SAINT PETERSBURG, Fla. – You don’t just wake up one day as the best team in baseball.
You can wake up one day with the intention to become the best team in baseball.
After three years of showing little attempt to win at the Major League level, the Pirates woke up this offseason and brought in several veteran additions, led by the signing of Carlos Santana.
“We thought our young group was ready,” said Shelton. “And I think we thought we needed some stabilization.”
Shelton mentioned the pitch-to-pitch focus, and the quality of at-bats as areas where the veterans can help younger players.
Following two losses against the Tampa Bay Rays — which were fueled by mistakes from some of those younger players — the veterans will be stepping up to turn this stretch around.
“The one thing that I really like here is, we have some veterans that understand that it’s a long season,” said Shelton, prior to losing two in a row against Tampa. “You’re gonna go through ebbs and flows of playing good and not playing very good in wins and losses.”
The Pirates have lost three in a row, including two against the best team in baseball. This might cast some doubt on their hot start. It should, in a way.
You don’t just wake up one day as the best team in baseball.
You can develop into the best team. That takes learning from losses like these to get to the point where you know how to win these games.
I found it interesting that Shelton used the word “stabilization”, as that’s exactly how I described the veteran additions all offseason. It wasn’t just adding veteran players, and it wasn’t just adding veterans who can play. It was the way the Pirates added veterans to every area of the team that will help keep this team stabilized throughout the long season.
Let’s break down where the veterans are building up the younger players.
40% of the Pirates Rotation
Derek Shelton identified starting pitching as the most important aspect of the success from the Pirates to start the year.
“We’ve really pitched well,” Shelton said. “And when you pitch well, you put yourself in a lot of games, and because you put yourself in a lot of games, you can make things happen later. So, I think it all starts with our pitching.”
The Pirates rotation has combined for top ten results in the majors in WAR, ERA, and FIP. This comes despite losing one of their more established MLB starters in JT Brubaker. They’ve also lost a depth option in prospect Mike Burrows.
Those two Tommy John casualties have made the offseason signings of Rich Hill and Vince Velasquez all the more important.
Hill (43) and Velasquez (31) were added as free agents to give the Pirates innings and a veteran presence. After struggling in his first two starts, Hill has a 1.93 ERA in 23.1 innings over his last four games. Velasquez has a similar situation, struggling in his first two outings, before putting up a 1.08 ERA in 25 innings over his last four starts. The performance is now there, and the Pirates will turn to Velasquez on Thursday to snap the streak.
The Pirates have been no strangers to finding sleepers on the pitching market. They’ve had success the last two seasons with Tyler Anderson and Jose Quintana. Based on the early results, they may have doubled up on that trend this year.
The Pirates traded Quintana and Anderson at the deadline. I would be surprised if they did the same with Hill or Velasquez, especially if the Pirates remain competitive all year.
Carlos Santana at First Base
It’s early in the season, but Carlos Santana has logged over 200 innings at first base, while playing 23 games. The Pirates have played 31 games this year, and Santana has played 6.5 innings at first, for every team game (Team Game = A player’s innings divided by 162+ games). By comparison, Connor Joe has 52 innings, or a little less than two per team game played.
The usage for Santana is higher than last year, when he played 655 innings at first, or slightly more than four innings per team game. In the years prior, Santana had a higher team game average. In 2021, he averaged 7.2 innings per team game at first base. In the shortened 2020 season, he worked almost exclusively at first for the entire year, starting every game. In 2019, he again had a little over seven innings per team game.
If Santana maintains his current pace, he’ll finish with 1062 innings at first base this season. That’s higher than 2022 by about 400 innings, but still lower than his 2021 and 2019 totals. The increase from last year is something he prepared for.
“I worked hard this offseason for that, so you know my body is good,” said Santana.
Despite turning 37 last month, Santana maintains a good training regimen for his body and his swing. This has led to him putting up a .763 OPS so far, and improved defense at first.
