The season has just started, but there is already a great deal of debate about the lineup for the first two games. Coming into spring training and even during spring training, it looked pretty certain that Garrett Jones would get the majority of playing time at first, with Gaby Sanchez getting some starts against lefties, and that Travis Snider would be the starting right fielder. However, the lineups for the first two games featured Jones in right field and Sanchez at first base. This has come as an unwelcome surprise to many fans, as Sanchez was absolutely terrible at the major league level in 2012, posting a .620 OPS in 299 at bats for the Marlins and Pirates. Snider also had his share of struggles at the major league level, with an OPS of .697 in 164 at bats. But, Snider had an OPS of 1.021 at AAA Las Vegas in 2012 while still in the Blue Jays organization.
Let's look at what both players bring to the team.
Gaby Sanchez
Sanchez is a 29 year old first baseman who had his rookie season in 2010 at the age of 26. That year he finished fourth in the rookie of the year voting after hitting for a line of .273/.341/.448, with 19 home runs, 85 RBI, and an OPS of .788. He followed that up in 2011 with a very similar line of .266/.352/.427, with 19 home runs, 78 RBI, and an OPS of .779. He made the All-Star team, but as you can see, those stats are hardly All-Star worthy. In 2012, Sanchez really struggled with the Marlins, with an OPS of .556 in 183 at bats. He spent some time in the minors and was eventually traded to the Pirates in exchange for Gorkys Hernandez and the Pirates' supplemental draft pick, which will be the 35th pick in this year's draft. Sanchez improved with the Pirates, basically becoming an average major league player with an OPS of .720 and an OPS+ of 101 (100 is average) in 116 at bats.
Sanchez had a good spring training in 2013, putting up an OPS of 1.066 in 43 at bats. Spring training stats are largely meaningless, as hitters are facing pitchers who are trying to get a feel for their pitches again, and much of the time aren't throwing their best stuff. Nonetheless, manager Clint Hurdle must have thought enough of those stats to give Sanchez the starting first base job.
Sanchez doesn't necessarily have a bad aspect to his game, but he doesn't have any impressive aspects either, and at 29 years old, doesn't have much room to improve. He can hit for a decent average and about 15-20 home runs, but those are both average to below average for an everyday first baseman who doesn't play great defense. He is a better defender than Garrett Jones, but the offensive upside is not there. If he got the chance to start for the entire season, Sanchez can be expected to hit around .260-.270 with 15-20 home runs. Not a stat line you want to see from your first baseman.
Travis Snider
Snider is a 25 year old former top prospect. He has spent most of his career in the Blue Jays organization, and was acquired for Brad Lincoln around the same time as the Gaby Sanchez acquisition last season. Snider hasn't gotten much of a chance to be an everyday player at the major league level, despite continued success at the AAA level. In his career at AAA, he has a line of .333/.412/.565, with 33 home runs, 155 RBI, and an OPS of .976 in 696 at bats. The most at bats Snider has received at the major league level was in 2010, where he had a line of .255/.304/.463 with 14 homers, 32 RBI, and an OPS of .767. That was Snider's age 22 season, and it came in the always tough AL East. Despite that impressive line, he received only 187 at bats in 2011 and 164 in 2012. It remains to be seen what Snider can do for a full season at the major league level, but there is definitely room to grow, even after two straight season of struggling.
Snider has a good deal of power potential, and although it hasn't been present at the major league level recently, it is evidenced by a .598 slugging percentage at AAA last year. Behind Alvarez and McCutchen, Snider could very well have the best power potential on the team. He also plays a decent right field, and is also more competent than Garrett Jones is at the position.
The main thing with Travis Snider is the potential he still carries with him. Back in 2009, he was rated as the #6 prospect in the minors by Baseball America. Back in November, I wrote a post titled "The Case For Travis Snider", which you can read by clicking the link. It outlines how Travis Snider needs to get the opportunity to play everyday to give him any chance of reaching his potential. That potential is a .280 hitter with 25-35 home runs, which is an All-Star caliber player for a team that could desperately use a power bat to drive in runs.
