Gregory Polanco: Bambi becomes Bambino

Gregory Polanco’s maturation process has been a sight to behold

Gregory Polanco has been on an absolute tear at the plate this season, but his development has been a long and winding road.  Through the end of May, Polanco has a slash line of .310/.386/.566 and leads the team with 36 RBIs.  He has played in all but one of the Pirates games through the end of May and has reached base in 44 out of 51 contests.  He already has 6 home runs this season versus 9 in all of 2015 and notched his first grand slam.   And even when he sits, like in the 3-2 loss to Miami on May 31, weren’t you secretly hoping that he would stroll to the plate as a pinch hitter and save the day?

[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Polanco is having himself a Bambino-like year.[/pullquote]

Polanco is having himself a Bambino-like year.  True, Babe Ruth’s career slash line of .342/.474/.690. is still in a different stratosphere, but in his first year as an everyday player, Ruth hit .300 /.411/.555 with 11 home runs.  These numbers are very similar to Polanco’s 2016 effort so far.  Now, before the baseball historians get on my case, let me say that Gregory Polanco is definitely not Babe Ruth – he will not be pitching anytime soon and he is not going to hit as many home runs as Ruth.  But it’s hard to disagree that Gregory Polanco has arrived as a professional hitter.

However, it hasn’t always been this way.  When Gregory Polanco first arrived in a Pirates uniform, it often looked as if his brain wasn’t fully connected to his long legs.  Last season Polanco ran into 11 outs on the basepaths, good for 5th worst in the league (credit Matt Shetler of Pirates Breakdown).  One such example was in a June 26, 2015 game against Atlanta, prompting manager Clint Hurdle to say “It’s the first time I’ve seen a guy pop-up slide to third with one of our own runners on third.”  Although he has a cannon for an arm, he would routinely make uncomfortable mistakes in the outfield.  Who can forget the May 15, 2015 game against the Cubs where he awkwardly tripped on his own feet in the bottom of the 12th, allowing the winning run to score.  Even though Polanco already had a nickname (El Coffee), his contortions on that play prompted me to start calling him “Bambi” because it reminded me of a baby deer first learning to walk.

But that was last year.  This season, Polanco has been working hard at all aspects of his game.  Polanco deserves credit for vastly improving both in right field and on the basepaths.  He is still Bambi-like on occasion, like when he recently played left field against the Colorado Rockies and ran in three steps on a line drive that was clearly over his head.  However, his hitting is so good right now that he can be forgiven any growing pains.   If he can keep it up, he will draw more comparisons to Hall of Fame players like Ruth.

Bambi grew up and became the great prince of the forest.

Perhaps Gregory Polanco will grow up to be the prince of Pittsburgh.

Featured Image Credit – Daniel Decker Photography