With the 1st Overall Pick...

The MLB Draft was last night and the Pirates went in a direction I probably wouldn't have gone if I was the General Manager, but I am not the GM so I guess it's not right for me to question someone else trying to make their mark on something I have no control over.

The Pirates drafted college backstop Henry Davis who has been compared to other #1 overall catchers drafted in Joe Mauer and Adley Ruschmann.  

If Henry Davis can turn into a Russel Martin or Yadier Molina leader type behind the plate with above average offense, I will be very happy with this pick.  I think Jack Leiter will become a future Cy Young winner one day, but that's just my prediction. 

The Pirates have had the number one overall pick 4 previous times having drafted 3rd Baseman Jeff King and college pitchers Kris Benson, Bryan Bullington, and Gerrit Cole.  

Cole is the only one of that group to become an All Star in Pittsburgh when he was selected to the 2015 All Star Game along with Andrew McCutchen, Mark Melancon, and AJ Burnett.

I have shown off some of my Gerrit Cole and Andrew McCutchen pairings in the past, many as recent as last month.

With the draft it is important to plant a seed for a future and recognize what is currently in the system and what will be coming in the future.

The franchise has a major lack of depth at the catcher position in the minors.  The Pirates have only one catcher in their top 30 prospects, Endy Rodriguez, and he profiles to not be able to stick at the position long term.  Rodriguez came to the Pirates as part of the 3 team trade that saw Joe Musgrove go to San Diego and Joey Lucchesi go to the Mets.

The Pirates talent pipeline is loaded with middle infield prospects (4 of top 15 prospects) and that isn't even taking into account their current MLB roster which features All Star Adam Frazier and former first round draft picks Cole Tucker and Kevin Newman.  The team is also very rich in the right handed pitcher department in the minors with seven of their top 12 prospects being right handed starters.

The Pirates saw success in the majors from 2013 to 2015 when the core of their team featured multiple 1st Round draft picks (Neil Walker-2B, Pedro Alvarez-3B, Andrew McCutchen-CF, Gerrit Cole-SP) and homegrown Latin America signings (Starling Marte-LF and Gregory Polanco-RF) all around the diamond.  

By drafting catcher Henry Davis to go with middle infield and starting pitcher franchise strengths, the Pirates are building towards the future with a high contact rate and pitching in mind.  

The Pirates are clearly in a rebuild right now.  They have a few pieces in place for the future already with Ke'Bryan Hayes, Kevin Newman, and Brian Reynolds still under team control through roughly 2026 the next great Pirates teams could feature yesterday's first overall pick, Henry Davis, being the signal caller.

Did you watch any of the MLB Draft?

Are you happy with your team's selection?

Superman Day

Every June 12th is celebrated as National Superman Day.

You may recall I discussed this day back in 2019 when I showed off a super rare 1 of 1 autograph booklet letter patch card.  

I was never a huge fan of Superman compared to other superheroes.  I always liked the darker more angsty heroes like Wolverine, Green Arrow, or Batman or I liked the comical heroes like Flash or Deadpool.

I do respect Superman though.  He is an American icon.

Superman is also known as The Man of Steel.

Here are some other Men of Steel from my Andrew McCutchen Triple Threads collection

Pirates of the Past

I thought it might be fun to look at cards that feature Andrew McCutchen with former teammates and do a "Where are they now?" type thing.

I got the idea from one of those ads that takes a look at a movie cast to see where they are now.  It was followed by watching the Friends Reunion show with Ms. CollectingCutch as we saw the faces of Matthew Perry, Courtney Cox, etc in their current appearance.

So the first person I am going to look at is Gerrit Cole. 

Gerrit Cole was drafted by the Yankees in the first round of the 2009 amateur draft, but chose not to sign and instead attended UCLA where he was drafted 1st overall by the Pirates in 2011.

Cole made his debut in 2013 and helped to push the Pirates towards their first playoff run in over two decades.  

He joined a young Pirates team loaded with talent that included the 2013 NL MVP (Andrew McCutchen) and the 2013 NL Home Run Champion (Pedro Alvarez)

Cole finished his rookie season going 10-7 with a 3.22 ERA over 19 games started.  He also went 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA and 0.64WHIP over 11 innings in the 2013 Postseason.

The following season saw the Pirates make another playoff push and finish with the top Wild Card position. Cole went 11-5 with a 9K/9 and 3.23FIP in his sophomore season.  The Pirates lost the Wild Card Game and Cole didn't get a chance to pitch in the postseason.  Meanwhile McCutchen continued to be a perennial MVP candidate (finishing 3rd in MVP voting) and helped anchor one of the best outfields in baseball.

