Hi, I’m Kurt. Nice to meet yinz.

If other writers are like me, then revisiting years-old articles is like stumbling upon old pictures of oneself as a pre-teen. I will question my awkward phrasing and extraneous verbiage much like I question my middle school Goth phase.

While I will not share my seventh grade school picture (it’s for the best, trust me), I will share one of my first published pieces: A 500-word review of Charlie Wilmoth’s book Dry Land that appeared in the June 2014 issue of Pittsburgh Sports Report.

I’m sharing that piece not because it’s good – it certainly isn’t – but to illustrate that Bucs Dugout is important to me. Whenever I was studying at La Roche College, I watched a ton of Pirates baseball and my “smart baseball” compendium was Bucs Dugout. So whenever I graduated and started to find a bit of work, Charlie was one of my most frequently cited sources.

I have hopefully come a long way since I started writing about the Pirates. I spent the 2015 and ’16 seasons as one of PSR’s representatives in the Pirates press box (I covered the Penguins last year, too). I also contribute at the Point of Pittsburgh occasionally. A couple friends and myself have a light-hearted, infrequently updated podcast called The Bloop And A Blast Podcast.

In my spare time, I watch a whole bunch of professional wrestling and am a proud part of a wonderful, inclusive group of traveling punk rock baseballers called the Dock Ellis Baseball League (Go Allegheny A’s!). And, somehow, my lovely wife Justine puts up with all of this crap.

Starting next week, I will be representing this blog in the Pirates press box and, to be frank, I am very excited for the opportunity. Not only to once again be in close proximity to the team that I have followed for my whole life, but to become part of the Bucs Dugout community.

When I talked to Eli about joining the writing team, I mentioned that my favorite thing about Bucs Dugout is how active the comments section is. There aren’t many places where a writer can post a set of lineups in the afternoon and have 300-some comments by the end of the night. It’s unique and, as a writer, it’s nice to know that people are reading your work.

Okay, I’ll stop showing yinz with compliments and get to work. Thanks for having me.