Kirschman: Surprisingly, there is hope for Pirates fans

Let’s just say this right away: I grew up a Pittsburgh Pirates fan.

Yes, there’s a support group. We meet on Wednesdays.

I blame my dad, but it’s not really his fault… Let’s just say this right away: I grew up a Pittsburgh Pirates fan.

Yes, there’s a support group. We meet on Wednesdays.

I blame my dad, but it’s not really his fault. He witnessed a completely different era of Pirates baseball, back when people in Pittsburgh could attend a game and have it actually mean something other than free merchandise. He didn’t know what he was getting me into the first time he took me to a game when I was five.

But even after all the losing seasons, my dad is still a Pirates fan. He watches every game and drives the two hours to PNC Park several times each summer.

And near the middle of every season, right around the time when we both realize what we already knew — that the Pirates are going to end the season with an embarrassingly familiar losing record — my dad will repeat the mantra of every disappointed sports fan: “There’s always next year.”

As the Pirates enter the last month of their 18th straight losing season, it’s about time for the eternal optimists among us to start uttering that exact phrase, a phrase that the team should just consider taking up as their motto. Either that or, “He’s good. Let’s trade him.”

“Pride. Passion. Pittsburgh Pirates,” just doesn’t seem to fit.

But I digress. The point of this column isn’t to lament the hopelessness of the organization. Instead, I’m actually going to argue that hope for the future does exist — although, a more distant future than next year. Let’s not get crazy here.

That hope comes in the form of the Pirates youthful quartet of Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, Jose Tabata and Pedro Alvarez. Even as the Pirates spiraled to the league’s worst record and tortured fans by allowing Charlie Morton to throw a baseball, these four players provided a light, however small, at the end of the very long, very dark tunnel that is the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

First up, McCutchen. Pirates fans knew exactly what they were going to get from McCutchen heading into this season: a lightening quick, top-caliber center fielder who’s reliable at the plate.

He leads the team in triples (5), doubles (25) and stolen bases (26). Right now, McCutchen is the face of the organization, the kind of player the Pirates can build the team around if they choose to do so — let’s hope that they actually stick to their word this time.

Not only is he a fun player to watch and a quality leader on the field, but McCutchen also says all the right things off the field. He speaks of excitement and energy in the Pirates clubhouse convincingly enough that, even if he doesn’t believe it, maybe his teammates do.

And while many people say the center fielder will end up in a Yankees uniform sooner rather than later, the Pirates control McCutchen’s rights through 2015.

As for Neil Walker, it’s hard not to love his story. Not only has he proven to be a quality second baseman, but the born and bred Pittsburgh native and Pine-Richland High School graduate made the Pirates relevant again for people of the Steel City.

Even the most jaded Pirates fan had to smile when Walker’s first major league home run was a game winner in his hometown. Even better for Walker, who was six years old the last time the Pirates had a winning season, playing for his hometown team is a dream come true.

If Walker gets to be a part of the Pirates’ first winning season since he was in elementary school, it would almost be something out a movie script.

Rookie Tabata leads the Pirates with a .312 batting average. Since being recalled on June 9, he ranks third in the Major Leagues in hits (87), behind only the Rockies’ Carols Gonzalez (89) and the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols (88). He’s leading the National League in batting average since the All-Star Break (.362).

Tabata is having the same kind of success that McCutchen did as a rookie last year. Odds are, he won’t continue improving at this pace, but he’s a player for Pirates fans to get excited about. He’s patient at the plate — rare for a rookie — and, like McCutchen, he’s fast, both on the base paths and in the outfield.

The most highly anticipated call-up this season was Alvarez. He’s the player Pirates fans have been waiting on since he was drafted second overall in 2008. Alvarez struggled at the plate more than most expected early on, but he’s provided more than his fair share of highlights since then — none more spectacular than his game-winning home run on Aug. 8.

It was one of the greatest finishes in PNC Park history, which in all honesty isn’t saying much, but still. Go with it. Alvarez’s three-run home run in the 10th inning gave the Pirates a one-run victory over the Colorado Rockies.

The sold-out crowd of 38,147 — ­who were mostly there for the fireworks and concert, but again, go with it — rose to their feet and cheered like the game actually meant something. People were excited about baseball. In Pittsburgh. Because of the Pirates. I swear, I’m not lying.

What all this boils down to is this: despite the worst record in Major League Baseball, the 18-straight losing seasons and general apathy from people in Pittsburgh, there was actually a reason to go to PNC Park this year, beside maybe getting a free T-shirt.

And if the Pirates can keep this core four together and if they can find some starting pitching, there is a chance we’ll get to see a baseball game in Pittsburgh that actually means something — maybe not next year, but at least in one of the next 18.