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First Pitch: The Pirates Should Definitely Embrace the Idea of Two-Way Players

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My goal with this article is to get back to writing every day, trying to fight through my migraine issues to at least have one thing up on the site each day. So far that has worked out, even this week when there were three days when I just went right back to bed after writing the article.

That’s more difficult once the season is over, as there’s not a daily discussion topic for five or six months. Eventually, you’ll see more off-topic stuff in this section. I was going to have something like that today, but when a baseball topic comes up, I’m going to take it.

Last night there was a topic that I found interesting:

I’m going to skip past the subject of whether Neal Huntington and Clint Hurdle are returning. Let’s focus on the idea of Brault as a two-way player, and the idea of two-way players in general.

I’ve covered this organization for 11 seasons now, focusing on the minors. To my recollection, the Pirates have not once had a two-way player. They’ve had players who have pitched and played as position players, but that’s typically a last resort move. Stetson Allie switched to being a hitter when he was done with pitching. Plenty of players have switched to pitching as a last chance when their position player career didn’t work out. But they’ve yet to work someone as both a pitcher and a position player.

I’ve never understood that. This is an organization that will take an infielder and move him all over the field, giving him work at different positions in order to increase his chances of making and sticking in the majors.

They did this with Josh Harrison. He came to them as an outfielder who could play infield. He mostly played second base in the minors with the Pirates, but eventually got work in the outfield, at shortstop, third base, and he was even used as an emergency pitcher at times. This worked out, as Harrison was able to fill in at outfield and third base when he was first establishing himself in the majors. I’m not sure he has that breakout 2014 season without the ability to play outfield or third base.

They did this with Adam Frazier. He was drafted as a shortstop, and then eventually moved to second base. When he reached Double-A, he moved to the outfield for the first time, and that outfield work eventually let him break in to the majors. He has since become a regular second baseman, but I don’t think he gets to that point without the outfield work.

Moving players from the infield to the outfield, and vice-versa, has been an accepted practice. It’s even accepted moving guys from catcher to another position, which hasn’t always been the case. So why is there such a hard line between pitchers and other positions?

The same concept applies here. A player can only play one position at a time in a game, so there wouldn’t be overlap where a player is needed in two areas. If he’s pitching one day, he’s not available elsewhere on the field. If he’s playing outfield, he’s not available to pitch.

Now let’s talk about Brault. A few years ago I was in Phoenix for the Arizona Fall League. I was watching batting practice, and noticed an outfielder with a Pirates uniform on, fielding fly balls in center field. This was clearly an outfielder, since he moved well and ran good routes. He looked comfortable out there, and my only thought was “Who is this guy?” since I knew the Pirates didn’t have any outfielders there that year.

That guy was Steven Brault. He’s always been a two-way player candidate, and since the Pirates added him, they’ve raved about his athleticism. I’m surprised they never gave him a chance to play another position before now.

Brault is having a good season this year for his role. He started off as rotation depth, and was quickly needed. He’s since given up a 5.16 ERA and a 5.05 xFIP over 113.1 innings. That’s not a performance that earns you a future rotation spot, but it’s good for a depth option, especially since he had a 3.60 ERA from May to August (which has since fallen back to earth, as his xFIP during the time indicated it would do).

The Pirates would be fine next year with Brault as a lefty reliever and rotation depth option. But there’s not much value in that spot. So why not try to get extra value?

Brault has a .341/.357/.439 line at the plate this year. That’s in a very small sample size, but he has put up good numbers in the minors, with a .419/.419/.484 line. Combined, his performance this year and in the minors would amount to less than 100 plate appearances. But why not expand on that and see if he can legitimately be a good hitter? That adds an extra pinch hit option off your bench, without removing a pitcher. It also gives you a multi-inning reliever without having to worry about bringing in a pinch hitter to cover his spot in the order.

He’s also got the skills to play outfield, and I could see him being a defensive replacement for someone like Gregory Polanco late in the game. Once again, you get extra value on the position player side without having to sacrifice a pitching spot.

This would all take extra work for Brault, but that’s not unheard of. Every catcher right now spends time on their own personal hitting, fielding, and base running, while also spending time knowing what the pitchers are doing, and working on that side of the game. Brault is already doing the pitching work, and would just need to add extra practice to work on his hitting and fielding regularly.

Brault has been worth 1.1 fWAR this year, mostly due to the amount of innings he covered without being a disaster. That’s not a high value, and will probably be lower in years where he isn’t asked to pitch in the rotation so often. So why not add to that value? Give him the chance to add extra value at the plate and on the field with his defense. There are going to be days where he’s not available to pitch, and on those days he could still help the team in another way.

