MLB the Show: Pirate Player Rankings

As many baseball fans know the new MLB game has hit the shelves today (3/29).  I thought it would be fun to share the Pirate’s player ranking with everyone.  I will discuss who I think got the most favorable ranking for a pitcher and hitter, and who got the least favorable ranking.  Essentially this is just for fun and would love to see some comments below on your thoughts about the player rankings:

Quick Note: I understand this is just a video game, thought it be interesting to look at it and see what you all think of the rankings.  Yes, it is not “real”, but still a different topic to look at.

Lineup:

John Jaso: 73 overall

Andrew McCutchen: 94 overall

David Freese: 71 overall

Starling Marte: 86 overeall

Gregory Polanco: 76 overall

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Francisco Cervelli: 79 overall

Josh Harrison: 80 overall

Jordy Mercer: 73 overall

Other:

Jung-Ho Kang: 81

Mike Morse: 66

Jason Rogers: 67

Sean Rodriguez: 66

Chris Stewart: 70

Matt Joyce:  66

Florimon:69

Ed Easley: 65

Cole Figueroa: 67

Pitchers:

Gerrit Cole: 89 overall

Francisco Liriano: 82 overall

Jon Niese: 74 overall

Jeff Locke: 75 overall

Ryan Vogelsong: 73 overall

Juan Nicasio: 63 overall

Bullpen:

Mark Melancon: 89

Tony Watson: 84

Neftali Feliz: 69

Caminero: 73

Jared Hughes: 74

Kyle Lobstein: 68

Luebke: Not in Game?

Other:

Rob Scahill: 62

AJ Schugel:67

Guido Knudson: 65

Jorge Rondon: 48

Prospects:

Elias Diaz: 60 overall C-Potential

Overall I think the Pirates did not get a lot of respect in this game.  Their bullpen looks like garbage according to this.  There are numerous players who received lower rankings than they should have including: Feliz, Niese, Watson, Morse, and you could argue Polanco and Jaso as well.

My biggest disappointment is the two catchers.  Cervelli and Stewart were the best catching duo on the league last year.  Cervelli had the second highest batting average of all catchers last year in the NL and considered one of the top defensive and pitch receiving catchers in the league. Stewart was more than adequate hitting .289, throwing out 24% of runners and have 4 defensive runs saved.  Both should have received higher overall ratings.

On the pitcher side I think Liriano should have received a higher grade.  Liriano has been arguably the best lefty in the NL Central over the last few years throwing under a 3.4 ERA in each year.  Not to mention he has averaged over 9 strikeouts per nine innings pitcher over that same time frame.   What works against him is that Liriano is effectively

wild and that may not translate well to a video game. Another disappointment is the most popular player in camp Juan Nicasio.  I am not speaking for his spring stats, I am speaking of his stats last year.  For the Dodgers he threw 58 innings out of the pen with a decent 3.86 ERA and 10k/9ip.  These are pretty strong numbers that do not warrant a 63 overall, and yes he is in the game as a relief pitcher.

The biggest surprise to me was Jeff Locke.  They have him listed ahead of Ryan Vogelsong, and Jon Niese.  Locke has had one strong half season in his career and other than that has been very inconsistent to say the least.  Nothing about Locke should have him above Niese who has a career 3.9 ERA while Locke sports a poor 4.16 ERA. For hitters there really was not a big surprise for me.  The best I can do is Josh Harrison.  He is a low power guy and does not have the greatest eye at the plate.  I think 80 is pretty fair for him, but I could have seen them rate him a little lower based on some of the other rankings.

What do you think of the rankings? Is there a lack of respect in MLB the Show? Or did they do an okay job? Comment below!