Ideal 2016 Pittsburgh Pirates Lineup vs. RHP:
- Gregory Polanco (RF) .270/.339/.402/.741
- John Jaso (1B) .274/.368/.429/.797
- Andrew McCutchen (CF) .289/.381/.477/.858
- Jung Ho Kang (3B) .300/.359/.481/.840
- Starling Marte (LF) .276/.334/.431/.766
- Josh Harrison (2B) .283/.316/.414/.730
- Francisco Cervelli (C) .278/.346/.377/.723
- Jordy Mercer (SS) .238/.288/.346/.634
- Pitcher
Because teams spend a bulk of their time seeing right-handed pitching, this would pretty much be the Pirates’ standard lineup and I don’t think there are too many surprises in it.
Gregory Polanco is my lead-off hitter because he is best suited for the job with his speed and above average base-running (4.5 BsR). He also does way better against right-handed pitching and towards the end of 2015, he really seemed to find his groove so it wouldn’t surprise me to see Gregory Polanco breakout in a huge way in 2016.
John Jaso being the number two hitter might be a surprise to a lot of people, but he gets on-base a high amount, as evidenced by his career 12.6 percent walk rate and a .381 on-base percentage against right-handed pitching. He would be a very good player to bat in front of the heart of the order.
Andrew McCutchen is my number three hitter because he’s Andrew McCutchen and he is one of the best players in the league. Don’t really have to go too in depth with this decision.
Jung Ho Kang should be the clean-up hitter once he’s healthy and back in the lineup. He might not mash 40 home runs, but he showed last season that he has good gap-to-gap power and does the bulk of his damage against right-handed pitching. He might not be a traditional clean-up hitter, but traditional isn’t something the Pirates put much stock into.
Starling Marte is a really interesting player. He has shown flashes of developing into a true middle of the order threat, but he also has the speed of a great lead-off hitter. The biggest flaw in Marte’s game is that he is a free swinger. He’s almost the position player equivalent of “effectively wild.” Personally, I think he’s ready to take that next step in his evolution and he will become a true middle of the order player. He might not be a clean-up hitter, but I really like him in the fifth spot against righties.
Josh Harrison started 2015 as the everyday third baseman before losing the job to injury. In 2016, he will most likely be moving to second base, taking over for Neil Walker. Harrison suffers from the same free-swinging ways as Starling Marte, so it’s a little difficult to find him an ideal spot in the order, but I think he’s a good fit batting sixth. He might not have a huge amount of power, but he’s been a pretty steady run producer in his career, batting .291 with runners in scoring position and batting sixth should provide him consistent run-producing opportunities.
Francisco Cervelli has the numbers to bat higher in the lineup, but I think batting him seventh puts him in a spot where he could be very productive behind the speed of Harrison. Plus, he could potentially set up late inning situations where the number eight hitter can bunt to set up a pinch-hitting RBI opportunity. Cervelli has also done well as a seven hitter in his career as he hits .293/.359/.412/.770 from the seventh spot in his career.
Jordy Mercer is one of the guys that could probably benefit from a straight platoon, but his defense at the shortstop position has been fairly steady and improving the last couple of seasons, so he will be in the lineup against right-handed pitching. Mercer is no stranger to batting eighth as that’s where’s he’s batted most of his career.
Next, let’s look at the ideal lineup against LHP.
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