Spring training preview | Pittsburgh Pirates winning recipe starts with manager Clint Hurdle
BRADENTON -- Proving the 2013 season wasn't a flash in the pan, the Pittsburgh Pirates have built a winning formula.
The culture around the Steel City and the Pirates' spring home, the Friendly City of Bradenton, has changed.
Pittsburgh, which spent 20 consecutive full seasons missing the postseason, is riding a streak of two straight playoff berths.
While the Pirates haven't won a division title since 1992, the Buccos are providing fans a winning product that plays into October now.
Manager Clint Hurdle has been at the forefront of the turnaround. He became the seventh Pittsburgh manager since 1992 when he took over in 2011 from John Russell, and the team started accumulating wins.
Hurdle's teams won 72 games in 2011, 79 in 2012, 94 in 2013 and 88 in 2014.
Last season saw the club bounced from the playoffs by eventual world champion San Francisco in the National League Wild Card game.
Now the Pirates will look to advance deeper into the postseason, and they'll be doing it with new faces.
Here's what you'll need to know about the 2015 squad as it sets up shop at Pirate City and McKechnie Field:
Pitching
The cliché that pitching wins championships certainly fit last season with Madison Bumgarner carrying the Giants to the world title. He was the force that stopped Pittsburgh in the NL Wild Card game, too.
The Bucs have their ace in Francisco Liriano (7-10, 3.38 earned-run average in 162 1/3 innings), who inked a new three-year deal worth $39 million. It represented the largest free-agent contract in franchise history. The southpaw rose to fame in Minnesota, but injuries plagued Liriano before he resurrected his career under pitching coach Ray Searage's tutelage in Pittsburgh.
The Pirates rewarded Liriano for his two seasons with the club, where he recorded a win in the club's NL Wild Card game in 2013 against Cincinnati and compiled more than 320 innings.
Edinson Volquez (13-7, 3.04 ERA in 192 2/3 innings) departed for reigning American League champion Kansas City, but A.J. Burnett has returned to the fold for a second stint after languishing in Philadelphia (8-18, 4.59 ERA, 1.409 WHIP last season).
Gerrit Cole is another key arm in the rotation, while Brandon Cumpton, Jeff Locke, Vance Worley and Charlie Morton are
expected to fight for the other starting spots.
The bullpen, led by closer Mark Melancon (33 of 37 save opportunities converted), is a power pitching group with left-hander Tony Watson (NL All-Star in 2014), righty John Holdzkom and Jared Hughes to name a few.
Positional strength
Among position players, the Pirates' outfield has the potential to be the best in all of baseball. Andrew McCutchen is the veteran of the trio, patrolling center field. The Pittsburgh slugger had a more impressive stat line last season than he did in 2013, when he was named the NL's Most Valuable Player. Cutch's slash line (.314 batting average/.410 on-base percentage/.542 slugging percentage) gave the Fort Meade native third place in last season's MVP voting behind Miami slugger Giancarlo Stanton and winner Clayton Kershaw, the Los Angeles Dodgers' ace.
Joining McCutchen in the outfield is Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco. However, Polanco's rookie struggles in the second half after a torrid start could mean the right field position is up for grabs.
Positional weakness
An area of concern heading into camp and the regular season is the backstop. The club lost Russell Martin to free agency when he signed a five-year, $82.5 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. That means former New York Yankee catcher Francisco Cervelli, Chris Stewart and Tony Sanchez all figure to get playing time. One of the three, though, must take ownership of the position, and that means working with the pitching staff the way Martin did.
But catcher isn't the lone perceived weakness this season. Pedro Alvarez switched from third base to first base last August after committing a major league-worst 25 errors at the hot corner. An injury to his left foot cut the transition short as Alvarez' season ended prematurely. The Pirates need him to become defensively sound as well as deliver the power numbers he did in 2013, when he belted an NL-leading 36 home runs compared to the 18 dingers he hit in 2014.
Prospects to watch
The spring isn't just about seeing the potential that the big league club will have, but also a chance to witness what lies in store down the road. Sometimes that future can come quickly.
The Pirates have a few prospects worth checking out this spring. Right-handed pitcher Tyler Glasnow is well-known in Manatee County after the 6-foot-7 hurler claimed MLBPipeline.com's Pitching Prospect of the Year for what he did in Bradenton last season. Glasnow delivered a scorching 11.4 strikeout-per-nine-innings rate with the Marauders, and opponents hit just .174 against him.
While Glasnow should start the year in Double-A Altoona, right-hander Jameson Taillon could get to the big leagues a bit quicker. The fireball-throwing 23-year-old suffered Tommy John surgery last season and missed 2014. Yet, the second overall pick in the 2010 draft still has the stuff to get himself from the minors to the majors at some point in 2015.
On the hitting side, fans should take note of Josh Bell. Another prospect to make his way through Bradenton, Bell hit .335 with nine home runs for the Marauders last season. Playing in the outfield, Bell garnered Most Valuable Player honors last season in the FSL in his breakout 2014 campaign.
This story was originally published February 20, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Spring training preview | Pittsburgh Pirates winning recipe starts with manager Clint Hurdle."