Perhaps one of the most noticeable contributions from Santana has been the dance around the mound that the infielders do after a win. The Pirates have had a chance to dance around the mound 20 times now, with Santana bringing the tradition over from Seattle last year.
On the flip side, with the Pirates experiencing their first three game losing streak of the season, Santana will now be a calming presence to the younger players.
Being a leader to younger players isn’t new territory for Santana. He experienced this early in his career with Cleveland, being one of the leaders when young players like Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor arrived in the majors. He’s continued that approach every year since.
The player who has really benefitted from Santana’s presence this year has been Rodolfo Castro. He had a rough game on Wednesday, which every young player will have.
Santana’s influence might limit that to just a bad day, and nothing more.
A Defensive Leader Behind the Plate
The topic of defensive catchers is still a hot button issue in 2023 — as the catching position is still filled with so many intangibles that can’t be quantified, and are barely qualified.
We see Austin Hedges putting up a .391 OPS. That’s on-base percentage plus slugging percentage. We know he can’t hit, and this isn’t new. His career OPS is .574. This leads to questions about the value of his catching skills.
We see any time there’s a mistake on defense, like his ill-advised throw at the start of the double steal on Tuesday, which brought in a run for the Rays.
The big argument in favor of a defensive catcher like Hedges is the impact on the pitching staff.
There is no correlation that proves a causation between a pitcher’s performance and the catcher who is catching him. This doesn’t mean that no correlations exist between catchers and the positive performance of their pitching staff. It just means we can’t easily see the positive gains on defense like we can easily see the losses on offense.
When it comes to the Pirates, they definitely value the work Hedges does with the pitching staff.
“A lot of the energy we get, I think is derived from Austin,” said Shelton. “He has a ton of energy. He’s been around a lot of good young pitchers in Cleveland. And because of that, he’s almost like a coach on the field at times with the way he reads things, and has the ability to execute and it’s been a large boost to us.”
I noted above the success of the rotation. Hedges gets an assist there. Where I think his presence really has shone through has been with the assist to the success from the bullpen.
There’s something to be said for the consistency shown from that reliever group. How much of that is due to Hedges running a consistent game plan from start to finish each game?
The only answer that matters: Whatever the credit amount, it’s good enough for the Pirates.
I don’t see that changing until Endy Rodriguez arrives.
The Return of Cutch
The final veteran addition the Pirates made this offseason was perhaps the turning point for a lot of fans.
Andrew McCutchen returning to Pittsburgh has made an impact on Pirates fans all around the country. As he was walking back to the dugout following a home run on Wednesday, McCutchen was greeted by a huge standing ovation from Pirates fans taking over Tropicana Field.
His influence has gone beyond the fans. Jack Suwinski is in his second year in the majors, and has shown some improvements this year.
“I think it’s rubbed off on Jack”, said Shelton of the veteran presence. “I think we’re seeing better, more consistent at bats out of Jack.”
Suwinski has been in more of a platoon role, but that’s helped him to a .958 OPS in 88 plate appearances.
McCutchen has mostly played as the designated hitter this year, but he’s the veteran leader of the outfield. He’s also a leader in the dugout, and a guy young players like Suwinski go to celebrate with after a home run.
Jack Suwinski just sliced Cutch's face open pic.twitter.com/SvmPNrcKNq
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 20, 2023
McCutchen has 113 plate appearances this year, and an .816 OPS to start the season. He’s leading on the field, shown by that home run early in Wednesday’s game.
Breaking the Losing Streak
This Pirates team has been very successful in the young season. Following their first losing streak of the year, we’ll see if the veterans can help guide the younger players in an attempt to cut the losing streak short.
Ideally, the younger Pirates can learn from these experiences, so that the team as a whole is in better position to compete with the Rays going forward.
You don’t just wake up one day as the best team in baseball.
Not without first going to bed disappointed many times along the way.
Fortunately, the disappointments from the Pirates these days are nothing compared to the last three seasons.
That’s good progression toward becoming the best team in baseball.
