Perrotto: Three Key Pirates for Season’s Second Half

Being .500 isn’t what it used to be.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are 48-48 heading into Friday night’s game against the MLB-best Philadelphia Phillies at PNC Park that opens a three-game series and six-game homestand.

The Pirates are a .500 team coming out of the four-day All-Star break. They finished the unofficial first half of the season with a 5-1 road trip against the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago White Sox.

Not long ago, the deck was stacked against a .500 team at the break reaching the postseason. However, with the advent of the third wild card two years ago and a generally mediocre National League this season, the Pirates are in the thick of the playoff race.

They are just 1.5 games behind the New York Mets for the third wild card and two games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the second wild card. The Cardinals visit PNC Park next Monday-Wednesday for a three-game series.

The Pirates are sending strong signals that they will not make any big additions between now and the trade deadline on July 30. General manager Ben Cherington keeps stressing the importance of improvement from within.

With that in mind, let’s look at the three most important Pirates players after the All-Star break.

Ke’Bryan Hayes

The Pirates must get more production from their third baseman to reach the postseason for the first time since 2015.

Hayes is hitting just .244/.297/.311 with three home runs in 71 games. His Gold Glove defense provides value, but his poor offensive showing nearly negates what he does with the glove.

I’m not an orthopedic surgeon but it seems to me that Hayes’ chronic back problems are flaring and inhibiting his swing. It’s also an open secret that there is a disconnect between Hayes and hitting coach Andy Haines.

The Pirates could use a second half from Hayes like the one he had last season. In 49 games, he had a .299./.335/.539 slash line and homered 10 times in 49 games.

Oneil Cruz

Cruz has played well enough this year after sustaining a season-ending broken ankle nine games into last season.

In 85 games, he is hitting .246/.299/.438 with 14 homers and seven stolen bases. He also has 112 strikeouts in 344 plate appearances and minus-4 defensive runs saved.

Cruz has barely a full season’s worth of games played in his major-league career with 185. And he is showing signs of gradually smoothing out the rough edges.

The Pirates need Cruz to continue to improve and come closer to maximizing his massive potential.

Paul Skenes

The 22-year-old right-hander has been tremendous, going 6-0 with a 1.90 ERA in his first 11 career starts. On Tuesday, he became the fifth rookie to be a starting pitcher in the All-Star Game.

No one could realistically ask for anything more from Skenes. That’s why the rest of the season is going to be interesting.

Will hitters start to figure Skenes out? Is he due for a stretch of bad luck? Will he be able to hold up physically through his first full professional season after having already amassed 94.2 innings between the majors and minors?

The Pirates need Skenes to keep pitching like an ace but also keep him healthy. It’s going to be a tough needle to thread.