Pirates named organization of the year by Baseball America

The Pittsburgh Pirates weren't able to advance past the NL Wild Card game for the second-straight season, but they nonetheless impressed many with their best season in over two decades.

On Monday, Baseball America named the Pirates their organization of the year after a 98-64 performance in the regular season in a tough NL Central division, their most wins in a regular season since 1992 (96-66).

After making the postseason for the first time in 21 years in 2013, the Pirates have secured three consecutive postseason berths.

With the development of ace Gerrit Cole, whom the Pirates drafted, and key free-agent pick-ups of pitchers Francisco Liriano and A.J. Burnett, as well as infielder Jung Ho Kang, who finished third in the NL Rookie of the Year Award voting, Pittsburgh maintained its upswing and finished a close second in the NL Central for the third-consecutive season.

"It is truly an organizational award, whether it's from someone in an entry level in the office to [owner] Bob Nutting, everyone's role is important, everybody's impact is significant," Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said. "We're fortunate to have a lot of intelligent, hard-working passionate people that are working to help the Pirates continue to take steps forward."