Coming into 2012, the Pirates had a former top prospect on their hands who had experienced major struggles at the major league level, after having a good half season at the level. The Pirates gave this player a full season of at bats to adjust to the league and prove himself, and that player responded by hitting 30 home runs. That player was Pedro Alvarez, and giving him a full season of at bats seems to have worked out for the Pirates. Travis Snider finds himself in a near identical position in 2013, where a full season of at-bats could really revive his major league career. After the decision to play Alvarez everyday worked out, it would only make sense to give Snider the same opportunity.
Clint Hurdle has made a lot of questionable decisions as the manager of the Pirates, but this could be the most frustrating. The only "argument" for Sanchez at this point is that he had a very good Spring Training. But what does that mean? Matt Hague had an incredible spring in 2012, but couldn't handle major league pitching. Alvarez had a terrible spring in 2012, then followed that with a breakout season. Spring stats really don't correlate with regular season results much of the time, and cannot be used in a valid argument. Basically what we are looking at in the case between Gaby Sanchez vs. Travis Snider is a player who struggled greatly last season who could at best produce average offense, or a player who struggled as well, but could become an All-Star with 30+ home runs. Personally, I'm taking the guy who could hit 30+ home runs, rather than the player who hits 20 in a best case scenario.
Snider could struggle again in 2013, or he see the same success that Pedro Alvarez saw in 2012. But, we will never know unless Snider gets the opportunity to play everyday. If he continues to sit the bench, he will not grow as a player, and will not be able to work on his struggles. The best thing the Pirates can do right now is give Snider the chance to play everyday in right field, and have Garrett Jones platoon with Sanchez at first base. You could also make an argument for a Jose Tabata-Travis Snider platoon in right as well, which I would not be against, as Tabata could use everyday at bats as well.
A lot of Pirates fans agree that Snider should be starting and have voiced their opinions. I just wish Clint Hurdle would agree with us as well.
Any questions or comments can be sent to me on twitter @mikemaw45 or in the comment section below.
Showing posts with label Jose Tabata. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jose Tabata. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Is It Time for Starling Marte to be Called Up?
At the beginning of the season, I wrote a post about when Starling Marte should be called up, that can be found here. In that article, I said that there were two factors that could affect Marte's promotion to the majors. The first factor was how Marte performed. If he continued to hit like he did in AA, then Marte deserved to be called up sometime in June. The second factor was how Presley and Tabata performed. If they struggled and Marte was performing well, then it would increase the likelihood that Marte would be brought up to the majors. To this point, Marte has performed well at AAA, although not up to some of the expectations fans had for him coming into the season. His season line coming into July 1st is at .284/.343/.483, with an OPS of .826, eight homers, 47 RBI, and 16 stolen bases. Those numbers have been increased since mid-June because of a .419 average and 1.259 OPS in his last ten games. With Presley and Tabata both struggling mightily in the majors, more and more fans are starting to call for the Pirates to call up the top hitting prospect and number four prospect in the system. But, is it time for Starling Marte to be called up?
Marte has been inconsistent with his offensive performance this season, going on streaks where he is hitting the ball very well, like the hot streak he is currently on, but then he goes cold and his average falls back to around .260-.270. His OPS for each month has been: April-.830, May-.653, June-.944. If he can hit like he did in April or June for another month, there's a good chance that he will get the call by the end of July. But, there are some questions that could affect the decision on whether or not to call up Marte. These questions are: 1) Are they rushing him?, 2) How will Presley and Tabata be doing by the end of July?, 3) Will they trade for another hitter? , 4) Will the Pirates be in contention by the end of July?
1.) Would the Pirates be rushing Marte to the majors?
To answer this question, I will look at two players currently playing for the Pirates, one that was rushed, and one where the Pirates were patient with his development. The player that was rushed is Pedro Alvarez. Alvarez had only 242 at bats for AAA Indianapolis before he was called up to the majors in 2010. He is a different case than Marte because he was drafted as a college hitter, but its still worthwhile to look at his situation. In those 242 at bats, Pedro had a line of .277/.363/.533, with an .896 OPS, 13 homers, and 53 RBI. As the #8 prospect in baseball at the time according to Baseball America, it seemed like the right time to call him up. But, he was striking out at an alarming rate of 28.1%. Prospects that strikeout at high rates in the minors will mostly continue that into the majors, which in a lot of cases will lead to initial struggles in the majors. So far in the majors, Alvarez has struck out in 34.4% of his at bats. It most likely would have benefited Alvarez to stay in the minors for a little longer to work on his discipline and to better recognize breaking pitches. Currently, Marte has a 23.0% strikeout rate, and has been known to chase pitches out of the zone and struggle with breaking pitches as well, and this probably would not improve in the majors. With the way Alvarez struggled in his first few years in the majors, it looks like he was unnecessarily rushed to the Pirates, and should have had a little more time in the minors. Since Marte is struggling with some of the same things that Alvarez struggled with in AAA, it looks like Marte could use some more time in AAA.
