Douglas Crumlich

WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES

In 2012, the Pirates took Crumlich again, this time 29 rounds earlier and as a college senior.  He didn’t have much negotiating power, which made him a signability pick.  The Pirates were trying to save slot pool money for their effort to sign first round pick Mark Appel.  In fact, he signed right after the draft for $5000, which is far below slot.  In his senior year, Crumlich had a slight improvement at the plate over his numbers from 2011.  He had excellent plate patience, with a 9.9% strikeout rate, and a 10.2% walk rate.

2012
A-:  292/357/389, 257 AB, 19 2B, 2 HR, 23 BB, 45 K, 5-9 SB

Crumlich served as State College’s primary thirdbaseman, probably because that was the open position.  He also played some in left and a little at second and short.  He did surprisingly well at the plate hitting for average, getting on base and hitting a lot of doubles.

2013
A:  253/383/305, 174 AB, 9 2B, 35 BB, 28 K, 2-3 SB
A+:  145/260/169, 83 AB, 2 2B, 13 BB, 15 K, 1-3 SB

Crumlich opened the season at West Virginia, where he shared third base with Eric Wood.  He contributed on offense mainly by walking a lot.  He moved up to Bradenton at mid-season and continued to play semi-regularly at third initially.  He was overmatched at the plate, though, and his playing time diminished as the season went along.  He played very well defensively.

2014
A+:  190/284/190, 79 AB, 9 BB, 21 K

The Pirates sent Crumlich back to Bradenton, but he got into only 26 games, divided among first, second and third.  He had a couple of disabled list stints, the final one taking up the last two months of the season.  When he played, Crumlich continued to do nothing offensively other than draw walks.

If he’s healthy in 2015, Crumlich will probably continue to serve as an organizational utility infielder in class A.