Pittsburgh Pirates: Handing out the Mid-Season Awards

As we approach the All-Star break, it's time to take a look back at the first half of the season and hand out some mid-season awards to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

After a very solid first half of the season, giving proper recognition to these young Bucs was much tougher than usual. Several members of the 2011 squad are having good enough seasons to be recognized.

With that being said, let's jump right into the awards.

MVP: Andrew McCutchen

McCutchen finally got his just due when being named to the All-Star Game on Saturday. It's where he belongs after putting up a fine first half.

McCutchen wins the first half MVP for the second consecutive season after hitting .289 with 13 HR, 49 RBI, and 15 steals.

He’s the face of a franchise currently sitting with their best record this late in a season since 1992.

Not to mention a WAR of 4.6, good for third in all of baseball (only Jose Reyes and Jose Bautista have a better number). He also has an OPS of .890, good for fourth among National League outfielders and an on base percentage of .392, also good for fourth among NL outfielders.

After giving consideration to pitchers Jeff Karstens and Joel Hanrahan for their excellent first half performances, Cutch's value to the Pirates can't be measured, and he is the clear winner of this award.

Cy Young: Jeff Karstens

This was an extremely difficult decision to make with the fantastic season Hanrahan is having, but where would the Pirates be without Karstens?

Karstens story is great. Every time people try to write him off, he won't let it happen. He's a guy who was taken off the 40-man roster a year ago. He wasn't even in the Pirates rotation when the season began.

All Karstens does is take the ball, no matter in what role, and give you a professional night's work.

When given the opportunity this season, Karstens has responded with seven wins and a 2.55 ERA, good for sixth in the National League.

What Karstens has done has been impressive. He just throws strikes and gets batters out. He's made it impossible for Pirates manager Clint Hurdle to take him out of the Bucs rotation.

Least Valuable Player: Pedro Alvarez

After a lights out conclusion to the 2010 season for Alvarez, many; including myself expected the young third baseman to start 2011 right where he left off in 2010.

Just the opposite turned out to be true as Alvarez stumbled out of the gate and a quad injury has cost him nearly all of the last two months of the season.

The Bucs count on Alvarez to be a run producer, yet he sits at the all-star break with as many homers (2) as former Pirates starting pitcher Zach Duke.

The trip to the disabled list for Alvarez came at a bad time, as he appeared to start swinging the bat well. Add together the preseason expectations with his lack of production and Alvarez is the clear cut winner of this award.

This is just a temporary knock for Alvarez though as I fully expect him to contribute in a big way for the Bucs down the stretch.

Rookie of the Year: Alex Presley

While the Pirates are a very young team, they've really been without a true rookie for most of the season. That is until the last month where they've seemed to be bringing one up daily.

With such a small sample size on everyone, Alex Presley gets the nod here.

In only 12 games as a Pirate this season, Presley quickly has shown he belongs, hitting .364 with a homer and 6 RBI.

Presley is a baseball player in every sense of the word and is forcing the Pirates into a very tough decision once Jose Tabata is healthy. Moving Presley to right field, giving him regular at bats over Garrett Jones could become a real possibility.

Unsung Heroes: Chris Resop and Jose Veras

In reality, you can give this award to the entire Pirates bullpen, who have been tremendous all season, but especially Chris Resop and Jose Veras.

Resop, a waiver wire pickup a season ago, and Veras, a minor league free agent this season, have been put into countless tough situations throughout the season and have managed to get the job done more times than not.

What they've done in the process in build a pretty successful bridge to Hanrahan in the ninth inning.

The entire bullpen deserves credit for posting a solid 3.17 ERA at the break, but the Bucs may not be where they are now without the contributions of Veras and Resop.

Best Moment: July 8, 2011 vs. Chicago Cubs

There have been plenty to this point this season. There was the Phillies series that really started some buzz around this team in front of a packed weekend house at PNC Park.

Then there was the series win over the Boston Red Sox that really got the city of Pittsburgh to begin to pay attention.

However, nothing was as memorable as the 7-4 comeback win against the Cubs Friday night.

As a guy who attends around 50 Pirates games a season for the past 20 years, I can tell you the energy felt in PNC Park that night was unlike no other in that time span.

The crowd was tremendous. The ending was improbable on a Michael McKenry three-run blast to left off of Cubs closer Carlos Marmol, who has a habit of making the Pirates look foolish.

What was most memorable is Josh Harrison tied the game at four with a single and then McKenry battled and battled before sending the ball into the left field bleachers, igniting the sold out crowd.

Two guys who weren't on the team when the season began playing big roles in what could become a special season in Pittsburgh.

This win had meaning. It was as big of a win as any since PNC Park opened its gates.