Now let's look at the player the Pirates had patience with: Andrew McCutchen. McCutchen is the star of the Pirates, and could be considered one of the best all-around players in the MLB. McCutchen played parts of three seasons in AAA, with a total of 780 at bats. Cutch never had problems with strikeouts in AAA, but he wasn't hitting for power in his first full season there and he could have used some work on his base running, so the Pirates kept him down so he could work on his struggles. This approach seemed to work out, as he has now become one of the best players in the majors.
The last thing the Pirates want to do with top prospect Starling Marte is rush him to the majors. His long term upside is too high for him to be rushed, and if he was called up right now, it would be too soon. If he can show consistency at the plate through July, shows a better understanding of the strike zone, and can recognize breaking balls better, there would be a good argument that he was not getting rushed.
2) How will Presley and Tabata be doing by the end of July?
Presley and Tabata were supposed to be good leadoff options for the Pirates this year, but neither has posted an OBP of over .300, with Presley's at .272 and Tabata's at .296. But, a lot could change over the next month. This may not matter much, but Presley just hit a triple as I was writing this question. Tabata followed that up with a weak grounder to the second baseman, so there's that. But, as we've seen with players like Marte and Alvarez, players can go on streaks where they are killing the ball, and fans start to support them more. Presley or Tabata, or maybe both of them, could go on a hot streak where they would hit over .300 and drastically improve their season stats. If both of them did this and Marte stayed around his current line of .284/.343/.483, I bet there would be a lot less calls by fans for Marte to be called up. But, with the way Presley and Tabata have been hitting this year, especially Tabata, this would be very unlikely to happen. Manager Clint Hurdle has recently stated that Jose may be near a demotion to AAA, and it would make sense for Marte to be called up to take his spot, especially without a better option to fill in the void in the outfield. The Pirates will probably give Tabata at least a couple more weeks to see how he responds to Hurdle's challenge, and if he doesn't improve, we could be seeing a Tabata-Marte switch. For this to happen, however, Marte would need to prove to management that he is ready for the majors, as well.
3) Will they trade for another hitter?
It has been made well known that the Pirates are looking to add offense via the trade market. One player the Pirates have been linked to is Chase Headley, who has experience in left field in his career. If the Pirates acquired an outfielder, this would obviously take away a spot that Marte could be called up to fill. Acquiring an outfielder would lessen the need for Marte to be called up, especially if Presley or Tabata really heat up at the plate. If the Pirates are still contending by the end of July, it is very likely they will be looking to add an offensive upgrade in the outfield. This leads to the next question...
4) Will the Pirates be in contention by the end of July?
If the Pirates are in contention by the end of July, the likelihood of Marte being promoted would most likely increase. It would increase because the Pirates could use a player of his caliber to help in a playoff race. The Pirates will need to call up Marte before September if they wanted to use him in the playoffs, and calling him up before August would give him more time to adjust to major league pitching and get him more ready for the playoffs. Again, Marte would still need to prove to management that he is ready to be promoted to the bigs.
If the Pirates are not in contention by the end of July and they have another collapse like they did last year, then there is really no point to call him up this late in the season. The extra month and a half would give him a lot of time to work on his struggles with the strike zone and recognizing breaking pitches at a level that he can gain valuable experience. Using the Andrew McCutchen situation again as an example, the Pirates did not call Cutch up just to improve a team that had no chance of contention in the short term. They kept him down in AAA where he could work on any struggles that he needed to.
It is likely that the Pirates will still be in contention by the end of July with the way the team has been playing this year, but that does not necessarily mean that Marte will be called up. Marte could go on a cold streak, Presley or Tabata could heat up, and the team could also acquire in outfielder in a trade, so there is no guarantee that Marte will get the call if the team is in contention.
