Welcome to Pittsburgh Baseball Live

New site, new approach, same expertise

In 2017, I fell out of love with the game of baseball.

That was the year I quit playing fantasy baseball. It was the year I quit following baseball outside of my work covering the Pirates and their minor league system.

My other site, Pirates Prospects, had reached a point where it was the go-to news outlet covering the Pirates. For several years, my reporting helped to lead the coverage in Pittsburgh, leaving other reporters to scramble to catch up with the latest news found daily on Pirates Prospects.

I had no investors. I honestly had no idea how to run a business at that level at the time. Pirates Prospects began as a one-man blog, and grew into the mammoth outlet it became. As the owner/producer/editor/lead writer, I eventually reached an unhealthy workload that burnt me out on the game of baseball.

The last two years, I’ve been taking a break from the game of baseball. My knowledge of the game hasn’t gone anywhere. I’ve shown that with my scouting of the last two drafts, highlighting Paul Skenes and Nick Kurtz as the best players available. Kurtz didn’t fall to the Pirates, but I find myself watching his highlights these days more than any other prospect.

My love of the game has been returning in 2025. For the start of the season, I’ve been watching every team but the Pirates. That has allowed me to get a feel for where the league is at, and how the Pirates compare.

On Sunday afternoon, I watched my first full Pirates game of the season, as they defeated the New York Yankees in extra innings. I’ll have some thoughts on that game later.

The goal of Pittsburgh Baseball Live, and the reason it is hosted on Substack, is to allow me to only focus on writing and publishing. There’s no site to manage. There’s no team to edit and work around. It’s just me and my unproduced thoughts.

When I say “unproduced thoughts”, that means every article will be a straight shot, from my mind to your screen. At Pirates Prospects, I’ll often write the information part of the article, then the conclusion, before finishing by writing the intro. The reader doesn’t know this when they see the produced result.

Here at Pittsburgh Baseball Live, every post will be written in linear fashion, with one light edit before sending. This change in approach will allow this outlet to have a different tone, reflecting more of my natural voice.

I’m also going to be starting a podcast this year, attached to this site, in order to provide unparalleled calm and reasoned analysis of the Pirates.

Pittsburgh Baseball Live will have some prospect discussion, but will not be locked into any single niche theme.

Pirates Prospects will return this season as a long-form project, continuing that produced work for topics that require such a touch.

I’m just one guy, with no desire for investor or venture capitalist money. As the person who revolutionized the Pittsburgh media scene, I’m also not part of the Pittsburgh media cliques. Pirates Prospects was the equivalent of the 90’s grunge scene in music, compared to Pittsburgh media’s pop approach.

Pittsburgh Baseball Live will be just as independent. My combined work between this site and Pirates Prospects will only be possible by the support of Pirates fans.

It has become fashionable in Pittsburgh to sell on the image of providing accountability to the Pirates and their owner. I can promise you that no one has brought more accountability to this organization and their owner than I have. That includes asking the difficult questions to Bob Nutting and his front office, when given the opportunity.

I’m not selling t-shirts here, or farming outrage to funnel money into corporate Pittsburgh. If you want to support a reporter and writer who has and will continue to fight for you, the fan, then this is the place.

Above all, I hope to provide you with an escape this year. That escape will be an authentic voice, allowing you to ride the highs and wait out the lows in company.

The best part of this project is going to be the randomness. There’s no schedule. When I’m ready to go live, you’ll have an article in your inbox not long after, to read on your own time.

I hope that you subscribe and that this project adds to your enjoyment of the 2025 baseball season. Assisting you in that last task has always been my primary goal. Especially this year, as I attempt to get back to enjoying this game myself.

Until the next time I go live…

-Tim Williams