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Pirates designated hitter Colin Moran congratulates first baseman Josh Bell after he hit a two-run home run against the Cubs.
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Pirates 2020 report card: Outfield a huge problem in last-place season

Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Pirates 2020 report card: Outfield a huge problem in last-place season

The Pirates’ season is over. They finished 19-41, the worst record in baseball. If they weren’t the worst offensive team in baseball, they were close, finishing with the fewest runs scored, the worst OPS+, the lowest on-base percentage and the third-worst batting average in MLB. The Pirates’ pitching staff’s 4.68 ERA was near the middle of the pack, finishing 19th in MLB in that category.

There were certainly some bright spots along the way, particularly at the end of the season, but the worst record in baseball speaks for itself. These were not a good 60 games for the Pirates.

Nevertheless, to get a better look at where the Pirates struggled or excelled specifically, we graded each position group plus the coaching to paint a fuller picture of the Pirates’ season.

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Starting pitching: This looked like it might be a lot worse prior to the last couple weeks of the season. After Joe Musgrove’s start against the Cincinnati Reds on Sept. 15, the Pirates had just two quality starts all season. They had struggled, to that point, getting deeper in games. Multiple pitchers had battled injury problems and pitch counts, which hampered their ability to pitch effectively deep into games.

Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli walks off the field after catching a sim game Wednesday, August 7, 2019, at PNC Park.
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And then they turned fate on its head. Over the next 12 games, the Pirates’ starters led MLB with a 1.46 ERA. That included two masterful starts from left-hander Steven Brault, a complete game, one-run, two-hit outing and a seven-inning shutout game. Mitch Keller finished the season with 12 no-hit innings over two starts. Musgrove himself found solid ground, striking out 21 batters and allowing no runs in 13 innings in his last two starts.

All told, three of the Pirates’ pitchers who started five games or more finished with sub-4.00 ERAs. That is good. Unfortunately, the early season ineffectiveness, combined with the overall struggles of Trevor Williams and Derek Holland — while he was starting — makes it hard to say this unit was an inarguable success. They did finish strong, though, and the overall numbers are pretty good.

Grade: C+

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BullpenThis unit was definitely hit hardest by injuries. Closer Keone Kela only pitched a few games. Right-hander Nick Burdi was extremely promising to start and then suffered another injury. Righties Clay Holmes, Kyle Crick, Michael Feliz and Yacksel Rios barely pitched. Heck, even before the season began, Edgar Santana was suspended 80 games. 

In the middle, left-handers Robbie Erlin and Miguel Del Pozo were designated for assignment after individual struggles. Basically, the Pirates’ bullpen had every excuse to be an unmitigated disaster.

That’s an admittedly low bar to clear, but the Pirates did it. They found some promising arms in the likes of Geoff Hartlieb, Sam Howard, Nik Turley and Chris Stratton. Richard Rodriguez was their most reliable pitcher in the late-inning/closer role. Young prospect Blake Cederlind burst onto the scene with electric stuff. Even Nick Tropeano, a midseason pick-up from the New York Yankees, finished the year with a 1.15 ERA in 15.2 innings.

The Pirates’ bullpen ERA was 4.62, which was 14th in MLB. Solid. Given the circumstances, it isn’t a stretch to say that is an impressive effort, even if there are loose ends still remaining.

Twins starting pitcher Sean Poppen throws to the Detroit Tigers in the third inning of the second game of a baseball doubleheader Friday, Sept. 4, 2020, in Minneapolis.
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Grade: B-

Outfielders: On to the position players. It was a rough go of it for many of them, but boy was the outfield bad offensively. Bryan Reynolds and Gregory Polanco finished third and sixth on the team, respectively, in plate appearances, and neither of them hit above .200. The other primary outfielders throughout the season included Cole Tucker, Anthony Alford, Jared Oliva, Jason Martin, Jarrod Dyson and Guillermo Heredia. Alford’s .250 average was the highest of any of them, and he played in just five games. Those eight players combined hit .180 this season. That is bad.

Defensively, this unit was quite good. Combined, the Pirates’ outfield was worth 22 defensive runs saved, which was the eighth-best mark in MLB. They were third in outfield assists with 12. Reynolds, in particular, was very good, finishing with seven defensive runs saved on his own and tying for fifth with five outfield assists of his own.

Still, as good as that part of their game was, the outfielders need to hit better than they did. Plain and simple.

Grade: D

Infielders: Have you heard about this Ke’Bryan Hayes guy? The third-base prospect was the single brightest spot on the Pirates this season, hitting .376 over 24 games after his early-September call-up. The rest of the infield was extremely hit-and-miss offensively. Josh Bell, Kevin Newman, Erik Gonzalez and Adam Frazier all finished the season hitting between .224 and .230. That after a scorching hot start to the season from Gonzalez. Colin Moran was the team’s leader in home runs and RBIs, hitting .247 overall with a 115 OPS+. Until his season-ending injury, utility-man Phillip Evans was a huge bright spot, too. The likes of Jose Osuna and JT Riddle struggled at times but didn’t play enough games to be a huge part of this evaluation.

Defensively, the Pirates finished with the most errors from shortstop and first base in MLB. Adam Frazier was solid as always at second, and Hayes was a huge plus at third when he arrived, but Bell and Newman really did struggle, as they have throughout their careers. Moran was fine at first base, but not very good in the few games he played at third. Overall, it was a disappointing year for the infielders, although not quite as bad offensively as the outfielders. Hayes is worth an entire letter-grade bump from what this otherwise might have been.

Grade: C

Catchers: Jacob Stallings was the Pirates’ team MVP. He was second in the majors in defensive runs saved by a catcher, with seven. He was once again near the top of MLB in pitch-framing statistics. He caught 33% of the baserunners who attempted to steal bases against him. Plus, he was second among the team’s usual starters in batting average, hitting .248 in 42 games.

Backup John Ryan Murphy really struggled at the plate, hitting .172 with nearly three times more strikeouts than hits. What may be surprising, however, is that he was also a good defensive catcher. He was also a positive in defensive runs saved, with one, and the Pirates’ pitchers actually had a substantially lower ERA when Murphy was behind the plate than when Stallings was there.

In a successful season, Stallings and Murphy would have been forgettable-but-solid contributors to the team. This year, Stallings in particular was a huge bright spot.

Grade: B

Coaching: There were certainly some head-scratching moments this season. Especially early on, first-year manager Derek Shelton shuffled his lineup around a lot and used every bullpen arm in multiple situations. It seemed like a way to evaluate the talent the Pirates had, but it also resulted in a lack of continuity and some ugly results. Not all of that is Shelton’s fault, necessarily, but the use of, say, Miguel Del Pozo versus another pitcher in certain spots at the beginning of the year probably didn’t help the Pirates’ cause in some games.

Really, though, it is hard to criticize any coach or manager for poor results when the entire lineup is struggling as badly as it did for the Pirates. Plus, they weren’t expected to be World Series contenders this year, anyway. The only thing that should matter for Shelton right now is that the players are still buying in. With the way the Pirates finished the season, winning four of their last six games against two playoff teams in the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians, it is safe to say they were still giving effort until the end.

So, yes, decision-making could be tightened up in certain spots. At the same time, that won’t matter a ton until the Pirates are really competing again. For that to happen in the next few years, the Pirates need everyone on board. For now, that seems to be the case.

Grade: C 

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Mike Persak: mpersak@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MikeDPersak

First Published: October 1, 2020, 1:26 p.m.

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