With all these questions considered, I would say it is more likely that we see Marte in Pittsburgh rather than Indianapolis by the end of the season. Right now, the team would be rushing Marte if he was promoted, but an extra month in AAA could do a lot of good for Marte. He has been working on recognizing breaking balls as of late, and has been improving on that. Management would like to see Marte show more consistency at the plate before they give him the call, and if he continues the great success he had in June, it will be hard to keep him down in AAA. If Marte stays around where he is right now offensively and Presley and Tabata continue to get on a base at a low rate, then Marte's chances of a promotion are greatly increased, especially if the team is still in contention.
Marte has a lot of offensive upside and would already be the best outfield defender the Pirates have in the majors, but he is not quite ready to be promoted yet. He is very close, though, and all it may take is one more month of consistent hitting at the AAA level.
Any questions or comments can be sent to me on twitter @mikemaw45, or in the comment button below.
Marte has been inconsistent with his offensive performance this season, going on streaks where he is hitting the ball very well, like the hot streak he is currently on, but then he goes cold and his average falls back to around .260-.270. His OPS for each month has been: April-.830, May-.653, June-.944. If he can hit like he did in April or June for another month, there's a good chance that he will get the call by the end of July. But, there are some questions that could affect the decision on whether or not to call up Marte. These questions are: 1) Are they rushing him?, 2) How will Presley and Tabata be doing by the end of July?, 3) Will they trade for another hitter? , 4) Will the Pirates be in contention by the end of July?
1.) Would the Pirates be rushing Marte to the majors?
To answer this question, I will look at two players currently playing for the Pirates, one that was rushed, and one where the Pirates were patient with his development. The player that was rushed is Pedro Alvarez. Alvarez had only 242 at bats for AAA Indianapolis before he was called up to the majors in 2010. He is a different case than Marte because he was drafted as a college hitter, but its still worthwhile to look at his situation. In those 242 at bats, Pedro had a line of .277/.363/.533, with an .896 OPS, 13 homers, and 53 RBI. As the #8 prospect in baseball at the time according to Baseball America, it seemed like the right time to call him up. But, he was striking out at an alarming rate of 28.1%. Prospects that strikeout at high rates in the minors will mostly continue that into the majors, which in a lot of cases will lead to initial struggles in the majors. So far in the majors, Alvarez has struck out in 34.4% of his at bats. It most likely would have benefited Alvarez to stay in the minors for a little longer to work on his discipline and to better recognize breaking pitches. Currently, Marte has a 23.0% strikeout rate, and has been known to chase pitches out of the zone and struggle with breaking pitches as well, and this probably would not improve in the majors. With the way Alvarez struggled in his first few years in the majors, it looks like he was unnecessarily rushed to the Pirates, and should have had a little more time in the minors. Since Marte is struggling with some of the same things that Alvarez struggled with in AAA, it looks like Marte could use some more time in AAA.
Now let's look at the player the Pirates had patience with: Andrew McCutchen. McCutchen is the star of the Pirates, and could be considered one of the best all-around players in the MLB. McCutchen played parts of three seasons in AAA, with a total of 780 at bats. Cutch never had problems with strikeouts in AAA, but he wasn't hitting for power in his first full season there and he could have used some work on his base running, so the Pirates kept him down so he could work on his struggles. This approach seemed to work out, as he has now become one of the best players in the majors.
The last thing the Pirates want to do with top prospect Starling Marte is rush him to the majors. His long term upside is too high for him to be rushed, and if he was called up right now, it would be too soon. If he can show consistency at the plate through July, shows a better understanding of the strike zone, and can recognize breaking balls better, there would be a good argument that he was not getting rushed.
2) How will Presley and Tabata be doing by the end of July?
