BRADENTON, Fla. – It didn’t take long for Stephen Alemais to start turning heads for his defense at shortstop in pro ball. About a month into the season, he made one of the best double plays you will see, receiving a bad throw at second, then falling to his back and still making a perfect throw to first base to complete the play.
This wasn’t the first time Alemais had a double play described as “AMAZING” on a YouTube video. It wasn’t even the first time this year. Earlier this season, he made another great play up the middle, starting the double play with a behind the back flip as he was rolling on the ground.
Most of the time, when I see a player, it takes some time to get a good evaluation of his defense. I’ll see a player for a five game series, and still won’t come away with a full evaluation of his defense, just because you’re not going to see many plays in that short of a time span. For most players, we rely on the combined evaluations of everyone who has seen them throughout the year, along with scouting input.
That wasn’t necessary with Alemais. The first game I saw him, he put on a show on defense. The 2016 third round pick was a live highlight reel throughout the whole series, and every time I saw him after that. He’s got some incredible range, able to consistently make plays up the middle, on the other side of the bag, and deep in the hole. He has plenty of arm strength, and outstanding glove work. He takes good routes to the ball, and has a quick release. He’s good enough at shortstop that he could be the best defender in the system, and that’s saying a lot with Gift Ngoepe also still in the system.
The Pirates have had Alemais working at second base during instructs, which is a bit surprising at first when you consider how good he is at shortstop. But when you think about the rest of the organization, it makes sense. He looks like a guy who should jump to Bradenton in 2017, and the Pirates might still have Cole Tucker returning to the level. Tucker has shown improved defense at the position, looking very smooth and fluid in the field. But between the two of them, Tucker could still use the most work at the position. This allows the Pirates to give their plus defender at shortstop some work on the other side of the bag, increasing his versatility.
“I’ve never been there in my career, so it’s a new challenge, but it’s pretty fun,” Alemais said. “It’s a lot different. Obviously at the position you have a little more time with ground balls. But the footwork is a lot different. You have a lot more footwork at second base with double plays. Right now, that’s my biggest challenge, is turning double plays from second base. Just my footwork around the base.”
Aside from Tucker in Bradenton, the Pirates have a lot of options at shortstop now. They’ve got Kevin Newman in Altoona, who will likely make the jump to Indianapolis at the start of the 2017 season. Kevin Kramer and Pablo Reyes are two talented players who would otherwise be playing the position in a weaker system, as they don’t have the strongest defense there, although they might split time in Altoona at the start of next season if Tucker stays in Bradenton. Alemais is the best defender of this group, but there’s one thing holding him back, and that’s the offensive upside.
The defense was outstanding this year, but the offense was poor. He put up a .611 OPS in 156 at-bats in Morgantown, and then followed that up with a .514 OPS in 37 at-bats after a late promotion to West Virginia. I wrote about his offensive struggles earlier in the season, and noted that he was dealing with a shoulder issue from earlier in the year, which might have been impacting his offensive potential. I talked with him last week, and while he’s still icing the shoulder, he said it’s feeling strong.
Alemais has seen some improved offense during instructs, with some surprising power. He hit three home runs in a single week two weeks ago, after hitting just one in his pro debut, and three total in three years in college.
“I came out pretty strong,” Alemais said. “Hit a couple of home runs. That was the first time I had ever hit more than three home runs in the last three years. I feel really strong. I’m just working on little things. Obviously, I know that offense is my biggest thing going into instructs. I’m just trying to learn a little bit about my swing, and just learning a bit more about pull ball pitching, and how pitchers attack hitters.”
How surprising was it for Alemais to hit three homers in a week? I’ll let him explain it in the best way.
“For someone who never had power, for me to have three home runs, my father didn’t even believe me,” Alemais said.
The improved hitting isn’t all about the shoulder feeling better. There have been some adjustments made as well, specifically with his hands and his loading.
“I had a problem loading,” Alemais said. “I was a little late to balls, and being on time is key for me right now. Just kind of learning how my body works with my swing. I had a little disconnect with my lower half and my upper half, which caused me a lot of times to roll over on fastballs middle-away. I was pulling out from my lower half. Now that I’m more in sync, I’m starting to feel my body, and the rhythm. Just getting in the rhythm with different pitching and being on time.”
When I was in Morgantown earlier this year, I caught up with Pirates minor league hitting coordinator Larry Sutton, who discussed how Alemais needed to keep two hands on the bat and have more of a photo finish with his swing, so that he would continue driving all the way through the ball. That continues to be a focus in the off-season.
“We talked about that yesterday,” Alemais said of his discussions with Sutton. “The two hands was more because I was falling over. That caused me to slice balls, make weak contact. We also worked on staying tall. When you stay tall, the ball stays more true. I was able to hit the ball to right field more, with more authority when I was more upright. He just said that has to do with your finish. Instead of finishing up here, just finish across the ball with two hands.”
Overall, Alemais is working on some little things with his offense, and nothing major to lead to an overhaul. He’s learning that what he thought was on time before was actually late. He’s increased his leg kick a bit for timing purposes, and has added more of a load with his hands.
“It’s coming together, but I’m just starting to understand my body, and my swing a little more,” Alemais said. “They all told me it would mature as you go and you see more pitching, and you tend to pick up on little things that pitchers do.”
It’s way too soon to tell whether this offense from Alemais will stick around. It’s encouraging to see him driving the ball more, and hitting the same amount of home runs in one week that he hit in three years at college. But the 2017 season will tell us a lot more about his offensive improvements, especially after an off-season of consistent work making the necessary adjustments.
One thing is for sure: Alemais doesn’t need to hit much with his defense. He doesn’t need to be a power hitter to have value as a starting shortstop. His defense is so good that he could be a starter with a good ability to hit for average and get on base, along with some gap power. He could make the majors as a bench player one day with very few defensive improvements, and versatility by adding second base to the mix will help that floor. But if the offense goes well, second base won’t be necessary. If he just improves to Kevin Newman’s offensive style of being a good contact hitter who drives to the gaps, then he will jump ahead of everyone else is the system as the best bet for the long-term starting shortstop.
