There's no beat like baseball, and that's not just because of 162 games, six weeks of spring training and all that travel. It's because there are several additional teams and dozens of additional players to track throughout the sport's multilayered minor-league systems.
Enter Anthony Murphy.
He's the proprietor and lead writer of Bucs On Deck, an independent site that tracks the Pirates' system, and he's joining us on a freelance basis to offer our readers here all the latest, principally on our Pirates Feed but also in the form of full-length features. He'll be starting within the coming week, as you'll be able to see in the Feed.
How'll that look?
Well, think of it this way: Termarr Johnson belts some big-time home run, which he actually did today for Class A Greensboro in Bowling Green, Ky.:
Termarr Johnson NO-DOUBTER πͺ
β Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) August 18, 2024
The @Pirates' No. 4 prospect admires his 12th homer of the season for the @GSOHoppers. pic.twitter.com/o3tKz22mN4
Well, that's when Anthony grabs that video, embeds it onto the Feed and maybe applies some of his extensive experience in covering the system toward that highlight. So you have it right in the moment.
But also, let's say Anthony feels Johnson's worth a feature and travels from his home in Virginia to North Carolina for an interview. Now we'll work toward making that happen, in one form or another. That way, these prospects can become more than slash lines. They become real people. And they do so long before their arrival in Pittsburgh.
As ever, I'll be in comments if any questions.
INSIDE THE WORKS
β’ Got a video-based glimpse of our custom commenting platform from our BoomPress developers a couple days ago, and it's exciting. It showed how you'll receive alerts for when someone's replied to you, including with a small bell that'll turn red atop the app/site. No more swimming up and down some massive thread to try to see if anyone reacted to you. ... This will be ready for football season!
β’ If you've got a really old Android device, which generally means five-plus years old, that's about to be a problem as it relates to our app. Google occasionally will mandate to developers that they update all software to a certain standard and, when that happens, older versions become obsolete. Nothing we can do about it on our end.
β’ A new Rob Ullman book? One that collects the entirety of his Cartoon Canon run here? And publishes the toons in chronological order, like a huge history lesson? In time to be a Christmas gift? Hmmmmmm ...
β’ Our push to expand our local advertising profile's begun. Aiming high. Even higher than the last time I mentioned it here.
β’ Everyone loving being ad-free? If you're not there yet, it's only for paying subscribers. If you aren't subscribed yet or if your subscription's expired: This is our subscribe page. From there, make sure you're logged in, tap on the link, and thumb down to the bottom for the SUBSCRIBE button to buy/renew at the monthly or annual level. We also offer mega-discounts, as ever, for student subscriptions and senior subscriptions.
β’ Grateful that so many of you continue to leave us good reviews on outside platforms. For anyone who hasn't yet, feel free to add your own on our Google business listing, our Apple or Spotify podcast channels, our YouTube channels for the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates and, last but not least, our own app, whether it's the Apple or Android version. And again, thank you!
BACK TO BUSINESS
β’ Our page-view numbers for the past week were 835,189, with 38,690 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, Aug. 9-15. Our most-read original piece was my Grind asking why the Pirates should keep their current management, at 36,254.
β’ On the multimedia front, our podcast downloads for the past week were 89,948, and our YouTube video views were 126,737.
β’ Our company social media accounts are at 56,074 followers on X, 41,103 on Facebook, 32,056 on YouTube, 15,233 on Instagram, 885 on TikTok ... and already 4,993 on the new Threads!
β’ We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
β’ Our HQ/shop merch is available online. The Downtown shop itself's open Tuesday-Saturday, 12-6 p.m.
β’ Anything you need, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
β’ Thanks for reading and, as ever, for your support of this independent venture.