Presley and Tabata were supposed to be good leadoff options for the Pirates this year, but neither has posted an OBP of over .300, with Presley's at .272 and Tabata's at .296. But, a lot could change over the next month. This may not matter much, but Presley just hit a triple as I was writing this question. Tabata followed that up with a weak grounder to the second baseman, so there's that. But, as we've seen with players like Marte and Alvarez, players can go on streaks where they are killing the ball, and fans start to support them more. Presley or Tabata, or maybe both of them, could go on a hot streak where they would hit over .300 and drastically improve their season stats. If both of them did this and Marte stayed around his current line of .284/.343/.483, I bet there would be a lot less calls by fans for Marte to be called up. But, with the way Presley and Tabata have been hitting this year, especially Tabata, this would be very unlikely to happen. Manager Clint Hurdle has recently stated that Jose may be near a demotion to AAA, and it would make sense for Marte to be called up to take his spot, especially without a better option to fill in the void in the outfield. The Pirates will probably give Tabata at least a couple more weeks to see how he responds to Hurdle's challenge, and if he doesn't improve, we could be seeing a Tabata-Marte switch. For this to happen, however, Marte would need to prove to management that he is ready for the majors, as well.
3) Will they trade for another hitter?
It has been made well known that the Pirates are looking to add offense via the trade market. One player the Pirates have been linked to is Chase Headley, who has experience in left field in his career. If the Pirates acquired an outfielder, this would obviously take away a spot that Marte could be called up to fill. Acquiring an outfielder would lessen the need for Marte to be called up, especially if Presley or Tabata really heat up at the plate. If the Pirates are still contending by the end of July, it is very likely they will be looking to add an offensive upgrade in the outfield. This leads to the next question...
4) Will the Pirates be in contention by the end of July?
If the Pirates are in contention by the end of July, the likelihood of Marte being promoted would most likely increase. It would increase because the Pirates could use a player of his caliber to help in a playoff race. The Pirates will need to call up Marte before September if they wanted to use him in the playoffs, and calling him up before August would give him more time to adjust to major league pitching and get him more ready for the playoffs. Again, Marte would still need to prove to management that he is ready to be promoted to the bigs.
If the Pirates are not in contention by the end of July and they have another collapse like they did last year, then there is really no point to call him up this late in the season. The extra month and a half would give him a lot of time to work on his struggles with the strike zone and recognizing breaking pitches at a level that he can gain valuable experience. Using the Andrew McCutchen situation again as an example, the Pirates did not call Cutch up just to improve a team that had no chance of contention in the short term. They kept him down in AAA where he could work on any struggles that he needed to.
It is likely that the Pirates will still be in contention by the end of July with the way the team has been playing this year, but that does not necessarily mean that Marte will be called up. Marte could go on a cold streak, Presley or Tabata could heat up, and the team could also acquire in outfielder in a trade, so there is no guarantee that Marte will get the call if the team is in contention.
With all these questions considered, I would say it is more likely that we see Marte in Pittsburgh rather than Indianapolis by the end of the season. Right now, the team would be rushing Marte if he was promoted, but an extra month in AAA could do a lot of good for Marte. He has been working on recognizing breaking balls as of late, and has been improving on that. Management would like to see Marte show more consistency at the plate before they give him the call, and if he continues the great success he had in June, it will be hard to keep him down in AAA. If Marte stays around where he is right now offensively and Presley and Tabata continue to get on a base at a low rate, then Marte's chances of a promotion are greatly increased, especially if the team is still in contention.
Marte has a lot of offensive upside and would already be the best outfield defender the Pirates have in the majors, but he is not quite ready to be promoted yet. He is very close, though, and all it may take is one more month of consistent hitting at the AAA level.
Any questions or comments can be sent to me on twitter @mikemaw45, or in the comment button below.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
How To Improve Pirates' Offense: Part I
Right now the Pittsburgh Pirates sit in a tie for first place in the NL Central with the Reds at 32-27. This is a borderline miracle. But is it really? I say I completely disagree with those who say this. If anything, this Pirates team is underachieving. People point to the Pirates pitching staff as some sort of huge surprise, but watching this Pirates pitching staff since the beginning of last year, I don't see how this pitching could come as a surprise. Yes, it is true that the Pirates have been lucky so far this year, considering their pythagorean win-loss record is 27-32. However, this team has had an offense that has underachieved significantly.
