Where Things Stand
Happy Friday, everyone. We are at that bittersweet point in the season where you can see the end coming, but the Pirates are somehow playing decent baseball after struggling throughout most of the summer and you’re not really ready for it to end. The Bucs are currently on pace to win 75 games this season which would be a 13-game improvement over last season. That by itself is pretty impressive, but it gets even more so when you consider that there was a point in mid-July when they were actually behind last season’s pace. It’s been a wild season for sure.
Yesterday was a day off, so there’s no game to talk about or a postgame show to share. This is where I normally dig up some random song to post and fill a little space, which of course got me thinking. What is the best cover you’ve ever heard? There are a lot of good options out there. Bob Dylan’s All Along The Watchtower covered by Hendricks? Johnny Cash’s cover of Nine Inch Nails’ Hurt? The Black Crowes doing Otis Redding’s Hard To Handle? So many good options that were released as singles and became hits in their own right. After some time thinking about it, I settled on this cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Gold Dust Woman in a live performance by Gov’t Mule with Grace Potter doing the Stevie Nicks part. It’s a tremendous cover made even more impressive by it being a live performance. Well, let me know what you think is the best cover song.
Up Next
This weekend the Pirates will head to Atlanta for a three-game series against the MLB-leading Braves. The Braves will come into the series with a 90-48 record and have a 2.5-game lead over the Orioles for the best record in Major League Baseball and a 6-game lead over the Dodgers for the best record in the National League. This isn’t the type of series where you would expect to have any sort of confidence, but the last time these two teams faced off in Pittsburgh it was a pretty even series. Maybe the Bucs can pick up where they left off back in the beginning of August. Let’s have a look at the projected pitching matchups for the series.
Friday, September 8
Mitch Keller RHP (11-8 3.93 ERA) vs Bryce Elder RHP (11-4 3.42 ERA)
Saturday, September 9
Johan Oviedo RHP (8-14 4.27 ERA) vs TBD
Sunday, September 10
TBD vs TBD
Well, it appears that the Pirates aren’t the only team leaning heavily on TBD as their star pitcher down the stretch. Seeing Keller and Oviedo both scheduled for a tough series like this is about as good of a sign as you can get. The Braves are certainly the better team, but those are the two guys that will give the Pirates the best chance at finding wins in this series. Well, can the Pirates find at least one win in this series and avoid the sweep? Will they manage to steal a series win on the road against the best team in baseball? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
Quick Hits
The Pirates have promoted one of their top pitching prospects to AA Altoona.
The Pittsburgh Pirates promoted pitching prospect Bubba Chandler to Double-A Altoona on Wednesday, according to the minor league club's official transaction log.
Per MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo, Chandler will make his final start of the season Friday versus Harrisburg. Chandler is the No. 5 pitcher and No. 7 overall prospect in the Pirates' farm system, according to MLB Pipeline.
Chandler, who is set to turn 21 years old next week, has spent the entire 2023 season up to this point with High-A Greensboro. The right-hander is 9-4 with a 4.75 ERA and 1.500 WHIP on the year, but he is 6-1 with a 1.85 ERA and 0.893 WHIP over his last eight starts.
he Pirates selected Chandler in the third round of the 2021 MLB Draft, although he notably didn't take the mound until 2022. Instead, Chandler played shortstop in his debut campaign before becoming a two-way player by tossing 41.1 innings and racking up 124 plate appearances the following year.
Pirates pitching prospect Mike Kennedy has been named Florida Complex League’s Pitcher of the Month for August.
Mike Kennedy, a left handed pitcher and 2022 graduate of Troy High School, was named the Florida Complex League’s Pitcher of the Month for August.
Kennedy is nearing the end of his first full season as a professional baseball player, after being drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates organization last year.
The left hander pitched in three games in August for the FCL Pirates (rookie ball). Overall, he tossed 14 2-3 innings and allowed just one run on five hits, for a 0.61 ERA. Kennedy walked three and struck out 18.
During his outing on Aug. 1, Kennedy tossed five scoreless innings, allowing five hits, with eight strikeouts.
He tossed five more scoreless innings on Aug. 8 and 4 2-3 innings of one-run ball on Aug. 15. Kennedy did not allow a hit in either outing, for a total of 9 2-3 consecutive no-hit innings.
Alright. That wraps us up for the week. We’ll be back here again on Monday looking back at the Braves series as well as previewing the Nationals series the beginning of next week. Have a wonderful weekend. As always, #LetsGoBucs!
I like Dylan’s Watchtower much better. I have a ton of favorite covers but Streets of Baltimore by Gram Parsons and Satisfaction by DEVO are both really good. Also Promised Land by Elvis.
Sounds like my new podcast...TBD