First Pitch: Day Thirty Five – The New Pirates Prospects

5 Jan 2022

Yesterday at Pirates Prospects we released our first weekly article drop.

This is a new approach as part of what I’m viewing as the next incarnation of Pirates Prospects, a site that has been growing and evolving for almost 13 full years now.

When I started this site, I was 25 years old. I wanted to be a sports writer, and already had articles published on ESPN, USA Today, Yahoo Sports, and of course, AOL Fanhouse, which was weirdly my favorite place to write for. I had a full-time writing job with a site called AccuScore when I started this site as a resource page. After the recession left me jobless, I started trying to create my own job here.

In my 20s, I could do so much. I could write three articles a day, seven days a week, and then enjoy every television show, every song, have a social life, and get plenty of sleep. It’s like in your 20s, life is actually 36 hours a day.

I worked my ass off everyday for years, and this site grew to numbers that I’m proud of. Then, I eventually hit burnout. I started questioning how long I could do this site under the daily grind approach. I started thinking of a way where I could run this site, but live a life that is more normal for someone in his now late-30s, and eventually 40s, 50s, and so on.

The new Pirates Prospects is one of those plans.

Yesterday we had a great symphony of articles. I had a main feature on the changes to the player development system, with two corresponding features. Wilbur Miller took an early look at the 2022 Bradenton Marauders roster, with features planned for the other affiliates the remainder of this month. John Dreker, Cody Potanko, and Anthony Murphy had individual player features spread out pretty well throughout the system.

There have been some questions on why I decided to go with the “weekly article drop” format, rather than the old method of releasing one article per day. There are so many answers to that, which can be simplified with a summary: It’s easier on me to manage the site, and gives readers the option of how they want to consume our articles.

Tuesday is our biggest traffic day. Saturday is our worst. We had seven articles today. I could have spread them out to release one per day over the next week. But tell me, whose article above are you going to bury on Saturday? Is that necessary when I can release that article as well on Tuesday, giving you four days to read it before Saturday rolls around?

The weekly format makes it easier for me to schedule the content on the site. As of this writing, I already know most of next week’s release, and have an idea of how I’m going to write my features. I also have an early idea of week three, on January 18th, and will be working this week to secure what I need for my part of that article drop.

When I started this site, I was mostly just writing as much as possible. As it grew, I had to expand my role to editing, and scheduling out the content from the growing list of writers. It became overwhelming, and I burnt out in spectacular fashion. I got some great advice from readers who were small business owners of their own, and eventually came to realize I needed a new approach. I needed dedicated time for each role I have on the site. Knowing that we only have to produce features one day a week makes that a lot easier to do.

I wrote all of my features for this week yesterday, although I’ve been working on those features in my head since September, when I conducted the interviews. I published this week’s article drop at 3 AM EST. Then, I went to bed and had a great night’s sleep, waking up this morning around 11. I slept easy with the thought that I don’t need to release an article on P2 until next week. I have seven days to write my articles for next week. This gives me plenty of other time to focus on site updates, writing extra articles for over here at PBN, adding new writers here at No Quarter, and taking a break for my own personal life outside of work.

We’ll still have daily updates on Pirates Prospects once the season begins, as well as whenever there are offseason updates. We will still have news analysis when there is news, with the first case being the international signing period next Saturday.

The new Pirates Prospects just gives you all of the features at once, letting you read them at your own pace, and making it easier on me to consistently produce that level of content each week.

Read this week’s articles at your own pace, join the discussions in the comments, and I’ll be working on next week’s article drop.