Addition of Hayes at 3B should help defense
BRADENTON, Fla. — It might be easy to look at some traditional metrics and conclude that the Pirates weren’t a very good defensive team in 2020. Nobody had more errors than their 47, while their fielding percentage of .978 was the second-lowest in Major League Baseball.
And to a large degree, that assessment is fair. Making basic, fundamental plays should be an easy ask for professionals and the Pirates are well aware they didn’t make nearly enough last season.
The interesting part here, though, is the context. While failing to make simple plays, the
Pirates did show improvement in a couple of new-age stats such as shifts, the number of runs saved via shifts and also defensive runs saved.
Meanwhile, the infield they could roll out for opening day in 2021 has the possibility of being much better, the result of playing Ke’Bryan Hayes — a Gold Glove candidate — every day at third base and transitioning from Josh Bell to Colin Moran and Todd Frazier at first.
“I think we’ll be a good infield, defensively,” Moran said. “I’m looking forward to playing with these guys.”
How the Pirates evolved last season from a defensive standpoint was interesting. They shifted 46.2% of the time, which was the third most in baseball and significantly higher than the MLB average (34.1%).
It was also the most in the history of the franchise. In manager Clint Hurdle’s final season, the Pirates were 10th in shift percentage at 30.2.
If you look at FanGraphs’ calculation of shift runs saved or rTS, the Pirates achieved a mark of 12, which was the best in MLB. Dragging down the final product, again, was the exorbitant total of errors.
The Pirates finished with the seventh-most fielding errors (22) and had the third-highest total of throwing errors (23).
“We were in the right spots, and bottom line is we need to make the plays,” said Kevin Newman, who led the Pirates with eight errors in 2020. “They’ve put us in positions. We need outs. That’s how you win games. I’m confident we’re going to be able to change that.”
To stay with the shift runs saved stat for a second, 12 over 60 games translates to 32.4 over a full season. That number would represent the Pirates’ best 162game mark since the stat was first tracked, eclipsing their total of 31 from 2017.
Furthermore, the Pirates accounted for a total of 26 defensive runs saved or DRS, per FanGraphs, which ranked as the fourth-best total in MLB. It was a huge swing from what they did in 2019, when they produced a “total” of -46 DRS.
If you believe in defensive runs saved as a viable way to evaluate individual defenders, then logic would dictate that it applies to the team as well. It’s also crazy to think about what could happen if the Pirates are able to combine their new way of shifting with actually making the plays they’re supposed to make.
“We were in the right place,” manager Derek Shelton said. “Joey [Cora], Jeremy Bleich and our guys upstairs did a good job with our positioning. We have to be more consistent catching the ball. If we’re standing close to it, that’s really good, but we have to finish the play. Just standing close to it doesn’t make the play
happen.”
Bleich is a former pitcher who works with the pitchers and infielders on defensive positioning, generally helping to transfer an analytical strategy to those playing the game. Cora is the third-base coach who is also responsible for working with the team’s infielders.
As Shelton said, though, their work doesn’t matter much if the Pirates still boot balls hit at or close to them, or if they fail to make accurate throws. That’s where some of the personnel changes could help.
Hayes in 2019 became only the second minor leaguer to win three consecutive Gold Gloves and committed only 17 errors in 331 games (872 total chances) before he was promoted.
While Nolan Arenado has won the past eight Gold Gloves at third and now will be a regular Pirates nemesis as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, Hayes is viewed as a legitimate challenger, a young player who’s smooth and consistent
with his fielding and throwing.
Having a full season of Hayes at the hot corner should help.
Replacing Bell with Moran should also benefit the Pirates. While Bell, when he was on, offered a middle-of-the-order thump that the Pirates have not yet replaced, his defense — especially his throwing — was hardly exceptional.
Moran might have struggled at third base because of his limited range, but that’s much less important across the diamond. When the ball was hit to Moran, he generally had no issue catching it, and he said he’s learning some important nuance to the position.
“Simple things, like how to stretch off the base,” Moran said when asked what he’s learned at first. “Which direction to go on different throws. Like if there’s a slow- roller to third, how to approach how that ball’s going to come in. Backhand for a shortstop, how to know when to get off the bag for a ball that’s
going to run pretty good. Little things like that.”
This entire idea for the Pirates is predicated on doing the little things well. They aren’t going to spend a lot of money, and they’re not loaded with premium talent at every position, like the Dodgers, Braves or Padres.
But if the Pirates want to take a couple steps forward in 2021, doing the little things like fielding routine ground balls or executing basic plays are areas they should target.
“We’ve done a nice job of our positioning and putting guys in the right spot; we just have to finish the play,” Shelton said. “We have to make the routine play. To do that, guys have to be in the right positions, moving their feet and making strong throws. It definitely has the possibility to [be a pretty good defensive infield]. We just have to turn our work into game stuff.”