Then take this plan and extend it throughout the minors to anyone else who might benefit from being a two-way player. Increase their chances of reaching the majors by giving them a second spot to work on.

We don’t know yet if Huntington and Hurdle will return, but this idea isn’t a bad one. I hope to see it implemented, regardless of who the GM and manager are next year.

TODAY’S PICKS

Here are my top picks for today:

7:00 – Nebraska +17

7:00 – Mississippi State +8 (Hoping for an Auburn win/Miss St cover)

4:00 – USF +7 (Also a half wager on the moneyline at +218)

12:00 – Mid Tennessee State University +23.5

7:00 – Rice +8.5 (Another half wager on the moneyline at +260)

6:00 – New Mexico +7

Last Week: 3-4, -1.27 Units

Season: 8-6, +1.22 Units

TODAY’S ARTICLES

Ethan Hullihen will have an article today. We’ll also have any news that comes up, and the live game discussion.

SONG OF THE DAY

Today we’re going with my favorite PTM song.

I love this even better live, since they lead into it with covers of Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall”. Their entire show is basically just a long jam session. As a bonus video, here they are at Lollapalooza in 2018.

DAILY QUIZ

Name the top five college football teams from 1951-2010.


THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

By John Dreker

Seven former Pittsburgh Pirates players have been born on this date, including the man that helped name the Pirates.

Louis Bierbauer played for the Pirates from 1891 until 1896. The old story goes that after the Player’s League folded in 1890, Pittsburgh “pirated” players from other teams that didn’t put them on the reserve list. The PL was around one season and most players returned to their 1889 teams because they were reserved. Pittsburgh signed Bierbauer (and others) and a few of the other teams referred to them as the Pirates. An odd twist on the story is that they never went by that team name in 1891. The local papers still often referred to them as the Alleghenys, which was the accepted name before then. Others called them “Allies”, the “Hanlons” for manager Ned Hanlon, or just the “Pittsburgs”. Back then the town didn’t have an H at the end.

When manager Bill McGunnigle took over the team in late July, he ran practice with a whistle and the local newspapers took to calling the team the “Pets”, which stuck through the end of the season. In 1894, they went by the name Braves. The nickname Pirates wasn’t used by the team until the 1895 season. The actual name of the team for the longest time was just “The Pittsburg Base Ball Club”. Having said all that, it’s easier to just say they started using the name Pirates in 1891 because that’s the earliest reference to it.

Back to Bierbauer, who was a star second baseman at the time. He had an awful first year back in the National League, then rebounded to have a decent career with the Pirates. He hit .260 in 709 games, with 399 runs scored and 425 RBIs. Bierbauer was an above average defender, who led the NL three times in assists while with the Pirates. You can read more about Bierbauer here.

Other players born on this date include:

Grant Jackson, pitcher for the Pirates from 1977 until 1982 and the winner of the last World Series game in franchise history. Jackson came in on relief in game seven of the 1979 World Series and threw 2.2 scoreless innings. He also won game one of the NLCS over the Reds. Jackson pitched 278 games for the Pirates and had a 3.23 ERA with 36 saves. He spent 18 years in the majors.

Leon Chagnon, pitcher for the 1929-30 and 32-34 Pirates. He pitched 101 times in relief and 20 times as a starter with Pittsburgh, posting a 4.61 ERA in 355 innings.

Everett Booe, outfielder for the 1913 Pirates. He hit .200 in 29 games. Booe played in the Federal League in 1914 and then couldn’t get a big league job after the league folded, which happened to quite a few marginal MLB players during that time.

Pete Compton, outfielder for the 1916 Pirates. Went 1-for-16 in five games. The Pirates bought him from the Boston Braves on July 3rd and returned him 11 days later.

Harley Young, pitcher for the 1908 Pirates. Made three starts and five relief appearances. The Pirates acquired Harley mid-season for Irv Young. The popular thing to do back then was give players with the same last name, the same nickname. Cy Young was nearing the end of his brilliant career back then and Irv Young got the unfortunate nickname of “Cy the Second”, not too much pressure for a young (pardon the pun) pitcher. Harley came around in 1908 and he got the name “Cy the Third”. Harley fell exactly 511 wins short of Cy Young’s career total.

Bill Nelson started and finished three games for the 1884 Alleghenys, winning one. It was his only MLB experience. He pitched in the minors until 1889.

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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