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Buster Olney Ranks the Pirates Among the Best Defensive Teams

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As was mentioned here yesterday, Buster Olney gave some very favorable rankings for the Pittsburgh Pirates, rating them near the top in baseball for their starting rotation, bullpen and lineup. I mentioned yesterday that their bench would likely rank very high once Jung Ho Kang is signed, but I missed out on the defensive side of things. Olney ranks the Pirates’ defense as the 8th best in the league, the same spot he has their bullpen and lineup.

The #8 spot may actually be a little low considering the outfield defense of Starling Marte, Andrew McCutchen and Gregory Polanco, plus the impressive season Jordy Mercer had on defense. The Pirates seem solid behind the plate with Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart, which he notes in the article(subscription required). Olney sort of gives the team a back-handed compliment when he says their overall defense, especially the play in the infield, has more to do with the positioning they use on defense. The defensive shifts the Pirates employ, makes players like Neil Walker and Jordy Mercer better defenders according to Olney.

The Pirates ranked fourth among NL teams on his list, trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers, St Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds. All three of those teams rank in his top five.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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