THE BULLPEN

     Mrs. Black-N-Gold opens up The Bullpen doors again today to bring you the 4th player on her 6 Players To Watch list for your Pittsburgh Pirates. These are players the Buccos need to lean on big time if they're going to leapfrog the St Louie Cardinals this season and win the NL Central and a 6th World Series for the City of Champions.

      Today we look at RF Gregory Polanco. El Coffe gets an incomplete for last season through no fault of his own. Even though he had a strong spring training, the Pirates sent him to Triple A Indy for more at bats and seasoning (some feel it was done to slow the clock on Polanco's eventual arbitration).

      On June 9, 2014 the Pirates called-up the highly-touted rookie to fill the void in right field at PNC Park. He collected his first major league hit, off Cubs starter Travis Wood, in his first game in the bigs and scored his first run in the majors. On June 13 Polanco pounded out 5 hits, including his first major league home run. On June 17 Polanco joined some elite company, becoming only the third Pirates player to hit safely in his first 7 games. He was the first to do so since Roberto Clemente back in 1955. Polanco took it a step further, becoming the first Pirate to hit in 8 straight games to start his career in MLB.

     Unfortunately, the wear and tear of the big league season began to take it's toll and Polanco was optioned back to Triple A in late August. He re-joined the club a week later when the rosters were expanded. El Coffee finished his first season in Pittsburgh with a .235 batting average, collecting 65 hits, 7 homers, 33 RBI and 14 stolen bases.

     This year Polanco will enter training camp as the Pirates regular right fielder. He'll be expected to build on last season's cup of coffee in the big leagues and help the Buccos get something brewing in the NL Central. The Pirates are counting on him to help them win the division and, ultimately, the World Series. Let's Go Bucs!!!!!