BRADENTON, Fla. — The Pirates were one of the first teams to contact Michael Saunders when free agency began. The dialogue continued until Wednesday morning, when Saunders hopped on a flight in Denver in time to arrive at Pirate City by lunchtime.
“I felt like this would be a good organization for me,” said Saunders, who signed a minor league contract with an invitation to major league camp Wednesday. “I really like the team, just playing against them a little bit last year. I feel like it’s the right opportunity.”
Saunders, a 31-year-old outfielder, joins at least five other players who could earn a roster spot and/or playing time in left field. The left-handed hitter struggled in 2017 after making the All-Star team the year before.
“He feels as healthy and strong as he’s felt in a while,” general manager Neal Huntington said. “Sometimes, guys get off to good starts and it feeds itself, sometimes they get off to tough starts and it feeds itself. As we evaluated [him], there were still some positive signs.”
In 2016, Saunders, then with the Toronto Blue Jays, had a .372 on-base percentage, a .551 slugging percentage and .298 average with 16 home runs at the All-Star break. The rest of the way, he hit .178 with a .638 OPS. Last season, in Philadelphia, he carried a .617 OPS into mid-June before the Phillies released him. The Blue Jays picked him back up, and he finished the season in the majors.
“Obviously a tough year for me last year, a great learning experience for me,” Saunders said. “Really I think you learn more from failure than you do from success. The biggest thing I try to concentrate on is staying in my legs in the box and allowing the ball to travel and catching it deeper. I felt like my time in Toronto, I was utilizing the other way a lot better and trusting to allow the ball to get deep. I think I might have gotten pretty pull-happy in Philadelphia.”
The Seattle Mariners drafted Saunders in the 11th round in 2004. He spent six seasons in Seattle before the Mariners traded him to Toronto for J.A. Happ. Saunders tore the meniscus in his left knee after stepping on a sprinkler head while shagging fly balls in spring training in 2015, and complications from the resulting surgery kept him out for all but nine games that year.
In 2016 Saunders won the American League final vote to earn the last spot on the All-Star team. He hit .253/.338/.478 with 24 home runs that year.
“It’s a guy that’s had success,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “It’s a guy that’s worked hard. It’s a guy that’s had to persevere. This guy’s faced some adversity. With an opportunity to come in, he’s hungry and wants to get his game back in a better place, wants to be an offensive contributor, has been in the past.”
Stoneman Douglas hat tribute
All 30 teams will wear Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School caps before games this weekend to show solidarity with the Parkland, Fla., school where 17 people were killed in a shooting last week.
Players will have the option to wear the hats in games if they choose. The school is the alma mater of Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who spoke at a vigil after the shooting.
Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.
First Published: February 21, 2018, 5:49 p.m.
