21-year old righty starting pitcher Gerrit Cole came into this season as the Pirates’ #1 overall prospect according to Baseball America. He signed too late to pitch for the Pirates last year. Cole has pitched in 5 games (all starts) at Bradenton (A-ball) and he is 1-1 with a 3.52 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. Cole has only given up 17 hits and walked 7 batters in his first 23 innings in the minors while whiffing 29 batters! He looks very polished for such a young pitcher, so he could be a fast riser for the Pirates.

25-year old lefty swinging 3B Pedro Alvarez was off to a rough start for the Pirates this year, but he is red hot right now. In his last 10 games, Alvarez is 15 for 36 (.417 avg) with 10 runs scored, 5 homers and 11 RBIs. Overall this year, Alvarez has played in 22 games in which he is 19 for 73 (.260 avg, .898 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 7 homers and 15 RBIs. He has walked only 4 times this year while whiffing 25 times, as he is still swinging at everything. He has now played in 191 games in his first three years with the Pirates and he is 153 of 655 (.234 avg, .719 OPS) with 73 runs scored, 27 homers, 98 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Pirates need Alvarez to stay hot as they have had issues scoring runs.

The Pirates will be without 26-year old righty swinging 1B/OF Nick Evans for a while due to a broken left hand. Evans has played in 19 games in AAA-ball so far this year for the Pirates and he is 14 for 71 (.197 avg, .586 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 2 homers and 9 RBIs. He has played in 159 games in his first four years in the majors and he is 99 for 386 (.256 avg, .712 OPS) with 54 runs scored, 8 homers and 46 RBIs. This is a bad break for Evans as he was likely going to get a shot with the Pirates at some point this year.

The Yankees pretty much gave 35-year old righty starting pitcher A.J. Burnett to the Pirates for free last winter. Burnett pitched in 33 games (32 starts) for the Yankees last year and he was 11-11 with a 5.15 ERA and a 1.43 WHIP. The Pirates felt that the much lower pressure environment would bring out the best in Burnett, and they have been right so far. Burnett has started 2 games for the Pirates so far this year and he is 1-1 with a 1.38 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. Burnett has only given up 9 hits while whiffing 15 batters in his first 13 innings, so has has been impressive. The Pirates hope he keeps up the good work.

The Pirates signed 33-year old righty swinging shortstop Clint Barmes to a 2-year, $10.5 million dollar deal over the winter. He certainly is not repaying the Pirates for their investment so far this year. Barmes has played in 14 games for the Pirates so far this year and he is 4 for 45 (.089 avg, .293 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer and 1 RBI. Barmes’ only extra base hit so far this year was his solo homer. Barmes has whiffed 12 times without walking so far this year, as he is swinging at everything. Until Barmes starts relaxing at the plate, he’s not going to start hitting.