Mueller: Pirates' youth movement providing occasional excitement, but...

You probably enjoyed watching Jack Suwinski etch his name into the history books Sunday afternoon at PNC Park, even if you aren’t much of a baseball fan. Seeing history tends to have that impact.

Suwinski leads all MLB rookies with 11 home runs after blasting three on Father’s Day, the last of which was a walk-off shot to give the Pirates a 4-3 win over the San Francisco Giants and salvage a game from an otherwise frustrating three-game weekend set.

If you’re scoring at home, Suwinski’s three solo bombs were of the game-tying, go-ahead, and of course walk-off variety. He became just the second Pirates rookie with three home runs in a game, joining Andrew McCutchen, and the first rookie in MLB history with a three-homer game that included a walk-off dinger.

Oh, and the last one came off of San Francisco’s Tyler Rogers, who entered the contest having not given up a home run all season.

The feel-good vibes didn’t end with the action on the field, as news broke that top prospect Oneil Cruz was being called up to the big club (you will be forgiven if you don’t realize that this isn’t his big-league debut, on account of his two-game cameo last year) right around the time Suwinski was depositing the game-winner over the Clemente Wall. Outfielder Bligh Madris is also coming with Cruz, and while he’s 26 and therefore beyond the normal prospect age, he’s at least got a .905 OPS this season for Indianapolis.

A rookie who skipped Double-A is mashing home runs, and the team’s top prospect is being called up, hopefully this time for good. Seems good, but…I can’t help but note that Cruz’s arrival in the big leagues is much more about the Super 2 deadline passing than it is any lack of readiness on his part. The Pirates suggesting that delays in Cruz’s timeline were due to the franchise readying him for every scenario he might face in the major leagues, right down to pinch-hitting, smacked of ridiculous excuse-making. They’re not the only team engaging in these practices, but doesn’t make it any less absurd.

There is other good news. Mitch Keller might finally be turning a corner; he went six innings Sunday, giving up just two runs, his fourth-straight start allowing two earned runs or fewer. There is some bitter irony in the fact that Keller, a guy Ray Searage couldn’t figure out, is finding success thanks to his embrace of a two-seam (read: sinking) fastball, unquestionably the bread-and-butter pitch of the Searage era.

But…Keller’s progress, while encouraging, is still incremental. It doesn’t feel like the other shoe is going to drop, per se, but he’s got a long way to go to get to front-line starter status. If he does, bully for the Pirates; will it be in time to anchor a contending pitching staff? That’s still a very open question.

Speaking of the pitching staff, Roansy Contreras absolutely has the look of a future front-line starter, and at 22 years old, he’s actually young enough and electric enough to get excited about. He has all the tools, and the eye test suggests that there’s the elusive “it” factor that not every pitcher with great stuff possesses. A little bit of swagger for the position, if you will.

But…where else are the big arms on the horizon? Quinn Priester and Anthony Solometo are the team’s highest-ranked pitching prospects, and while Priester might be here as soon as next year, Solometo is still a few years off. J.T. Brubaker hasn’t been as bad as his 0-7 record would suggest, but he hasn’t been good, and certainly hasn’t been consistent. If the backbone of any serious contender is pitching, the Pirates are still far away.

At least the Pirates have avoided truly ugly financial situations with their two most recognizable players, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Bryan Reynolds. Hayes signed a long-term deal that will keep him under contract for what will almost certainly be the best years of his career. Reynolds and the team avoided an ugly arbitration hearing with a two-year deal that at least resembled the way other teams do business with their best arbitration-eligible talents.

But…Hayes has just two home runs this year, and Reynolds, while he leads the team with 11 homers, has never kicked things into high gear. Anyone who follows the Pirates knows that the team won’t ever be a huge spender, and that long-term deals will be few and far between; the players who get them have to perform. The team can’t afford to miss. Hayes needs to give the team more offense, and Reynolds, even if he’s only going to be trade bait, has to hit.

So yes, Jack Suwinski’s barrage of homers and Oneil Cruz’s call-up are both exciting pieces of business, as is Keller’s quiet run of strong starts and Contreras’ filthy strikeout highlight reel.

Will it all coalesce to form a playoff contender fans can get behind in the next few years? I’d love to give you a definitive answer, but…

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Mueller: Pirates' youth movement providing occasional excitement, but...