Doumit, Pearce Out: Do Pirates Harrison And Brown Just Need a Chance?

Supposedly Josh Harrison is too small. Supposedly

Josh Harrison lacks the fielding skills of a MLB player. Supposedly Josh Harrison isn’t…..fill in the blank here.

We don’t know about you, but when players are told all the reasons why they can’t be a big league player, one would think it’s a tremendous motivating factor in their development.

How many times do you hear about the six foot whatever prospect that didn’t cut it?    [Insert Brandon Wood articles here]

Harrison came to the Pirates as part of the Gorzo/Grabow trade that hasn’t produced much for the Bucs.   All Harrison has down is hit, so why not give him a look?  Isn’t it time that he gets an opportunity to prove that all the numbers he has put up in the minors can stick?  We think it should.

Harrison doesn’t strike out a lot. Lord knows we have seen what Brandon Wood can do.  He strikes out a lot.

This season at AAA Indianapolis, the 23 year-old is ripping the baseball at a  .331/.371/.469 clip with eight doubles, two triples, and two homers in 141 plate appearances.

In 1564 plate appearances, Harrison has a strikeout percentage of just 11%. We like the move of bringing up Josh Harrison rather than Andy Marte. Something simply isn’t working for Marte despite all of the help of the Pirates system.

Dusty Brown will be a place holder until the Bucs confirm the status of Ryan Doumit.  Doumit was on crutches after the 3-2 loss to the Cubs.  Jason Jaramillo is nursing a sore arm, so Brown should be the guy.  He is hitting rather well, with a .264/.348/.535 with six bombs for Indy.

When we saw Brown in spring training, we liked him.  Let’s trust he can carry it over for the Pirates.

Both Harrison and Brown are players that deserve a shot.  Somewhere in the organiztion, fingers are crossed that the Pirates can produce with these callups.  I have ten fingers, five of them are firmly squeezed over the other with these moves.

But make no mistake, these two moves seriously weaken the Bucs offense on paper.  Ryan Doumit and Steve Pearce were producers for an anemic Pirates offense.   Removing them from the equation and inserting two players who have hit, but aren’t proven in the bigs sucks.  Especially when looking at the upcoming four game series with the Mets.  The Bucs really need to grab as many games as possible at CitiField because the upcoming homestand looks challenging.

The only way this proves to be a positive is if somehow Dusty Brown and Josh Harrison can produce.

Buckle up.

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All Harrison does is hit….