There’s a different feel around the Pittsburgh Pirates lineup right now, and it’s the reality of adding the type of players they did during the offseason. Instead of most fans feeling like this is just a hot start, this is more of a complete team that can compete with any squad in Major League Baseball during the campaign.
Paul Zeise of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had some great words about that. He believes that the addition of Konnor Griffin will make things even more different.
“Once Griffin does figure it out, it will be one more position where the Pirates have upgraded their offense. It will become one more spot in the lineup that isn’t an automatic out. And it will be one more spot in the lineup where the Pirates — fourth in the majors in home runs — have the ability to hit the ball over the fence.
“Nine games isn’t much, but I’ve seen enough to believe the Pirates have a more complete lineup than they have had in years. And that should translate into more wins and fewer losing streaks,” he wrote.
For what seems like forever, the Pirates have had stretches in their lineup where they have those free outs Zeise wrote about. Once pitchers got through the top half, there were outs waiting at the bottom.
“The Pirates were overmatched in far too many spots, easy to pitch to, and as a result even the good hitters in the lineup became vulnerable because they weren’t seeing a lot of pitches to hit. Oneil Cruz, who is as hot as anyone in the league, said this weekend that having better hitters in the lineup has helped him because he is getting pitched to more.
“Those days were frustrating, and it is why Ben Cherington and the Pirates set out this offseason to find some competent major league bats to close the gap between the Pirates and the rest of the National League.”
If Griffin turns into even an average player, that changes the entire lineup. However, the hope and expectation is that he’ll be much more than that.
In their last seven games, the Pirates have scored at least seven runs in four of them. With this pitching staff, that’s almost a guaranteed win.