Friday night is always a good night for a visit to the ballpark. No matter how good the team is performing…and they aren’t performing well. 

The Pirates fell to 70-77 in their series opener against the Kansas City Royals. Luis Ortiz was lit up in the second inning as the Royals hung 6 on the righty. Ortiz was dinged for 4 earned runs and assessed a throwing error on a play to first base for an out, which allowed extra bases. 

Pittsburgh staged a bit of a rally in the ninth, making an 8-1 game 8-3 with runners on the corners. But Andrew McCutchen’s flyball to left field landed in the glove of Tommy Pham, and that was all she wrote. 

It was an underwhelming night, from a team perspective. One of those games where you take the extra minute to appreciate some of the artwork around the ballpark. But when you come back to your seat, you notice that one player was missing from tonight’s equation. 

Billy Cook. 

The Pepperdine University product sat in the dugout watching his team struggle with the bat. The only action he got was catching a guest in an honorary game-time first pitch. 

Now usually, I would not be a heavy advocate for a 25-year old who has gone 2-for-11 with a pair of RBIs over the course of his season. 

But Billy Cook is no ordinary player with a mediocre stat line and limited playing time. He is a player that you need a much larger sample size for. 

Cook, as well as Nick Yorke, were two players that the Pirates acquired at the trade deadline, stocking up some younger bats in a farm system that desperately lacks any headlining names besides Termarr Johnson. 

While Cook and Yorke perhaps do not come with the same hype and potential that Johnson does, they are major league ready and have the skills to, at the very least, earn an extended look at the major league level. 

With so many holes in Pittsburgh’s roster for next season, now is the time to get that evaluation process started on two of the more intriguing position player prospects that the Pirates have. Both players excelled in Triple-A with the Indianapolis Indians after they were dealt to the Pirates organization. Yorke is slashing .364/.430/.529 with 2 home runs and 25 RBI in 37 games for Indy. 

Cook, meanwhile, was slashing .276/.389/.486 with 5 home runs and 21 RBI in 30 games when he was called up on September 8th. He made his major league debut at the same time as a Pittsburgh Steelers game. Unfortunately for us Pittsburgh sports fans, that meant many of us missed Cook going 2-for-4, including an RBI double and making a terrific catch in foul territory from his first base position. 

His bat has been silent since, but his defensive work has continued. And given that he can play both at first base and anywhere in the outfield, there are plenty of opportunities to put him in the lineup. His first 3 games have seen him play in three different spots: first base, right field, and left field. 

It could be argued in the case of Nick Yorke that the Pirates don’t really have the opening for the 22-year old down in Indianapolis. Though the organization has gotten him some reps in the outfield in an Indians jersey, the bulk of his work has still come as an infielder, particularly at the middle infield spots. 

Nick Gonzales, who is still relatively young himself, has the second base job seemingly locked down for the rest of the year. This was Gonzales’ first real full season in the major leagues, and even though the Pirates probably could make a good educated guess on who the .274, .696 OPS hitter is, the organization would have an argument for wanting Gonzales to get every game possible in September. 

Even if it is flawed logic, Yorke is better served getting regular Triple-A reps than being a bench player in the major leagues. Getting constant playing time is incredibly important for him, and if those opportunities will not exist in the major leagues right now, might as well give him that chance with the Indians. 

The same applies for Cook. 

The Pirates have only played 5 games since his recall, but Cook has been playing every other game, making his debut on the 8th and playing on the 10th and 12th. 

By that logic, he would be playing today somewhere on the field for Pittsburgh, but in my mind, that isn’t enough. Cook needs to be somewhere in the lineup as often as possible. 

Of everyone on the Pirates’ current 26-man roster, Cook is by far the biggest unknown. Is the former Baltimore draft pick someone who has real major league potential? Or is he destined to become an “AAAA” player, if you will? 

Is he someone the organization can pencil into their plans in 2025? Or is he a bigger question mark? 

Look, the team only has 15 games left in this season. That isn’t enough time to get a definitive answer to any of those questions. But you can, at the very least, get the ball rolling on his evaluation process. 

Of those remaining 15 games, Cook needs to play in at least 12 of them. On days where Andrew McCutchen isn’t playing, move one of Oneil Cruz or Bryan Reynolds to designated hitter and have Cook play an outfield spot. Sit Bryan De La Cruz a few days if you have to. 

On days where Rowdy Tellez isn’t playing, have Cook play first base. 

Just find some way to get this guy in the lineup as often as you possibly can. He isn’t your typical prospect; he’s the same age as Cruz and Gonzales. The time to get a look at him is now. 

I championed the promotion of Cook when it happened. But if he is only going to play a bench role for a team that will not make the playoffs, he’s not much better off here than he was in Triple-A, where he was playing every day and getting constant reps.

(Featured photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)