During the first couple weeks of the season, we have seen Gregory Polanco hit for power, hit for average, show off his speed and make a fine defensive play. On Friday night, we got a glimpse of the fifth tool, picking up an outfield assist by throwing out a runner at home plate. It was his third outfield assist of this season and 39th of his career.
One other highlight from Friday night’s Indianapolis game. While he isn’t a prospect anymore at this stage, who doesn’t enjoy seeing The Hit Collector do what he does best? Matt Hague collects his 436th hit in an Indianapolis uniform with a three-run homer in the fourth inning.
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
Did anyone read the article on CBS Sports about Polanco? I don’t know if they were being facetious, but with the way he is hitting, people decided to track the total amount of pitches that he swung and missed. Per the article, he has only swung and missed on 9 pitches so far.
It’s time to bring him up. We’re losing games by one run on a consistent basis. Polanco has proven, through the early season and the winter league (please don’t devalue that experience), that he is the real deal. He is one of the top three outfielders we have. It’s time for him to learn while logging big league innings.
Someone big mentioned on Twitter a week or so ago that he had just six swing and misses, so nine by now sounds about right. There is no denying he is a special player