Let's look at the guy who represents the Pirates' hitting struggles the most this year, Clint Barmes. Clint Barmes has an OPS of .518 this year. His career average is an OPS of .693. Barmes is a veteran and past his prime, so some people might point to that as the issue. For that reason, let's look at Jose Tabata. Tabata has an OPS of .608 this year, compared to his career OPS of .705. Tabata was once a promising prospect in the Yankees system, where he was called "mini manny," in reference to him being compared to Manny Ramirez. He was traded to the Pirates and performed quite well in the Pirates' minor leagues. He even hit pretty well as a rookie for the Pirates, with an OPS of .746. He has progressively gotten worse, with an OPS of .711 last year, and I already discussed his horrendous year this year.
This leads me to my main point. Players get worse under the Pirates coaching staff. This is a serious issue, if you couldn't figure that out. The Pirates hitting approach is terrible and many issues that the players have are evident to even the average fan, but the Pirates either ignore the issues or do something to make the issues even worse. Clint Hurdle is a bad manager, but a good guy and seems to be making an overall positive impact on this team. With that being the case, the Pirates Hitting Coach, Greg Ritchie NEEDS to be relieved of his duties. Everyone not named Andrew McCutchen has gotten worse under his coaching so there is no doubt in my mind that he needs to go.
This is the first step the Pirates need to take to improve their offense and I will outline the other ways in upcoming posts.
Hope all is well with everyone and I'm excited to be back and posting for Bloggin Buccos!
God Bless,
Brian
Let's look at the guy who represents the Pirates' hitting struggles the most this year, Clint Barmes. Clint Barmes has an OPS of .518 this year. His career average is an OPS of .693. Barmes is a veteran and past his prime, so some people might point to that as the issue. For that reason, let's look at Jose Tabata. Tabata has an OPS of .608 this year, compared to his career OPS of .705. Tabata was once a promising prospect in the Yankees system, where he was called "mini manny," in reference to him being compared to Manny Ramirez. He was traded to the Pirates and performed quite well in the Pirates' minor leagues. He even hit pretty well as a rookie for the Pirates, with an OPS of .746. He has progressively gotten worse, with an OPS of .711 last year, and I already discussed his horrendous year this year.
This leads me to my main point. Players get worse under the Pirates coaching staff. This is a serious issue, if you couldn't figure that out. The Pirates hitting approach is terrible and many issues that the players have are evident to even the average fan, but the Pirates either ignore the issues or do something to make the issues even worse. Clint Hurdle is a bad manager, but a good guy and seems to be making an overall positive impact on this team. With that being the case, the Pirates Hitting Coach, Greg Ritchie NEEDS to be relieved of his duties. Everyone not named Andrew McCutchen has gotten worse under his coaching so there is no doubt in my mind that he needs to go.
This is the first step the Pirates need to take to improve their offense and I will outline the other ways in upcoming posts.
Hope all is well with everyone and I'm excited to be back and posting for Bloggin Buccos!
God Bless,
Brian
Saturday, April 7, 2012
When Should Starling Marte Be Called Up?
In our rankings last September, Starling Marte was the #3 prospect in the Pirates’ organization. He was coming off a year where he hit for a .332 average and an .870 OPS, along with 12 home runs and 24 stolen bases. He followed his stellar 2011 campaign with a great offensive showing early in spring training this year with the major league club, hitting .520 with a 1.440 OPS and three home runs in 25 at bats. This had many fans calling for the team to keep Marte on the major league roster to start the season, but management made the right decision by sending him to AAA Indianapolis to work on plate patience and to get time at the corner outfield positions, where he will most likely play as long as Andrew McCutchen is in center for the Pirates. But having Marte one step away from the majors in AAA leads to the question, when will he get the call?
Marte’s arrival in the majors really depends on a couple factors. Obviously, one of them is how he is performing in AAA. If he continues to hit like he has, then it will be very difficult for the Pirates to keep him down. The other factor in his call up will be how Alex Presley and Jose Tabata perform. If one of these two struggle, then that will lead to a higher possibility of Marte getting the call. Likewise, if both of these players exceed expectations, then that will lower the chances of Marte having a spot on the major league roster. If Marte doesn’t respond well to the more advanced AAA pitching, it will not matter how Presley and Tabata hit, and will show that Marte needs more time in the minors.
