Trae Arbet

WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES

2013
R:  174/232/264, 144 AB, 7 2B, 3 3B, 4 BB, 43 K, 4-6 SB

Arbet struggled both at the plate and in the field in his debut.  The strike zone obviously was a major issue.  He also committed 21 errors in 38 games, all at short.

2014
R+:  226/289/294, 221 AB, 12 2B, 1 HR, 11 BB, 69 K, 4-7 SB

The Pirates moved Arbet up to Bristol despite his 2014 problems and he served as the regular at short.  He made progress, but it was more around the edges than a real step forward.  He cut his K rate, but it was still close to one every three ABs.  He walked slightly more, but actually hit for a little less power.  He cut the errors to 20 in 56 games, but that’s still a lot.

2015
R+:  320/384/503, 147 AB, 16 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 5 BB, 45 K, 1-6 SB

The Pirates sent Arbet back to Bristol and also moved him to second.  Despite the absence of a real prospect at short, he made no appearances there.  At the plate, he had an interesting season, putting up impressive numbers, including excellent power, but with the same poor plate discipline.  In fact, his walk rate dropped while his K rate stayed almost the same.  His BABIP of .440 suggests strongly that he can’t sustain the improvement.  Arbet missed the last two weeks of the season with an unknown injury.

2016
A-:  000/000/000, 4 AB, 2 K

Arbet appeared to be slated to play second for Morgantown, but he suffered a wrist injury in his second game and missed the rest of the season.

2017
A:  232/287/393, 323 AB, 17 2B, 4 3B, 9 HR, 13 BB, 93 K, 3-6 SB

The Pirates originally intended Stephen Alemais and Adrian Valerio to share the shortstop and second base jobs at West Virginia, but injuries to both players and, eventually, Alemais’ promotion left the second base job open most of the year.  Arbet and Kevin Mahala ultimately shared the position.  Arbet had a few injury problems himself, though, including an oblique strain that cost him the last three weeks of the season.  He ended up starting a little under half the Power’s games at second and another 22 at third.  He had some rough games defensively early in the season, but improved as the season went along.  At the plate, he started off well but tailed off badly, as his OPS by month shows:

April:  .923
May:  .797
June:  .414
July:  .622
August:  .541

As the numbers show, he hit for fairly good power, but seldom walked and struck out a lot.  He did cut his K rate from 2015, but still struck out once every three and a half ABs.

Arbet’s 2017 season shows his numbers in 2015 weren’t sustainable, as suggested by his walk and K rates, and his BABIP.  The trade of Tristan Gray, though, left the second base position at Bradenton open.  Arbet will start the season there and could share the position with Alfredo Reyes.