BRADENTON, Fla. – Any player with a batting average of .440 and an OPS of 1.517 after a couple weeks of Spring Training would certainly garner some attention from media and fans. Most fans and outlets are just starting to get to know who Jose Osuna is, and giving you an introduction to the player due to his hot start. We have been covering him since his name was spelled Ozuna, and Pirates Prospects readers need no introduction to a player who has appeared in over 1,000 articles on this site, along with making our top 50 prospect list every year it has been released.
Instead of introducing you to a player you already know, let’s take a deeper look at what he’s working on this spring, aside from hitting everything in sight.
When Spring Training rolled around, I, personally, was excited to see how Osuna would do against upper level pitching in big league camp. He performed well as a minor league extra last year in Pirates’ Spring Training games, going 5-for-8 with a home run in his five games last spring. He also went on a few stretches last season in both Altoona and Indianapolis where pitchers were struggling to get him out. He sprayed the ball all over the field with a great gap-to-gap approach for doubles and pull power to left field for home runs.
Osuna crushed lefties in 2016 with a .352 average and .932 OPS; however, he hit 11 of his 13 home runs for the season off of right-handed pitchers.
The problem for Osuna is that he’s blocked at every position and path to the majors. Josh Bell is locked in as the first baseman of the future. The Pirates have no openings in the outfield, and the next opening will go to Austin Meadows. That leaves Osuna looking at a future bench role at the corners.
This year, the Pirates aim to make Osuna an even more flexible and valuable player by getting him significant repetitions at multiple positions. A few of those positions are familiar to him — first base, left field, right field — but now he is also adding third base to the mix.
“When I first got here, I started taking some ground balls at third,” Osuna said. “They keep telling me that I have to be ready for every position.”
Osuna was 14 years old the last time he took any reps at third base, and it is still yet to be seen if he will get any game action at the position this spring; however, the Pirates have been high on him for quite some time and want to give him every opportunity possible to someday make the big league club.
“We put him on the 40-man roster for a reason,” Clint Hurdle said about Osuna. “It’s not just something that just jumped into our lap. We watched him and didn’t want to keep him out there [as a minor league free agent]. We felt there has been development and growth. He’s shown strength in the batter’s box and versatility on the defensive side.”
Coming into Camp in Better Shape
Osuna tired from a long season going into winter ball, where he played for Bravos de Margarita in the Liga Venezuela Beisbol Profesional. A year removed from being named the Venezuelan Winter League Rooke of the Year, he hit for a .279 average and .748 OPS this past winter. (Note: Good friend Jose Tabata was third in the league in batting with a .367 average. Tabata was second with a .979 OPS.)
He came into camp this year about nine pounds lighter than last season, working on quickness, flexibility, and agility. He did that by doing a lot of running and changing his diet. He’s never been one to blow you away with speed in the field, but he is a smart defender and has a very strong arm, seemingly the reason why they would want him to test out the hot corner at third. He has also been a very durable baseball player, as he has missed very little time over his career, with the only significant time missed being back in 2014 in Bradenton when he missed a month’s action.
The lost weight and healthy eating will only continue to promote durability, and Osuna understands that his shot at the big league club may someday come because he is healthy and playing.
“The most important thing is to be healthy,” Osuna said. “I need to play hard but play smart. Like I said, teams always have injuries. It’s about the amount of work you put in to try to be healthy. I’m in a good position to keep my body healthy right now.”
As for his first big league camp, Osuna said that he was watching everything that Gregory Polanco and Starling Marte were doing in their preparation for the season. He wanted to learn how they “got themselves ready for the show.”
“It’s very good for me,” Osuna said. “Just trying to learn from other people with more experience is very good.”
The Adjustment to Upper Level Pitching
A former pitcher who moved to the field after a drop in velocity, Osuna has always had a good handle on hitting. His strikeout rate has always hovered in the mid-teens (15.4% K rate last season), but he’s never been one to walk often (5.6% BB rate last season). After spending two and a half years in Bradenton before moving to Double-A, he had seen moderate improvements from a power perspective last year in Altoona before the call to Indianapolis. For the Indians, Osuna seemingly went off over a two month span, when he hit for a .307 average with 25 extra base hits in July and August for Indy last year.
It wasn’t that you didn’t see the power potential with Osuna over the span of those few seasons in Bradenton and Altoona, they certainly came in spurts, but it failed to come together consistently over time. For myself, watching Osuna play for over a year in Altoona, I always felt there was a next level ready to burst from inside at any point. The question was always “when would it happen?”
Osuna said that his goal for this season is to hit for a .300 average and more home runs. He has begun to create a better habit of game planning for a particular pitcher before games, saying that he wants to plan “where I want to swing, when I want to swing, and at watch pitch I want to swing at” with the hope of always staying one step ahead of the pitcher. As well as usually taking the first pitch to be able to see the ball out of the pitcher’s hand better, he also emphasized that he wants to avoid swinging at breaking balls that are difficult to get his hands to.
“At first when I got to Triple-A, I was swinging too much at sliders — slider, slider, slider — and I was swinging at bad pitches,” Osuna said. “I try to take that pitch, because it’s a bad pitch to hit. I’m trying to take a good pitch. It is very important to try to make adjustments quickly. Don’t try to do too much. Just try to hit a good pitch, and have a good result.”
Osuna’s splits against lefties and righties have always been fairly significant, with him batting much better than .300 against lefties every year since 2013. Right handed pitcher do a good job of throwing breaking balls or sinkers in on his hands, and he has struggled in the past with that pitch. However, as you can see in the video below, Osuna told me that he is working hard to be able to get to the inside breaking ball against righties.
“I want to stay balanced in my swing,” Osuna told me. “Get my hands more to the ball, and stay short with my swing with needed.”
His spray chart from last year shows that he has the ability to hit all around the field, and it is that consistency that will help him make the majors some day.
“I want to play in the big leagues.”
Jose Osuna told me two sets of goals for this season – hitting for .300 with more power, and . . . making the big leagues.
He is well on his way to a strong impression with the big league club so far this spring, but Osuna will almost undoubtedly begin the year with Triple-A Indianapolis. There, he should be able to work more on hitting consistently and stronger defense.
There is no hurry at pushing Osuna too quickly to the majors. Manager Clint Hurdle said that Osuna probably came into camp with an advantage after playing winter ball, and the Pirates need to keep that in mind.
“Spring is spring,” Hurdle said. “This is a guy who played winter ball all year who comes in sharp. Sometimes we don’t do the math on that. Guys that played winter ball come in sharp. Guys who didn’t play winter ball don’t come in sharp. So there can be an advantage with guys who have played through the winter; however, we like the player.”
I believe that Osuna will get his opportunity to play for the Pirates this season if he can continue to hit consistently. His defense is good enough as is, but it certainly has room to improve. Behind Austin Meadows in Indianapolis, I believe Osuna will be the next best choice as a fourth outfielder in 2017, and he is already on the 40-man roster, so the Pirates wouldn’t need to make any moves to bring him up. If he gets a few reps at third base this season, that can only help his cause.
Osuna is truly a unique player and one that doesn’t typically fit the mold as a utility player. However, with all of the other talent surrounding him in the system, his best path to the majors in Pittsburgh would be carving out a spot on the bench as a corner utility man. No matter what, it has been a long, hard road for Osuna, and the opportunities that he has created for himself have certainly come due to a lot of hard work and diligence.
