Pittsburgh Pirates: Sweep Remains Elusive in Series Victory Against the Phillies

Let the kids play

Moving forward the Pittsburgh Pirates need to focus almost solely on 2022 and beyond. One way to do this is to let their younger players who could be part of the future play, which is something they started to do over the weekend.

Infielder Rodolfo Castro made a pair of starts at second base and one at third base in the series. He went 3-for-12 with a double in the series continuing his strong start to his MLB career as Castro owns a .667 slugging percentage, .444 isolate slugging (ISO) and a 140 wRC+ through his first 38 career plate appearances.

Utility man Hoy Park who was acquired from the New York Yankees last week for Clay Holmes was added to the active roster on Saturday. Sunday afternoon Park got the start at shortstop and collected a double.

Top relief pitching prospect Nick Mears pitched a scoreless inning in Sunday’s loss and David Bednar continues to be trusted in high leverage situations. Moving forward you would like to see the Pirates continue to use Mears, as well as giving starts to the newly acquired Bryse Wilson, who is slated to make his Pirate debut on Monday night, and Miguel Yajure once he is healthy.

Down the stretch the Pittsburgh Pirates need to be playing their young players. Castro and Park should both be in the lineup every day or close to it. Crowe, Brubaker, Wilson, and Yajure (when healthy) need to be making starts. Mears and Bednar should be given plenty of high leverage opportunities. If/when they are promoted to the Majors, Tucupita Marcano and Michael Chavis also need to finding regularly at-bats. It’s time to start to find out which players are part of the future and who may not be.