Shark Week with the Shark Tank.

When Jason Grilli took over as the Pirates closer in 2013, he dubbed the Bucs bullpen : The Shark Tank.

The Pirates had one of the best bullpens in baseball that year thanks to Tony Watson, Mark Melancon, and Jason Grilli. They fed on hitters in the 7th thru 9th innings and basically shut the game down to a 6 inning game.

Three members of the 2013 Shark Tank were also members of the 2010 Eastern League Champions Altoona Curve. They were ground ball specialist Jared Hughes, setup man Tony Watson, and flame throwing southpaw Justin Wilson. Wilson was actually the MVP for the Curve's Championship run in 2010.

Last year, the Curve had a giveaway to the 1st 1,500 fans in attendance receiving a Shark Tank figurine that can be placed in your fish tank. It depicts Watson, Hughes, and Wilson riding a shark. I have wanted to add it to my collection for some time, but they very rarely pop up for sale.

Since I finally got one for my collection and it being Shark Week, this seems like the perfect week to show it off.

My other 2013 Pinnacle cards

Yesterday I showed off my 2013 Andrew McCutchen Pinnacle cards and wanted to show off the rest of the Pirates featured in the set.

The rest of the Pirates team set includes rookie flame thrower Gerrit Cole, speedy Starling Marte, the power hitting 3B Pedro Alvarez, and 2 electric back end of bullpen arms Bryan Morris and Justin Wilson.  I also grabbed the museum collection card of Morris along with a few of the cards I featured in the McCutchen article for only $10.

Indians throw combined no hitter

It was almost two years ago when I first saw Justin Wilson pitch the Altoona Curve into an Eastern League Championship.  Watching guys on that team get promoted last year to the Pirates was very exciting for me as I knew the Pirates were bringing in young talent who wanted to win at the big league level.  However, the Altoona 4 as they were dubbed didn't do much at the AAA level last year and some missed considerable time with injuries.

Justin Wilson who was the ELCS MVP was moved to the bullpen due to early struggles in the 2011 season.  Once moved to the bullpen he started to post better results and at times was clocking in at 99MPH on the radar gun which is crazy fast for a lefty. 

This year the Pirates started Wilson again at AAA and he has been more consistent in his former starting role.  Last night, Wilson combined with two other pitchers for a no hitter for the Indianapolis Indians against the Durham Bulls.  He pitched 7.2 innings and struck out 9 while walking only 2.  Two other pitchers were used to finish out the game.

Congrats to Justin Wilson!  Hopefully we'll see you in Pittsburgh soon.

just a few more ebay pickups

Today's theme is autographed cards of pitchers using the bat. 
We haven't seen much offense from Pirates pitchers this year.  To be perfectly honest, we haven't seen much in terms of pitching from these guys either.

Evan Meek had a breakout season last year as he was selected as a 2010 All Star and was one of the best setup men in baseball.  Due to injuries and a loss in velocity, this year has not been so kind to Super Meek.  He has only pitched in 15.1 innings despite appearing in 18 games.  Compare that to 2010 when he appeared in 70 games with 70 strikeout in 80 IP and a WHIP of 1.05.  Evan is back after a lengthy stay on the DL and pitched a scoreless inning in his return last night.  This 2011 Bowman Platinum (460/1166) features an autograph and jersey swatch.  It also shows Evan and his 1.000 average and 2.000 OPS swinging the bat.  Evan has only had 2 plate appearances in the majors and is 1 for 1.

 Justin Wilson has yet to make the majors, but I suspect he may be a mid-season callup next year if he continues to improve as a prospect.  Justin performed superbly earlier in the season at AAA Indy before running into some trouble mid season.  He regained form and finished the season strong.  It was reported that his fastball touched 97 towards the end of the season which is really incredible for a LHP.  He had 94 Ks in 124 IP at the AAA level.  Unlike the other autographed cards of pitchers swinging the bat, Justin actually performed well with the stick.  He batted .231 with 2 RBI in 13 AB.  He also had 2 doubles.  Pictured above is his 2010 Bowman Sterling AUTO

2009 Tristar Pursuit Zach Von Rosenberg 16/199 Autograph.  Of the three of these guys Zach Von Rosenberg performed the worst statistically.  Zach was signed as a big draft bonus baby out of high school in 2009.  He has a very projectable frame at 6ft5 and is still only 20 years old.  His K/9 is still very good and he lowered his walk rate, but he needs to continue to make progress on keeping the ball in the park.  He had a 8.2K/9 and lowered his BB to 1.6/9 in 2011.  He's still looking for his 1st professional hit in the minors.