The Pirates began 2015 the same way they finished 2014, as one of the youngest and best teams in baseball.  The young team constantly flirted with the best record in baseball behind their division rivals, St. Louis Cardinals.

Gerrit Cole emerged as a true ace of the Pirates pitching staff (that also included AJ Burnett, Charlie Morton, Francisco Liriano and saw top prospects Jameson Taillon and Tyler Glasnow continue to rise in the minors).

Gerrit Cole received Cy Young votes (finishing fourth) and MVP votes while making his first All-Star team.

Cole was joined on the roster by MVP caliber Centerfielder, Andrew McCutchen along with rotation mate, AJ Burnett, and team closer Mark Melancon.

The 2015 Pirates finished with the second best record in baseball, but would again lose the Wild Card game. Cole started the game and was the losing pitcher.

The 2016 Pirates saw some significant changes occur.  Previous year rookie of year nominee (finished third) Jung Ho Kang struggled with injuries.  Andrew McCutchen had the worse season of his career after four straight top 5 MVP seasons.  Cole regressed significantly after a breakout 2015 campaign and suffered a 7-10 record, largely based on his 1.44WHIP.

The Pirates also made some significant moves by releasing Pedro Alvarez and trading away local fan favorite, Neil Walker.

The Pirates struggles continued into 2017 and the team that seemed destined to become a constant postseason threat by having a top 5 MLB team (at least according to record) along with a top 5 farm system was making changes.

Just before New Year's 2018, the two faces of the franchise were traded away within days of each other.

Gerrit Cole was traded to Houston for a package that included Joe Musgrove, Colin Moran, and Jason Martin.

Cutch was shipped off to the San Francisco Giants for Bryan Reynolds and Kyle Crick.

Cole became a different pitcher in Houston and improved his spin rate becoming one of the best pitchers in the game.  

He made the All Star team both seasons in Houston and would lead the American League in K/9 both years.  In his 65 starts with Houston he went 35-10 with a 2.68ERA and 602 strikeouts over 412 innings.  His K/9 jumped from 8.4 with Pittsburgh to 13.1 with Houston.

Following the 2019 World Series, Cole became a Free Agent and signed with the team that originally drafted him.

In 148 innings with the Yankees, Cole alread has struck out nearly 200 batters and has a miniscule 2.54 ERA to go with a 13-6 record. 

In 18 postseason innings with the Yankees last year, Cole struck out 30 batters and won both games he was involved in a decision.

Should I look at other former teammates of Cutch and show off some of my cards with that player?

Make like a tree and get out of here

I have been watching some of my favorite movies and TV shows now that I am home more.

Back to the Future is one of my favorite movies.

It took old Biff a long time to realize the saying was "Make like a tree...and leave"

This then got me thinking about the old Leaf cards from 1990 and how I wish I didn't invest into them so much as they are practically worthless now.

This 1990 Leaf Barry Bonds has an interesting fact on the back.

Barry Bonds was only the second Pirate to post 20/20 seasons.

There are a few active Pirates players that could potentially be 20/20 guys with Kevin Newman being the most obvious choice.

The most recent 20/20 guys are no longer on the Pirates thanks to trades that shipped them off to NL West teams in 2018 (McCutchen to Giants) and 2020 (Marte to Diamondbacks).

With news that NECA toys is producing a line of figures for the 35th Anniversary of the film and (wait for it....)

A LINE OF TOYS FOR THE ANIMATED SERIES THAT LASTED 26 EPISODES

I am going to show off 26 of my McCutchen cards with Starling Marte.

2014 Gypsy Queen Dual Button

2015 Museum High Number

2013 Museum

2016 Museum

2017

2016 Museum

 2015 Triple Threads

 2015 Triple Threads

2014 Panini Classics Triple Jersey

2017 Stadium Club Photo Variant featuring Cutch and Polanco celebrating after a win.

2016 Heritage Box Loader

2016 Heritage

 2014 Museum

 2015 Museum

 2013 Museum

2015 Topps Heritage

Here is the card with in person autographs inserted into a 2018 Archives Top Loader.


And here are some base cards of Starling Marte that mention Andrew McCutchen on the back (cardboard cameos)

2020 Topps Series 1

2013 Topps Series 1

2017 Topps Chrome