2017 Pittsburgh Pirates season

The 2017 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the franchise's 136th season overall, 131st season as a member of the National League, and the 17th season at PNC Park. They failed to improve on their record from the previous season and finished fourth in the National League Central. The Pirates failed to qualify for the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

2017 Pittsburgh Pirates

National League

Central

PNC Park

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania^[1]

75–87 (.463)

4th

Robert Nutting

Neal Huntington

Clint Hurdle

Root Sports Pittsburgh (April–July)
AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh (July–October)

KDKA-FM
Pittsburgh Pirates Radio Network
(Steve Blass, Joe Block, Greg Brown, Bob Walk, John Wehner)

ESPN.com
BB-reference

Offseason and spring training[edit]

Infielder Jung-ho Kang was found guilty by a South Korean court for his third offense of driving under the influence, and as a result, the initial request for a work visa to enter the United States for the 2017 season was denied.^[2] He would miss the whole season with the Pirates.^[3]

The Pirates recorded a 19–12 win–loss record in preseason spring training, the third best record in the Grapefruit League. In addition, two of their games finished tied and were therefore not included in the standings.^[4]

April 3 – The Pirates lost on to the Boston Red Sox 5–3.

Opening Day

April 7 – In their home opener against the , the Pirates defeated the Braves 5–4. The Pirates would go on to win all three games of the series to sweep the Braves.

Atlanta Braves

April 9 – hit a walk-off home run in the tenth inning to propel the Pirates to a 5–4 win and series sweep over the Braves.^[5]

Starling Marte

April 12 – The Pirates were swept by the following a 9–2 loss.^[6]

Cincinnati Reds

April 16 – Following a four-game losing streak, the Pirates rally to beat the 6–1 to sweep the three-game series at Wrigley Field.^[7]

Chicago Cubs

April 18 – Starling Marte was suspended 80 games after testing positive for , a performance-enhancing substance; he will not be eligible to return until after the team's 93rd game on July 17 and is ineligible for postseason play if the team qualifies.^[8]

nandrolone

April 19 – The Pirates were swept following three straight 2–1 losses to the .^[9] The Pirates have been swept in three of the five series to date and have swept their opponent in the other two series to date.

St. Louis Cardinals

April 22 – The Pirates lost to the 11–5 after beating them in the first game of the series.^[10] The series marks the first series of the year where the Pirates did not sweep their opponent nor did they get swept.

New York Yankees

April 24 - the Pirates fielded the first baseball player to be born and raised in , to reach the major leagues, Dovydas Neverauskas. In 1933, Joe Zapustas was the first Lithuanian-born player to play in MLB, as a member of the Philadelphia Athletics, however he grew up in Boston.^[11]

Lithuania

April 26 - The Pirates promoted Gift Ngoepe from the AAA Indianapolis Indians; making him the first African-born player in MLB history.^[12]

South African

The Pirates finished the month with a win–loss record of 11–13, fourth in the NL Central at 2.0 games out of first.

Player stats[edit]

Batting[edit]

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Walks; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging average

Notable achievements[edit]

Awards[edit]

National League Pitcher of the Month

National League Player of the Month

2017 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

National League Player of the Week

2017 Pittsburgh Pirates season