Ryan Nagle

WTM’S PLAYER PROFILE

2015
A-:  258/305/342, 120 AB, 6 2B, 2 3B, 9 BB, 26 K

Morgantown’s season was nearly half over by the time Nagle signed, but he ended up getting a good deal of playing time, partly due to injuries to Logan Hill and Ty Moore.  He hit just decently, with limited power and a shaky BB:K ratio.  He had severe troubles against LHPs, posting a .308 OPS against them in a very small sample of 28 plate appearances.  His OPS against RHPs was .736.  Nagle played the outfield corners exclusively.

2016
A:  247/310/318, 396 AB, 20 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 36 BB, 69 K, 8-13 SB

Nagle spent the year as the primary right fielder for West Virginia.  He showed solid plate discipline, but otherwise didn’t do much on offense, in particular showing no power.  He also didn’t show good range in the outfield.  He struggled against LHPs, with a .509 OPS.  He had a .663 mark against RHPs.  Nagle was remarkably consistent over the course of the season, with an OPS between .626 and .682 every month except July, when he slumped to .440.

2017
A-:  231/313/308, 13 AB, 1 2B, 2 BB
A:  272/315/367, 169 AB, 7 2B, 3 HR, 10 BB, 34 K

The Pirates kept Nagle in extended spring training to start the season, which obviously wasn’t a good sign for him, then sent him to Morgantown when the New York-Penn League started play.  Shortly after that, though, they promoted Nagle to West Virginia to replace Ty Moore, who’d been moved up to Bradenton.  Nagle hit better than the previous year, with weaker plate discipline, but he still didn’t hit nearly well enough for a corner outfielder.  He continued to struggle badly against LHPs, with just a .446 OPS against them.

Nagle isn’t doing very well and the Pirates have a number of outfield prospects who should be moving up to full season ball in 2018.  The Pirates drafted a number of college outfielders in 2015 and 2016 — Nagle, Casey Hughston, Ty Moore, Matt Diorio, Clark Eagan, Hunter Owen, Garrett Brown, Logan Hill — and other than Hill and to a lesser degree Owen and Moore, they’ve all struggled to hit even at the lowest levels.  Nagle had trouble finding a spot in 2017 and that may be an even bigger problem in 2018.