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Pirates Notebook: The Pirates are Having Significant Issues on Defense

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PITTSBURGH — The Pirates have a pretty significant problem with defense.

It was thrust into the spotlight by two errors and a couple of other miscues in an 11-5 loss to the Yankees on Saturday afternoon, but the Pirates’ defense as a team has been suspect all season.

They lead the National League with 16 errors and have given up an incredible 15 unearned runs, which is the most in all of baseball. It seems to be a broad-based problem rather than a specific, but it starts with a lot of players playing at new positions or one that they did not play coming up.

Gregory Polanco is regularly playing in left field for the first time in his career. Andrew McCutchen is back in center field after a subpar 2016 season defensively had pushed him to right. John Jaso and Jose Osuna are outfield neophytes, as is Josh Bell at first base. Adam Frazier has yet to prove to be an above-average defender at any of the four spots he’s played.

That leaves Josh Harrison, Jordy Mercer, David Freese and Francisco Cervelli as mostly reliable defenders playing in positions they’ve played for a number of years and of those, only Freese and Harrison have positive defensive runs saved figures.

Outside of the typical starting options, the bench doesn’t seem to possess a defender that can make an impact, either. Manager Clint Hurdle is fond of making late-game defensive substitutions, and while Jaso might be better than Bell at first Frazier better than Jaso in right, better doesn’t mean actually good and that’s been the issue for the Pirates.

The team has -8 DRS and that trend seems likely to worsen with the loss of Starling Marte at a premium defensive position. There isn’t a ton of defensive help in Indianapolis, either. Of the call-up options, only light-hitting Gift Ngoepe would be considered a plus defender. There aren’t very many trades made in April, either, so if the Pirates defense is going to improve, it’s probably going to have to mean getting more out of the players on the roster.

“I think overall defense, we need to continue to work,” Hurdle said. “We’re out there putting in all the work that we can. We’re out there quite a lot. We’ve been doing our outfield work a lot. We’re out there on the field working on it pretty much multiple times in every homestand.”

When it comes to internal improvements, some of the younger players probably provide more of an opportunity to progress defensively. That’s why Hurdle has committed to Josh Bell sticking at first base.

In the outfield, the best hope for progress might be Osuna. Osuna played 42 games in the outfield in 2016 between Indy and Altoona and has split time between outfield and first base in career. He said he feels he’s a better defender at first base, but is trying to make right field at PNC Park his home.

“The last two days I was practicing in right taking balls off the wall,” he said. “I feel really good. I just have to make that my job.”

PNC Park’s right field has had a reputation as being a tricky one to play in thanks to the multifaceted 21-foot high Clemente Wall and the short railing with minimal foul ground down the line. But Hurdle said that the new scoreboard may have made easier to learn the nuances of the position.

“In some areas, it’s not as challenging,” he said. “There’s not as much volume to cover. In some areas, it can be a little bit more. When we had the other fence, with the scoreboard, the nooks and crannies, the weird angles and bounces could play. Now, it’s more of a mat. The ball hits and kind of drops down. There’s more give to it. There is a little bit of separation with the alley as far as the drop back, but I don’t think it would be above-average in degree of difficulty.”

STARTING LINEUP

TURN FOR HANSON?

Evan with something of a Sunday lineup going for the Pirates, Alen Hanson still hasn’t found a way to consistently crack the lineup. He’s started just once and has eight at-bats through 17 games. Hurdle said that Hanson remains a viable option for more playing time, just one he hasn’t exercised to this point.

“We’re working it out right now,” he said. “There’s only so many games and so many innings and there’s other players.”

One place that Hurdle doesn’t foresee using Hanson is as a defensive replacement, despite the issues his starters have had in the field.

“At this particular point, no,” Hurdle said. “That’s one of the challenges he’s had throughout his minor-league career — his dependability in the infield. He’s working hard and he’s put a ton of work in. I do believe that he’ll be a guy that you’ll see get some reps as we move into the later part of April and into May in the infield.”

The infield seems to be where Hurdle would prefer to use Hanson, at least for now.

“I think second base is his best option right now if I had to seed him. It’d be second base, third base and then it’d be shortstop,” Hurdle said. “We’ve just experienced putting him out there at the corners late last season to play defense. You got to see both worlds in Spring Training. You got to see a strong throwing arm making the right plays at time and then sometimes there was confusion on where to go. He’s working hard. He’s put work in every day. I’m looking for that opportunity. We’ll get him more involved.

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