To date it has not been a very good season for the Pittsburgh Pirates bench.
On the season the Pittsburgh Pirates bench players have mustered just a paltry .206/.311/.298 line when called upon as pinch hitters. The .206 batting average in pinch-hit situations ranks just 20th in baseball.
If you take John Jaso, who has been very good coming off the bench this season, out of the equation, the Bucs have put up just a .190/.270/.236 line on the season.
However despite the poor showing when called upon, the Pirates bench could actually become a strength the rest of the season. A lot of that is due to the fact that Starling Marte made his return Tuesday night and suddenly not only is the Bucs’ starting lineup that much deeper, so is the bench.
Better Options
With Marte back, Pirates’ manager Clint Hurdle now has better options to call upon.
On most days he will have Jaso and Adam Frazier from the left side of the plate. Jose Osuna from the right side and a switch hitter in Max Moroff for now. David Freese should also see a lot less starts so that adds another right-handed bat to the bench as well.
That looks a lot better on paper than the likes of: Alen Hanson, Phil Gosselin, Danny Ortiz, Chris Bostick and Gift Ngoepe that Hurdle had to rely on at different points this season. While Marte’s return does a lot for the eight that take the field on a regular basis every night, it also does a lot for bench.
Hurdle doesn’t have to hold onto his only lefty for late in the game. If there are guys on base, he can feel comfortable knowing he has Jaso and Frazier to use in the middle innings while still being able to have a left-handed hitter in reserve to play matchups late in the game. The same goes for the right side of the plate when Freese is on the bench. Hurdle can get Osuna’s bat into the game in a big spot earlier on instead of having to hold onto him for an at bat later on.
Frazier and Osuna in particular will lose at bats thanks to Marte coming back, but that doesn’t mean they still can’t fill valuable roles.
A deep bench is always a plus for a manager and for the first time this season the Pirates may actually have one.
Overall Performance
As mentioned before it has been ugly.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Jaso has been very solid as a pinch hitter, slashing .286/.44/.619. He also has both of the Pirates pinch-hit homers and seven RBI coming off the bench which accounts for half of the total 14 pinch-hit RBI the Bucs have on the season.[/perfectpullquote]Frazier has also been fairly solid coming off the bench, posting a .273/.333/.273 line. The rest of the crew hasn’t performed as well, including Osuna, who has a .120/.185/.160 line as a pinch hitter.
Freese doesn’t have a hit as a pinch hitter this season but has drawn five walks in eight pinch-hit opportunities. Moroff is just 1-for-5 in pinch hit chances.
The numbers don’t looks great overall, but they stand to get better given the Pirates should have competent bats in pinch-hitting roles the rest of the season.
Can the Bench get stronger?
That is a question for Pittsburgh Pirates’ general manager Neal Huntington as the non-waiver trade deadline approaches.
While there are plenty of areas where Huntington could look to improve the current roster like adding a starting pitcher, bullpen arm or third baseman, another quality bench bat should be a high priority. A right-handed hitter who eats up southpaws along the lines of a Wilmer Flores or Ryan Raburn would make this Pirates bench pretty strong heading down the stretch.
Hurdle often uses his entire bench to win games and for the first time this season it looks as if he may have a bench good enough to keep the Pirates streak of good play going.
Photo credit – Daniel Decker Photography
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
