Ahoy Matey: The Pirates Are Surprising Us All Right Now

Going into this season, many people expected the Pittsburgh Pirates to be in full rebuild mode. After all, they traded their best starting pitcher in, Gerrit Cole, to the Houston Astros and their franchise icon, Andrew McCutchen, to the San Francisco Giants over the winter.

Usually when a team makes bold moves like that, they are sending the message to everyone in baseball that they're in full rebuild mode and ready to transition to the next phase. However, the complete opposite has happened thus far and as we sit here at the start of play today, the Pirates sit atop the NL Central with a 8-2 record.

The reason why the Pirates have been so successful to date isn't necessarily because of their pitching, but rather their offense which currently leads the NL in runs scored with 66 over the span of 353 at bats. Furthermore, Pittsburgh leads the majors in batting average (.286) and on-base percentage (.357) over that span. Certainly impressive for a lineup that looked as though it wasn't going to do much damage on paper during Spring Training.

The biggest contributor to their offense thus far has been third baseman, Colin Moran, who the Pirates picked up from the Astros in the Gerrit Cole trade package. Many people around baseball were a bit skeptical when that trade originally happened about the true potential of Moran, but so far, he seems to be playing at a very high level as illustrated by his: .344/.400/.500 batting line over 32 at bats with 11 hits, 2 doubles, 1 home run, 8 RBI, 3 walks, and 5 strikeouts. Both Moran's batting average and on-base percentage lead the Pirates currently.

Other than Moran, Gregory Polanco has 3 home runs and 13 RBI so far over the span of 34 at bats, both of which lead the team, and Josh Harrison is the current Pirates hits leader with 14 over 10 games. In addition, don't ignore the fact that Corey Dickerson, who the Rays DFA'ed during Spring Training and the Pirates picked up, is 12-for-25 the last 7 days with 5 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run, 8 RBI, 4 strikeouts, 1 stolen base, a .450 batting average, and a .500 on-base percentage.

Again, who would have expected Corey Dickerson to be performing at this high of a level 10 games into the season? Not many and it just goes to show the capability that the entire Pirates lineup has if everyone is producing at the same time and stays healthy.

On the pitching side of things, don't overlook Jameson Taillon, who the Pirates view as their new ace now that they no longer have Gerrit Cole on their staff. This was the year where many expected Taillon to take that next step and so far he is doing just that. Through 2 starts, Taillon leads the Pirates with a 1.26 ERA over 14.1 IP with 16 strikeouts and a 10.05 strikeouts-per-9 rate. As a matter of fact, Taillon pitched a complete game, shutout during his last outing on Sunday against the Cincinnati Reds.

Beyond Taillon, the Pirates next best starter is 25-year old, Trevor Williams, who helped lead the Pirates to a shutout win against the Detroit Tigers during his first outing this year. Through 2 starts, Williams has thrown 11.1 innings, has 5 strikeouts, and a 1.59 ERA. If the Pirates want to stay relevant like this during the remainder of the season, they will need both Jameson Taillon and Trevor Williams, to continue performing at this level.

Switching over to the bullpen, things have not been nearly as delightful. Going into play today, the Pirates bullpen ranks 27th in baseball with a 5.86 ERA over 35.1 IP. During that span, the Pirates bullpen has recorded 23 earned runs, which ties them with the Chicago White Sox, for the 6th most in baseball and have a .257 Batting Average Against which ties them with the Texas Rangers.

Regardless, that doesn't mean that every Pirates reliever has been terrible to date. Felipe Vazquez, formerly known as Felipe Rivero, has recorded 4 saves in 4 save opportunities and has 8 strikeouts through 5 innings pitched so far. In addition, 24-year old, Michael Feliz, another piece of the Gerrit Cole trade package, has a 9.00 strikeouts-per-9 rate so far and Tyler Glasnow gives the Pirates a valuable option in the pen. Glasnow spent about half of last season down in the minors and has a .150 Batting Average Against so far through 6 IP.

While all of this looks great right now, none of us truly know how the Pirates will perform during the remainder of the season or if their offense can continue producing like they have. Either way, anything can happen over a 162 game season and who knows, maybe the Pirates will surprise us all and be the National League sleeper team.