Biggest Improvement: Starting Rotation

The problem has long been pitching. Especially coming off a 2010 season where the Pirates had the worst rotation in baseball, on paper things didn't look promising for this rotation either.

Enter pitching coach Ray Searage, who took over for Joe Kerrigan last season, and what the Pirates rotation has accomplished this season to date has been nothing short of remarkable.

Searage deserves a great deal of credit, but so do the guys in the rotation. The gameplan has been different, and the starters are executing it.

They are getting ahead of hitters, pitching inside more often, and pitching deep into ball games.

Karstens has been great. Kevin Correia is headed to the All-Star Game with 11 wins. Paul Maholm has been fantastic despite not getting run support early. Charlie Morton transformed himself into a ground ball machine, and James McDonald has given the Bucs some decent starts at times.

Pirates starters had an ERA of 5.28 a season ago, which makes the 3.65 they are putting up now simply remarkable.

Best Offseason Move: Clint Hurdle

I really wanted to give this to Correia or even Veras for that matter, but it's hard to imagine the Pirates contending without Hurdle captaining the ship.

Typically a manager amounts to only a handful of wins for his team, but I don't believe that to be the case here.

If you talk to Hurdle, you want to put on a uniform and go play for him, which is a big change from his predecessor, John Russell, who made you want to take a nap. Hurdle has injected a shot of energy to a franchise that really needed it.

I always hate the term "players manager," but that may be the case with Hurdle. His team competes and battles for 27 outs on almost every single night. He's the kind of guy that players go the extra mile for, but he also shows discipline.

He's benched McCutchen for not running out a third strike, yet a couple of weeks later when McCutchen hit a walk-off homer in extra innings to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, Hurdle was the first one out of the dugout to give McCutchen a bear hug.

He's sat down veterans Jones and Lyle Overbay for not producing. No way Russell would have done that.

What's more impressive is that to date Hurdle has had to do it with 44 different players wearing a Pirates uniform, yet no matter who it is, they come up and know what is expected of them and often reward their manager by producing.

Worst Offseason Move: Lyle Overbay

I really didn't like the Overbay signing when it happened, but I understood it. If he has a bounce back year and produces, then it's a bargain.

The Pirates need Overbay to be a gap hitter and drive in runs. Currently he sits at .240 with only six homers and 34 RBI. I'd like at least another 40 points on that batting average the rest of the season, and then the other numbers should fall into place.

Overbay hasn't been terrible, and he's been swinging the bat a bit better as of late. The concerning aspect for me is his glove, which typically is better.

He's left a lot of outs on the field lately, not picking balls that a big league first baseman typically makes plays on.

There is still time for Overbay to make a difference, but depending on what decision is made concerning Presley, Overbay could lose some at bats at first base to Jones.

Biggest Surprise: Defensive Improvement

The Pirates .982 fielding percentage only ranks them near the bottom half of the National League, but they have made great strides defensively, especially up the middle.

Before his injury, shortstop Ronny Cedeno ranked second among all NL shortstops in fielding percentage and was having a fantastic season with the leather.

Almost every Pirates regular has made great strides defensively, a big reason why the pirates are contending.

Also, don't overlook the job the catchers and pitchers have been doing.

The Bucs had a major problem controlling the running game a season ago. Teams ran at will on the Ryan Doumit/Jason Jaramillo tandem.

The pitchers have held runners on better, and a collection of seven different Pirates catchers have allowed only 57 stolen bases all season. Catchers have thrown out 18 runners, giving the Bucs the ninth best percentage of throwing out would-be base stealers in Major League Baseball.

Most Impressive Stat: Road Wins

How awful have the Bucs been on the road the past few seasons? Seventeen total wins a year ago says it all.

Eventually, these guys were going to have to learn to win away from PNC Park. Little did anyone know that it would be this soon.

Heading into the All-Star break with an impressive 24-21 record away from PNC Park, these young Pirates have exceeded all expectations early on.

Move That Needs to Be Made: Extend Neal Huntington

While acquiring a real run producing first baseman is certainly on my list, I don't really see the need to make a big move right now.

I've always said stick to the plan, and now I feel the Pirates need to stay the course with that plan. One guy that deserves to see that plan out is Pirates general manager Neal Huntington.

Pirates fans are beginning to see the fruits of Huntington's work with the draft, waiver claims and trades over the past four seasons. Many of Huntinton's guys have started to make their way to Pittsburgh this year, and many more are on their way.

The talent is starting to build up. While most of it may not be superstar type talent, it's talent nonetheless. Right now the organization has more talent in it than at anytime in the past 18 seasons. Most of that is due to the work of Huntington and the rest of the front office.

It's very important that the Pirates reward Huntington and let him see the process through.