The Pittsburgh Pirates have been trying to put together a successful platoon for several years now. Each time, it has failed to work.
It started in 2011 with Garrett Jones. After showing that he couldn’t hit left-handers while playing full-time in 2010, the Pirates brought in Matt Diaz as a platoon partner. Diaz had strong career numbers against lefties, but was on the decline, and didn’t do his part in the platoon with Jones in right field. Meanwhile, the Pirates had Lyle Overbay struggling at first base, up until their trade for Derrek Lee at the deadline.
Jones made the switch to first base in 2012, and a new platoon partner was brought in. This time it was Casey McGehee. The numbers against lefties weren’t bad from McGehee. He had an .807 OPS with the Pirates in his platoon role. The problem was that Jose Tabata and Alex Presley struggled in the outfield, which led to Jones playing everyday in right field, and McGehee playing everyday at first base. The Pirates had a successful platoon, but couldn’t platoon the two players.
In 2013, things finally looked right for Jones. The club added Gaby Sanchez at the previous deadline, trading Gorkys Hernandez and a first round compensation pick in the 2013 draft. Sanchez was having a down year in Miami in 2012, but that was pretty much the story with every hitter in Miami that year. He came to the Pirates, and had a .799 OPS against lefties in 2012. In 2013, he crushed lefties, to the tune of a .987 OPS.
The problem in 2013 was Jones. The Pirates finally had a platoon partner for their first baseman, but Jones was the one struggling. He had just a .730 OPS, and to make matters worse, he was spending time in right field, playing every day due to struggles from Tabata and Travis Snider. The team added Justin Morneau for the platoon later in the season, but Morneau only had a .744 OPS against right-handers.
This year, the team started the year with Travis Ishikawa and Gaby Sanchez as their platoon at first. The production against right-handers looked doomed from the start. It also didn’t last long, as the team traded for Ike Davis, three weeks into the season. With that trade, the Pirates finally have a successful first base platoon.
When you analyze what a first base platoon could do, the thing you usually do is take the splits from both players, and combine them to create numbers that you’d expect an elite player to put up. It looks good on paper, but as we’ve seen in previous years, it doesn’t always work in reality. This year, it’s working it reality. Here are the numbers from each side of the platoon, against their respective pitchers, since the Davis trade.
| PA | AB | H | BB | TB | HBP | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | |
| Gaby Sanchez |
26 |
25 |
10 |
1 |
18 |
0 |
0.400 |
0.423 |
0.720 |
1.143 |
| Ike Davis |
114 |
98 |
31 |
16 |
43 |
0 |
0.316 |
0.412 |
0.439 |
0.851 |
| Total |
140 |
123 |
41 |
17 |
61 |
0 |
0.333 |
0.414 |
0.496 |
0.910 |
One disclaimer here is that you’ll inevitably have plate appearances against the non-favorable matchup. Clint Hurdle has done a good job of limiting this. Ike Davis only has 11 plate appearances against left-handers since joining the Pirates. He is 0-for-11 in those appearances. Gaby Sanchez has seen more plate appearances against right-handers, totaling 37 plate appearances in over a month. That’s still not a lot, and Sanchez is actually doing a decent job in that time. He has a .749 OPS during that stretch. I don’t know if that’s due to Hurdle picking the matchups well, or just Sanchez playing better against right-handers since Davis came in. It could also be just a small sample size situation.
The combined effort since Davis took over is an .821 OPS. That would rank 14th out of 27 qualified first basemen this season. One thing to consider here is that this is the overall production from first base for the Pirates, compared to just the production from starting first basemen for other teams. The Pirates could rank higher when you consider overall production for other teams. For example, in the month of May, the Pirates have an .871 OPS from their first basemen, which is good enough for the tenth best team in baseball.
That kind of production is about all you can ask for from a platoon. Prior to tonight, the Pirates first basemen had an 0.5 WAR in the month of May. That pace over a six month season is a 3.0 WAR, which would be worth $15-18 M a year on the open market. The Pirates are currently paying Davis and Sanchez a combined $5.8 M. The duo is under control for at least one more year, and even if the combined cost is north of $8 M, it would be worth it for this production.
And for once, the above statements can be said based on what a Pirates platoon is actually doing on the field, rather than what they’re expected to do on paper.
Links and Notes
**Prospect Watch: Reese McGuire Extends Hit Streak, Strong Outings From Kuhl and Neverauskas
**Andrew Lambo makes a visit to a specialist for injury
**2014 Pirates Draft Prospects: Alex Blandino, Brandon Finnegan, Ti’Quan Forbes, Luis Ortiz
**Prospect Highlights: Homer From JaCoby Jones, Strikeout By Worley
**Minor League Schedule: Adrian Sampson Has Been Tough At Home This Season
