The Pittsburgh Pirates have steadily improved their bench over the past three years, but will they perform well as pinch hitters?
As Opening Day inches closer and the Pittsburgh Pirates have to make final roster decisions before heading north, one has to wonder if the 2016 version of the Pirates, at least the 25 that will open the season in Pittsburgh, will have enough depth.
More specifically, do the Bucs have enough depth coming off the bench?
Manager Clint Hurdle is one that has never been afraid of using all 25 men at his disposal, but the results always haven’t been that great in terms of Pirates bench players coming through as pinch hitters.
A good bench could mean the difference in playing in October again or not.
Looking back at the past three seasons, the Pirates have had depth and their bench performance has been steadily improved.
The 2013 season saw the Pirates rank just No. 21 in MLB in terms of pinch hitting. That core put up a slash line of just .206/.288/.356, going just 52-for-253 in pinch hit situations with seven homers and 36 RBI. That year, Travis Snider led the team with nine pinch hits.
The 2014 season saw the Pirates bench improve a tad, ranking No. 16 in the league. That unit slashed .216/.295/.344, going 61-for-282 while hitting seven home runs while driving in 43. Snider and Gaby Sanchez led a pretty productive bench with 13 pinch hits apiece.
Last season the improvement continued as the Bucs ranked No. 10 in baseball slashing .236/.312/.300. They went 55-for-233 in pinch hit situations, but with only two homers and 36 RBI. That unit was led by Michael Morse, who had eight pinch hits despite being in town for only the final two months of the season.
Pedro Alvarez and Corey Hart had seven pinch hits apiece and no other Pirates player had more than the five pinch knocks that Travis Ishikawa delivered.
None of those guys are around anymore so can the current group of Pittsburgh Pirates reserves keep up what has been an improving trend?
Looking at this from a standpoint where the Pirates regulars of: Francisco Cervelli, John Jaso, Josh Harrison, Jung-Ho Kang (when healthy), Jordy Mercer, Starling Marte, Andrew McCutchen and Gregory Polanco; right now that leaves a bench group consisting of Morse, David Freese, Chris Stewart, Sean Rodriguez, Jason Rogers, Pedro Florimon and Cole Figueroa.
There are still final cuts to be made, but that is the current group as of now.
Morse is very productive off the bench with a career .298/.380/.457 slash line. He has gone 28-for-94 in pinch hit situations with two homers and 21 RBI. Given his track history and the fact that most of Morse’s pinch hit appearances will come when a southpaw is on the mound, he once again could be a real weapon for Hurdle in terms of a pinch hitter.
Freese, an everyday player for most of his career, could have to adjust to more of a platoon role once the Pirates are completely healthy. That means more at bats off the bench. Freese has had only 38 pinch hit at bats in his career, but has come through with hits in 10 of those at bats, posting a .263/.378/.395 slash line with a homer and five RBI.
Stewart, another lock for the Opening Day roster, naturally hasn’t had many pinch hit appearances due to being the backup catcher, but has gone a productive 8-for-19 in his career, posting a .421/.429/.526 line with three RBI. That includes going 4-for-8 in a pinch hitting role last season.
After that though it gets dicey.
Rodriguez has struggled throughout his career as a pinch hitter. He went just 1-for-14 a year ago and has gotten hits in just 12-of-91 career pinch hit at bats. His career .132/.248/.176 pinch hitting slash line doesn’t leave much to be desired from a guy who Hurdle will likely have to call on a lot.
Joyce, who has made the team as a fourth outfielder, has also struggled throughout his career as a pinch hitter. The veteran has gone just 19-for-103 of the bench good for an .184/.303/.301 line. He has a homer and 16 RBI as a career pinch hitter and if the Pirates are hoping for a bounce back season from Joyce, he is going to have to be a productive option off the bench.
Rogers, if he can find a spot on the roster, has been a bit more productive in his limited big league career going 14-for-52 off the bench. He has slashed .269/.387/.442 with a pair of homers and eight RBI. If Rogers doesn’t make the Opening Day roster, he will likely be up sometime this season, and should give Hurdle another option.
In terms of the middle infield options in Florimon and Figueroa, neither have had many opportunities, Florimon is just 0-for-2 as a pinch hitter and Figueroa is 1-for-4. Whichever makes the team, he will be there for his glove and anything Hurdle can get out of their bats will be a bonus.
Producing off the bench is crucial for this team and they will get plenty of opportunities to do so.
Whether they can get it done or not is another story altogether.
Pirates’ general manager Neal Huntington has shown that he will add to the team’s depth when needed. If this group of reserves can hold their own, he won’t have to make tough calls on potential call-ups and trades until he absolutely has to.
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