The Pittsburgh Pirates need to give Jose Osuna more playing time

The Pittsburgh Pirates were hit with a sudden need for an outfielder in mid-April. So why is Jose Osuna not getting more playing time?

When news broke in mid-April that the Pittsburgh Pirates would be without Starling Marte for 80 games due to a failed drug test, a strength of the team all of the sudden had a vacancy. There are plenty of players on the team that could have filled the void. Both Josh Bell and Adam Frazier have outfield experience, and Frazier has seen a lot of action there along with some time in the infield. Some have voiced their frustration with the fact that the team is penciling John Jaso into so many games in the outfield.

But because of the mediocre season that the Pittsburgh Pirates are putting together, they should be using this opportunity to see what they have in Jose Osuna. He should start seeing more plate appearances so the team can see what they have in him.  So far at the big league level he has earned a more serious look. While Osuna can play first base along with the outfield, Josh Bell has taken the lion’s share of the reps at first. So it makes sense to give Osuna more starts in the outfield since he could help them in right or left field.

Osuna, who was ranked the team’s 27th best prospect in 2016, is slashing .233/.298/.442 in 39 games, good for an OPS of .740. However, while Osuna has played in 39 games, he has only started 18 of them. His splits show that he has performed better as a substitute (21 games) than as a starter, but the sample size is too small to make a serious assessment. While the line of .197/.269/.361 is not good, he is probably somewhere between that and the .320/.370/.640 he has compiled as a substitute.

A deeper dive into Osuna’s numbers show a lot to like in the rookie at the plate, especially in the data provided by PITCHf/x. He may only swing at 67.1 percent of pitches in the strike zone (Z-Swing), but when he does, he makes contact 94.9 percent of the the (Z-Contact). On the flip side, he goes after pitches outside the strike zone 37.3 percent of the time (O-Swing) but makes contact on 67.1 percent of those swings (O-Contact).

All-fields approach

Osuna has done a terrific job of spraying the ball all over the field this season. In the minors, a large portion of his hits went to his pull side, typically well over 40 percent of his hits. This season Osuna’s approach has been much more even. His hits have gone to left, center and right field 33.3, 37.5 and 29.2 percent of the time he gets on base. Defenses are going to have to play him straight up since he has shown the ability to hit to all fields.

Now, there are certainly areas that it would be nice to see Osuna improve. His balls in play are only being considered to have hard contact 23.6 percent of the time, which is most likely resulting in more outs being made. However, one reason that Osuna may not be making a lot of hard contact is because he is usually coming into games as a substitute. If Osuna is more often facing hard throwing relievers rather than a starter who is gradually going to get tired over the course of the game, this could be affecting his ability to hit the ball hard.

This should hardly be a deterrent to Osuna receiving more playing time. He showed some power in the minor leagues as he clubbed 13 home runs between Indianapolis and Altoona. The previous year he also saw action across two levels (A+ and AA) and hit 12, so Osuna has been consistent in the last few years. He has three long balls in 86 at-bats this season, so it seems possible that Osuna would be somewhat of a power threat if he received more playing time. His ISO of .209 this year shows that he has the ability to hit for power.

In the long run, the lack of starts and playing time shouldn’t impact Osuna’s play when he does get on the field, as the splits as a substitute show he hits well in that situation.  It just seems that this season, especially the way it has unfolded so far, presents a great chance to see what type of player he can be. Whether it is in some role with the Pittsburgh Pirates or used as a trade chip to bring in someone that can fill a spot in a position where the team is not as deep.

Photo credit – Daniel Decker Photogrpahy