As mentioned in the first paragraph, Marte needs to work on his plate patience and get more experience in left and/or right field before he can be called up to the majors. In his minor league career leading up to this season, he has struck out in 21.6% of his at-bats. That’s not too bad, and he even lowered his strikeout rate to 18.7% in 2011. However, he has a career walk rate of 4.7%, and 3.8% in 2011. That is bad. Obviously, this hasn’t really affected his performance too much in the minors, but if he continues this, major league pitchers will exploit this weakness. Marte is an aggressive hitter, many times swinging at pitches that are not in the strike zone. But, if he would allow these pitches to go buy as balls, he would get more walks and see better pitches to hit later in the count. Not only would this raise his on base percentage, it could also raise his average because of the more hittable pitches.
Marte is a very good defensive centerfielder, probably better than McCutchen. However, he has very little experience at the corner outfield positions in the higher levels, and in spring training, he looked a little lost at those spots. For the Pirates, Marte will most likely play left field, where he has only played seven times in the minors. Being a good fielder, this shouldn’t take long for Marte to adjust to, but it is better to get him used to the position in the minors, rather than with the major league club. PNC Park has a very large left field, so it will be good having a player with Marte’s speed and defense to man that position.
So, when should Marte get called up? The earliest time I could see the Pirates calling up Marte is early to mid June. This will give the team enough time to evaluate his performance at AAA, and to see how Presley and Tabata handle themselves at the majors. If Marte is hitting .300-.315 or better with an OPS of over .820 and his strikeout and walk numbers improve, then he should get serious consideration by the beginning of July. Even if Presley and Tabata are hitting well, you can’t ignore Marte’s talent and potential impact on the team, and it really wouldn’t benefit him to stay in AAA. In the majors, Marte could be an .300+ hitter with 15-20 homers a year, with great speed and great defense. The Pirates could have a very good duo with Marte and McCutchen, and hopefully we will get a taste of what that is like at some point this summer.
Marte’s arrival in the majors really depends on a couple factors. Obviously, one of them is how he is performing in AAA. If he continues to hit like he has, then it will be very difficult for the Pirates to keep him down. The other factor in his call up will be how Alex Presley and Jose Tabata perform. If one of these two struggle, then that will lead to a higher possibility of Marte getting the call. Likewise, if both of these players exceed expectations, then that will lower the chances of Marte having a spot on the major league roster. If Marte doesn’t respond well to the more advanced AAA pitching, it will not matter how Presley and Tabata hit, and will show that Marte needs more time in the minors.
As mentioned in the first paragraph, Marte needs to work on his plate patience and get more experience in left and/or right field before he can be called up to the majors. In his minor league career leading up to this season, he has struck out in 21.6% of his at-bats. That’s not too bad, and he even lowered his strikeout rate to 18.7% in 2011. However, he has a career walk rate of 4.7%, and 3.8% in 2011. That is bad. Obviously, this hasn’t really affected his performance too much in the minors, but if he continues this, major league pitchers will exploit this weakness. Marte is an aggressive hitter, many times swinging at pitches that are not in the strike zone. But, if he would allow these pitches to go buy as balls, he would get more walks and see better pitches to hit later in the count. Not only would this raise his on base percentage, it could also raise his average because of the more hittable pitches.
Marte is a very good defensive centerfielder, probably better than McCutchen. However, he has very little experience at the corner outfield positions in the higher levels, and in spring training, he looked a little lost at those spots. For the Pirates, Marte will most likely play left field, where he has only played seven times in the minors. Being a good fielder, this shouldn’t take long for Marte to adjust to, but it is better to get him used to the position in the minors, rather than with the major league club. PNC Park has a very large left field, so it will be good having a player with Marte’s speed and defense to man that position.
So, when should Marte get called up? The earliest time I could see the Pirates calling up Marte is early to mid June. This will give the team enough time to evaluate his performance at AAA, and to see how Presley and Tabata handle themselves at the majors. If Marte is hitting .300-.315 or better with an OPS of over .820 and his strikeout and walk numbers improve, then he should get serious consideration by the beginning of July. Even if Presley and Tabata are hitting well, you can’t ignore Marte’s talent and potential impact on the team, and it really wouldn’t benefit him to stay in AAA. In the majors, Marte could be an .300+ hitter with 15-20 homers a year, with great speed and great defense. The Pirates could have a very good duo with Marte and McCutchen, and hopefully we will get a taste of what that is like at some point this summer.
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