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Pirates Prospects Daily: Canaan Smith-Njigba Continues To Hit The Ball Hard

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Spring training statistics aren’t always a great indicator of the progress a player has made. There are often so many factors that can alter the value of some of the base numbers, even more so than the small sample size we are already dealing with.

That being said, there are some things you can watch out for, especially on a player-by-player basis, to see if they have made any adjustments from one year to another.

For Canaan Smith-Njigba, his overall power numbers haven’t always been a true indication of what he possesses. 

He’s always possessed raw power, it was just a matter of putting the ball in play the right way to properly showcase it.

That’s what he has done this spring, as after his performance on Friday, Smith-Njigba has now hit a home run in two of his last three games, and overall has been driving the ball really had.

Through 18 batted ball events, he has an exit velocity of 92.68 mph, with 11 of them ‘hard hit’ (95 mph+). In fact, 33.3% of his batted balls have traveled at least 100 mph off the bat.

While that’s nothing new for him really, the difference has been in his ability to lift the ball more consistently. He currently has a line drive rate of 27%, and has an average launch angle of 9.5°. 

There hasn’t been many outfielders to truly separate themselves from the pack early on, with Connor Joe playing better lately, and Travis Swaggerty maybe being the most consistent performer all spring.

While the path to Pittsburgh to start the season would likely have to come at the expense of an injury occurring, Smith-Njigba has shown the kind of adjustments you would want to see. He has put himself to be in position to be one of the first call ups when the team should need an outfielder.

Pirates Prospects Daily

By John Dreker

The Pirates won 6-2 yesterday at home against the Tampa Bay Rays. Osvaldo Bido tossed two strong innings, Canaan Smith-Njigba, Ji-Man Choi and Mason Martin all homered. Here’s the boxscore. The Pirates are home against the Minnesota Twins this afternoon. The lineup will be posted below once in becomes available. You can use the comments for a game discussion.

**Pirates DVR: Oneil Cruz RBI, Connor Joe Three Hits, Angel Perdomo Strikeouts

**Pirates Prospects Daily: The Dariel Lopez Injury is an Unfortunate Set Back

Song of the Day

Today’s Lineup

1:05 PM start. TV game. Home vs Minnesota Twins

Anthony Murphy
Anthony Murphy
Anthony began writing over 10 years ago, starting a personal blog to cover the 2011 MLB draft, where the Pirates selected first overall. After bouncing around many websites covering hockey, he refocused his attention to baseball, his first love when it comes to sports. He eventually found himself here at Pirates Prospects in late 2021, where he covers the team’s four full season minor league affiliates.

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