Pittsburgh Pirates Need to Stay Hot until the All-Star Break

Joe Musgrove Fills a Void

With Jameson Taillon out for the foreseeable for future and Chris Archer failing to live up to his potential, the Pirates need a starter that they can rely on to anchor their rotation. Joe Musgrove can be that pitcher.

Musgrove is rarely talked about as a top of the rotation pitcher but has some statistics that could suggest that he has top of the rotation potential. While Musgrove owns a 4.27 ERA on the season, his FIP sits at 3.59 and both are inflated due to just a few bad starts. Musgrove has had four outings this season where he has gone six plus innings while giving up zero earned runs. He has an additional six outings of six plus innings with three or less earned runs.

Anyone who has watched Musgrove pitch this year knows that he can completely shut down an opposing team, the consistency, however, is lacking. Musgrove will get two more starts before the all-star break. Both of these starts need to be stellar and need to give the Pirates a strong chance to win each game. The Pirates are going to be playing against high-powered offenses and having a pitcher that you know will shutout or at least quiet the opposing bats is a good start to winning key series.