Struggling Pache has strong upside
Hours before a recent game in Seattle, three Oakland Athletics emerged from the visitors’ dugout at T-Mobile Park. The field sat mostly empty as the three settled against the railing for a talk. Rookie center fielder Cristian Pache, holding a bat, mostly listened as bench coach Brad Ausmus spoke with bullpen catcher Wilkin Castillo interpreting.
“He told me not to focus on the numbers,” Pache recalled Saturday, “and just to keep playing.”
Baseline numbers say Pache is struggling mightily as a hitter in his first extensive majorleague playing time. His .167 batting average ranked fourth lowest of any player with at least 150 plate appearances through Sunday. His .215 on-base percentage and .450 OPS ranked last — as did his 34 weighted runs created-plus, a measure of overall offensive value, in which 100 wRC+ is league average.
Those numbers suggest Pache, 23, has been no match for big-league pitching. But the A’s continue to play him regularly in center field, where he offers elite defense. Pache has started 48 of 56 games, maybe the clearest case of the A’s — who sit 16 games under .500 and last in the A.L. West — weighing current struggles against potential for future payoff.
Pache is hardly the first player to founder upon reaching the majors. His future rests on adjusting to the level. His past two months provide ground on which he and the A’s are trying to build.
As a hitter, Pache ranks in the top third in the majors in average exit velocity and hard-hit rate, per Statcast. He also owns the fourth-highest groundball rate among hitters with as many trips to the plate, an indication that he might not be maximizing good contact.
“When he hits it, they’re coming off (the bat) at like 104, 106 mph, but they’re groundballs and they’re going to be easier to field,” said A’s hitting coach Tommy Everidge.
Pache’s average 4.1degree launch angle on batted balls is 11th-lowest out of 264 qualified hitters.
Everidge said batting averages spike on balls put in play with a linedrive angle in the 8-to-18 degree range.
“With that information it’s like, OK, we’re going in the right direction ... but if we adjust ball flight the right way, it will lead to results,” Everidge said. “We’re just trying to get him to hit more line drives. There’s a couple body position things he was doing to kind of hinder that, so we’re just trying to clean that up.”
Metrics suggest Pache’s numbers are marred by unlucky outcomes. One is Pache’s weighted on-base average (wOBA) compared with his expected mark (xwOBA). The latter uses factors like exit velocity and launch angle to calculate an expected on-field result, the thought being that hitters can influence those things but not what happens after the ball is put in play.
Pache’s wOBA of .205 was second lowest for any qualified hitter through Sunday, per Statcast. It was also 79 points lower than his xwOBA, the third-largest negative difference for any such hitter. Pache’s actual .167 average was 81 points lower than his expected .248.
Everidge said Pache has tended to drift forward before a swing, which “kind of smothers the ball,” rather than stay back and drive it. His drill work includes trying to meet certain line-drive numbers on swings in the cage.
“I’ve been practicing the angle of the bat,” Pache said through an interpreter. “I want to make contact but make sure that the ball is up in the air, especially with the breaking ball.”
Pache has made some progress in other areas. In his first 32 games, he had 27 strikeouts and three walks. In his past 20, he has 15 strikeouts and seven walks. Everidge pointed to the series in Seattle (May 23-25), when Pache hit two doubles, as encouraging. Those are Pache’s only extra-base hits since April 27, however, a span of 33 games.
“He’s been tremendous attitude-wise,” Everidge said. “When you’re learning up here at the highest level, he couldn’t have a better attitude to go through it.”
A’s manager Mark Kotsay said in-game results don’t seem to affect Pache’s demeanor: “Which we obviously want to monitor. You don’t want to see a kid get in the tank. We go back to pulling out the positives, staying optimistic about the opportunities in front of him.”
Oakland’s roster is heavy on inexperience. Pache, third baseman Kevin Smith and outfielder Luis Barrera are all rookie position players receiving at-bats on an overhauled roster. Both Pache and Smith have played strong defense — Pache is third among MLB outfielders in outs above average, Statcast’s defensive metric, and Smith is fifth among third basemen — amid offensive troubles. Kotsay said all aspects are considered.
“They may get a longer period of time to go through some failures offensively if they’re standing out defensively,” Kotsay said.
Tuesday, Pache will be back in Atlanta to face the Braves, who traded him as one of four prospects sent to the A’s for Matt Olson. Pache downplayed his return, saying he is “just excited to be back and … compete when I’m on the field.”
In Seattle, the site of his talk with Ausmus, Pache said: “I was frustrated. But we have to continue to learn and to improve.”