{"id":811195,"date":"2018-01-09T12:32:47","date_gmt":"2018-01-09T17:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/piratesbreakdown.com\/?p=18535"},"modified":"2018-01-09T12:32:47","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T17:32:47","slug":"pittsburgh-pirates-outfield-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/pittsburgh-pirates-outfield-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Pittsburgh Pirates&#8217; outfield need the most in 2018?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What was once called the &#8220;dream outfield&#8221; is now nothing more than a question mark.\u00a0 The Pittsburgh Pirates outfield as a unit did not live up to standards in 2017.\u00a0 What do they need most in 2018 to regain prominence?<\/h2>\n<p>Of the Pirates&#8217; three starting outfielders, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mccutan01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Andrew McCutchen<\/a> easily had the best season.\u00a0 He hit .279\/.363\/.486 with 28 home runs.\u00a0 He was worth 3.7 wins bouncing back from a 0.6 win season in 2016.\u00a0 McCutchen may not be with the Pirates in 2018 as trade rumors are swirling.\u00a0 For those reasons, this article will focus on primarily on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/martest01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Starling Marte<\/a> and Gregory Polanoco.<\/p>\n<p>Marte was suspended 80 games due to PEDS in 2017.\u00a0 He never really got going upon return.\u00a0 In 77 games, Marte hit .275\/.333\/.379 with seven home runs.\u00a0 He fWAR was 1.2.\u00a0 Even if that total were doubled to account for the missed time, he still wouldn&#8217;t have reached the mark of 3.9 in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Polanco seemed like a breakout candidate heading into the 2017 season.\u00a0 Multiple injuries prevented that.\u00a0 In 108 games, Polanco hit .251\/.305\/.391 with 11 home runs.\u00a0 His fWAR was 0.5 after having a fWAR of at least two in the previous two seasons.\u00a0 Polanco was almost as bad as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jasojo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">John Jaso<\/a> in 2017.\u00a0 Many are considering him a bust.<\/p>\n<p>What do these two players need the most in 2018?<\/p>\n<h3>Consistency<\/h3>\n<p>This is an obvious one.\u00a0 The Pittsburgh Pirates&#8217; outfield needs consistency both in their play and ability to get on the field.\u00a0 Polanco&#8217;s 108 games played was the least amount of games played since his rookie year, a year in which he was called up mid season.\u00a0 Going in the 2017 season, Polanco looked <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BQoPnKRFuZe\/?taken-by=gpolanco25\">bulky<\/a>.\u00a0 Maybe a little too bulky.\u00a0 Extra muscle and overall mass takes away from flexibility.\u00a0 That may have played a part in the injury issues.\u00a0 This offseason, it looks as though Polanco has cut the extra mass.\u00a0 He still looks as strong as ever, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BclgpO-lW6T\/?taken-by=gpolanco25\">leaner<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Could this lead to better health in 2018?\u00a0 Obviously that question won&#8217;t be answered until the games are played but it&#8217;s certainly an encouraging sign.\u00a0 Polanco had hot streaks last season but was always derailed by injuries.\u00a0 Staying on the field will be the key to his 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Marte falls in the same camp as Polanco.\u00a0 2017 was a lost season for both players.\u00a0 If Marte can avoid PEDs, he will be fine.\u00a0 Can he be the same player he was before the suspension?\u00a0 Last season after his return, the answer was no.\u00a0 That said, what kind of production can realistically be expected after missing half that season?\u00a0 Going into 2018, Marte will have had a season of Winter ball and Spring Training under his belt.\u00a0 The question of whether he can be the same player will be answered in 2018.<\/p>\n<h3>Power<\/h3>\n<p>Last season, Polanco slugged .391 after slugging .463 in 2016.\u00a0 His home runs cut in half from 22 to 11.\u00a0 His hard contact rate dropped from 35.7 to 25.9 percent.\u00a0 He hit more ground balls.\u00a0 Polanco will need to turn things around and be a middle of the order threat for the Pirates in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>It looks as though McCutchen will be traded soon.\u00a0 If that is the case, Polanco will most likely slot anywhere from two to four in the batting order going into 2018.\u00a0 His numbers last year reflected that of a mediocre fourth outfielder.\u00a0 The Pirates desperately need more.<\/p>\n<p>Once again, Marte fell in the same boat as Polanco.\u00a0 Last year, he slugged .379.\u00a0 He had never slugged less than .437 in his career until then.\u00a0 His hard contact rate of 26.2 percent was the lowest of his career and down 8.5 percent from 2016.\u00a0 He too will be relied upon for a major uptick in production in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>If the likes of McCutchen, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/colege01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Gerrit Cole<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/harrijo05.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Josh Harrison<\/a> are traded this offseason, it will be difficult for the Pittsburgh Pirates to contend in 2018.\u00a0 A rebuild will be in session.\u00a0 Polanco and Marte hold the key to success for the Pirates in 2018.\u00a0 If they play to their potential and have major bounce back seasons, the Pirates can at least compete, even if the above three are traded.\u00a0 If they repeat the awful play of the 2017 season, the Pirates have no chance whatsoever to do much of anything.<\/p>\n<p><em>Photo credit &#8211; flickr creative commons\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What was once called the &#8220;dream outfield&#8221; is now nothing more than a question mark.\u00a0 The Pittsburgh Pirates outfield as&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[610258686],"tags":[85224119,610258759,610258719],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.2 (Yoast SEO v22.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Three needs for the 2018 Pittsburgh Pirates outfield<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What was once called the &quot;dream outfield&quot; is now nothing more than a question mark.\u00a0 The Pittsburgh Pirates outfield as a unit did not live up to standards in 2017.\u00a0 What do they need most in 2018 to regain prominence?\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/pittsburgh-pirates-outfield-needs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three needs for the 2018 Pittsburgh Pirates outfield\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What was once called the &quot;dream outfield&quot; 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