Pirates Robbie Grossman Off Quickly in Explosive Arizona Fall League

Robbie Grossman

isn’t wasting any time in opening some eyes in the Arizona Fall League.  After three games against some quality competition, the Pittsburgh Pirates prospect outfielder has some gaudy numbers.  Grossman has eleven at-bats and was moved to the third spot in Mesa’s lineup. He has six hits inlcuding two homers, earned two walks, and doubled in today’s game.

Of course most of the AFL has hit very well consistently throughout the years, but this year is off to a scorching start.

We saw a tweet today about the insane offensive numbers being put up–No winning team has scored less than ten runs in a game.  Pitchers have an ERA of 8.89 after 18 bombs have been hit and 86 runs scored in five games.

Now that’s exciting, but I think we need to take a deep breath when we look at some of the early numbers coming out of Arizona.  If Grossman can put up modest numbers, we can consider it a success. If Jarek Cunningham doesn’t strikeout more than 20% we would also call it a success.  If Gerrit Cole can get some innings piled up, it would be a success.

It’s a month of baseball. Leave it at that.

But I also believe that a player like Grossman is enjoying success because he is simply more talented than most people gave him credit for being. Can he continue that success as he moves up the organization? Shit, we can all only pray. The Pirates desperately need some bats in the organization.

Maybe the fact that he is not getting much love from the press is fueling him a bit too, but the bottom line is this, Grossman just might be another Pirates outfielder who could be poised for a rise through the system.

The Bucs have had success in turning around Jose Tabata. Alex Presley found the switch in the past two seasons. We all know about Andrew McCutchen, but how about Gorkys Hernandez? Hernandez was a defensive whiz, the Bucs have taught him the ability to hit a little bit too.

The Pirates are starting to develop some talent. It’s not coming in abundance, but it’s coming along.

And that is damn fun to watch, isn’t it?