Now, eight years later, Bednar is back in his hometown, but this time he is wearing the Black and Gold. Bednar was a part of the three-team, seven-player, deal between the New York Mets, San Diego Padres, and Pittsburgh Pirates that brought Joe Musgrove to San Diego, Joe Luchessi to New York, and five prospects to Pi...

Every team needs solid players coming off the bench if they want to be a successful organization. For today's Buccos Cove Fan Vote All-Pirates team we add one of the best pinch hitters of all-time, outfielder Manny Mota. Making it to the professional ranks in any sport can be a daunting task for a young athlete. You have to go through hours and hours of training, and even then it may not be enough to succeed at the highest level. There are road bumps and obstacles that you have to overcome in order to be successful. Even when you finally do make it to the pinnacle of your sport, there is no guarantee that you will play every day. Every team needs good role players, and the patience and perseverance that it takes to succeed in these positions are hard to muster. However, our spot on the Buccos Cove Fan Vote All-Pirates team bench goes to a man who exemplified what it meant to be a role player. He was one of the MLB's best pinch hitters and was a key platoon player fo...

With the trade of Joe Musgrove on Monday, the Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation will be down another player. We look at how the starting rotation is taking shape with pitchers and catchers set to report to Bradenton in less than a month. The Pittsburgh Pirates made another move toward their team rebuild on Monday when they sent Joe Musgrove to the San Diego Padres in a three-team deal. The Pirates got back a nice haul of prospects that will help rebuild a depleted Minor League system and get the Pirates back to having a pipeline of talent. However, in the short term, the rotation is down one of its key starting pitchers from the last couple of seasons. Oscar Marin and the coaching staff are going to have to get the most out of their young pitchers as the new Pirates rotation begins to take shape. Of the projected starting pitchers, only one has pitched a full MLB season, so the rest are going to have to do some on the job training. Entering Spring Training, there seem to...