Pittsburgh Pirates RF Gregory Polanco is playing his best baseball of the season in the month of July
Pittsburgh Pirates RF Gregory Polanco had a night to remember in last night’s 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
The full “Polanco Effect” was on display. The long, lanky swing was more compact and impactful in going 4-for-4 at the plate. On a go-ahead hit in the sixth inning, Polanco chose to try for extra bases — probably an unwise decision in hindsight — but got in under a tag. Earlier in the game, he nailed a would-be run at the plate with a laser from his left arm. It was his athleticism to charge on a fast-moving groundball to right that put him in position to make that throw.
Yes, it was a great night for Polanco, and it was the second such 4-for-4 night that the fourth-year player has enjoyed over the month of July. In fact, over 13 contest this month, Polanco has been held hitless only once — with that being an 0-f0r-1 day in which he did not start.
For the month, Polanco is slashing .438/.460/.688. He has struck out just three times in 48 at-bats for the month. Though his BABIP for the month sits at an other-worldly .442, but it is hardly luck. Polanco has lowered his soft contact rate to 20 percent in July as opposed to his 25.4 percent rate through the season’s first three months. With a fantastic line-drive percentage of 28.9 in July, Polanco is clearly driving the ball well.
Yeah, the Pittsburgh Pirates would love to see the July version of Polanco stick around. That’s obvious. What’s not so obvious is some of the secondary effects that a locked-in Polanco brings to the club.
Lineup length
And one of those is how Polanco’s hot play considerably lengthens the Pittsburgh Pirates’ lineup.
With Starling Marte set to return today, presumably batting in the top half of the order, the entire Pirates lineup gets a little bit better. To be sure, Polanco has already lengthened the club’s everyday lineup by performing well in the latter half of the batting order, but with Marte back up top, Polanco’s presence becomes magnified.
Assuming Marte will hit at the fourth spot as Neal Huntington recently hinted, suddenly it becomes easier to see more traffic on the base paths, more taxation on opposing starters before Polanco comes to the plate and the cumulative effect of opposing pitchers going through this lineup helping the Pirates immensely.
Intangibles
Though this website likes to deal in hard numbers, there is no doubt that Polanco’s energy — that intangible, hard to quantify factor — can be infectious when he is playing well. For evidence, look no further than last night. As Polanco was running around making plays, hustling for doubles, and coming up with big hits, his teammates were eating it up.
It’s no secret that winning and playing well breeds happiness over the course of a 162 game-long season. And that happiness can keep the ball rolling. The Pittsburgh Pirates have considerable work to do after digging the hole for themselves up to this point, and anything — even the most inconsequential things — that can keep the team rolling will be welcomed.
Obviously, the Pittsburgh Pirates would love to see this version of Gregory Polanco for the rest of the season as they attempt to stay in the NL Central title conversation. Not only do his numbers speak for themselves, but the overall effect that a productive Polanco has on the Pittsburgh Pirates is considerable.
Photo credit – Flickr Creative Commons
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