31.2 F
Pittsburgh

Pirates Have No Plans to Send Gregory Polanco to Triple-A

Published:

Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington gave his vote of confidence to Gregory Polanco today when meeting with the media at PNC Park. Polanco has struggled of late, and he has been especially bad against left-handed pitching this season. Huntington said that sending Polanco down to Triple-A Indianapolis is not in the cards, and they expect him to work through his troubles with the major league club.

“We believe that Gregory Polanco is going to be a quality major league player,” Huntington said. “The large majority of major league players have some trouble in their first year or two in the league, and we forget that sometimes, since the Bryce Harpers and the Mike Trouts make it look relatively easy. There are growing pains and challenges. We still see the ability in Gregory Polanco. It’s just finding that consistency, and we want to help him do that.”

When asked specifically if sending Polanco down to the minors to work through his difficulties was an option, Huntington responded that “it hasn’t even been a conversation.”

Since having a three hit night on June 6th in Atlanta, Polanco is only batting .154 with a .478 OPS. During that time, his ISO is a measly .077 with only five extra base hits in those 24 games. On the year, Polanco is only batting .233 with an ISO of .100. It’s not just that the batting average is down; the power numbers are way down, especially for a corner outfield position. He has looked especially bad against lefties, batting .125 with a .311 OPS this season in 40 at bats coming into Sunday’s game.

In comparison, Polanco had a slash of .329/.400/.408 last season for Triple-A Indianapolis against left-handed pitching. He actually had a better batting average against lefties than righties in Triple-A by one percentage point (.328).

After Sunday’s game, Polanco has gone hitless in his last twelve at bats.

Polanco is also striking out more this season than he has in most of his professional career. His strikeout rate is above 20% this season for the first time since rookie ball in 2010.

Of course, things can change quickly in this game with roster moves and trades happening so often. You may see the Pirates make a move to push Polanco a little harder, not including their claim on former Pirate Travis Ishikawa today. As of right now, though, it looks like Gregory Polanco is here to stay.

Related Articles

Latest Articles