The Pittsburgh Pirates had a disappointing 2016 season. As the off-season begins, it is time to grade out the club. Today we take a look at one of the best part-time players in the Major Leagues.
When the Pittsburgh Pirates re-signed Sean Rodriguez for the 2016 season, many were left underwhelmed.
Neal Huntington wasn’t. The team’s GM had this to say on the acquisition back in December of 2015:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“In a perfect world,” Huntington said Dec. 8, “if we were to bring someone like Sean back, they would be able to play multiple positions defensively and be a threat with the bat.”[/perfectpullquote]Call it one of the most sage moments of Huntington’s career with the Pirates, but what he thought he would get with Rodriguez was exactly what he got.
Instant Returns Followed By Consistent Reliability
In 2015, Rodriguez gave the Pittsburgh Pirates four home runs, 17 RBI and quality defense at multiple positions, a vital thing to be sure as the team was still committed to the Pedro Alvarez at first base experiment.
In 2016’s first month, Rodriguez gave the club four home runs, 13 RBI and quality defense at multiple positions. It took exactly one calendar month, five starts and 36 plate appearances for Rodriguez to approximate his full year numbers from 2015. After the season’s first stanza, Rodriguez settled into a dependable groove, with the lone exception being a particularly rough July.
| Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April/March | 20 | 5 | 36 | 30 | 9 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 6 | 10 | .333 | .444 | .800 | 1.244 | .375 |
| May | 24 | 11 | 55 | 47 | 10 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 19 | .255 | .352 | .468 | .820 | .385 |
| June | 26 | 12 | 72 | 65 | 8 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 21 | .246 | .306 | .369 | .675 | .356 |
| July | 22 | 8 | 47 | 42 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 16 | .167 | .255 | .476 | .732 | .136 |
| August | 20 | 7 | 42 | 36 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 13 | .278 | .381 | .444 | .825 | .381 |
| Sept/Oct | 28 | 21 | 90 | 80 | 11 | 26 | 3 | 6 | 17 | 7 | 23 | .325 | .378 | .588 | .965 | .377 |
If one looks closely at July, however, they would see a particularly wretched slashline, salvaged by a solid slugging percentage. Rodriguez fell victim to an extreme case of bad luck, with a .136 BABIP (batting average on balls in play) for the month. The down month was certainly no fault of Rodriguez’s, as his 57.7 percent hard-hit rate for the month shows.
What Changed?
The jump in production that Rodriguez enjoyed year-over-year was startling, and it left many to wonder where this newfound power stroke comes from.
When I talked to his father, current State College Spikes (Short Season A Cardinals’ affiliate) manager Johnny Rodriguez, he credited a re-discovered leg kick for the power surge.
“Last year, he goes to the Pittsburgh Pirates…first half of the year he was alright. One day late last year he’s in the cage, and accidentally doing the kick. [Pittsburgh Pirates hitting coach] Jeff Branson sees that and says ‘Are you actually trying to kick?’ and Sean says ‘No no that’s not natural, that’s how I hit before I got to the Angels.’”
[irp posts=”10463″ name=”Pittsburgh Pirates 2016 Gradeout – Ivan Nova“]After hearing Johnny explain it, suddenly the leg kick was all I could see when watching Rodriguez. Branson deserves a large heap of credit for recognizing this seemingly out of the blue. With a full offseason of re-building his swing to include the leg kick, Rodriguez was able to provide the Pittsburgh Pirates with moments like these:
[mlbvideo id=”1015111583″ width=”400″ height=”224” /]Somewhat All-or-Nothing
The biggest wart on Sean Rodriguez’s 2016 season was his strikeout rate. For a part-time player, a 29.8 percent k-rate is obviously less than desirable. It becomes magnified when viewing Rodriguez from the proper perspective.
Rodriguez also served as an emerging power threat. If the Pittsburgh Pirates were to try to instill more discipline in the nine-year veteran, they might run the risk of seeing the utility-man revert to his 2015 low-power form. If they tinkered with his approach, they might have missed out on his blistering September, in which he put up a .965 OPS while seemingly single-handedly keeping the club in the Wild Card race.
It nearly becomes a philosophical debate, but Rodriguez himself tempers the discussion somewhat through posting the highest walk rate of his career.
Conclusion and Final Grade
The Pittsburgh Pirates received an unexpected boost from Sean Rodriguez’s play in 2016, and for that he deserves a solid ‘B’ grade. Rodriguez was not without his warts, but posting a 1.9 fWAR season at $2.5 million is incredible value no matter the measurement. He has likely priced himself out of the Pirates’ 2017 plans, and it is a shame that his career year could not include a playoff epilogue.
What grade would you give Rodriguez?
Agree with our grade? Disagree? Cast your vote below to let your voice be heard!
What grade would you give SEAN RODRIGUEZ for his 2016 season?
— Jason Rollison (@jrollisonpgh) October 14, 2016
Catch up on Past Gradeouts
Miss out on a previous 2016 Grade Out? CLICK HERE for a complete listing.
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