John Jaso is not supposed to hit leadoff.
He’s not a great runner. He’s not a threat to steal at any given moment. He won’t land that perfectly placed drag bunt.
Jaso even plays first base. First basemen aren’t supposed to lead off; they’re supposed to hit home runs.
In Jaso’s case, none of that matters.
The leadoff hitter’s main goal is get on base. And Jaso knows how to get on base. While he might be the most unconventional leadoff hitter the Pittsburgh Pirates have had in years, his .417 OBP is third among everyday-starters on the Pirates and is 19th overall in the majors. And he might be stabilizing a position the Pirates have had a revolving door at for over a decade. (Trivia site Sporcle even has a quiz asking the name of every Pirates first baseman since 2004. Spoiler: There are 43.)
However, the one aspect Jaso lacks offensively is power. In his eight years in the big leagues, he has 37 career home runs. His predecessor at first base, Pedro Alvarez, hit 36 home runs in 2013. And the loss of Alvarez — as well as former second baseman Neil Walker — has certainly been felt in the Pirates’ home run department. Pittsburgh has only hit seven home runs this year, the third-fewest in baseball. (Walker, now with the New York Mets, has six.)
Yet, what this 2016 Pirates team lacks in power they make up for in getting on base. Pittsburgh currently leads the MLB in both batting average and OBP, and Jaso is a big part of that.
Sure, the jury is still out on whether trading Walker to the New York Mets for starting pitcher Jon Niese over the winter was a smart one for the Pirates. Walker has been an instant success in New York, while Niese has had some up-and-down results in Pittsburgh.
Replacing Alvarez with Jaso, though, looks like it’s been an easy win for the Pirates.
There’s no denying Alvarez’s natural power potential, and his 111 home runs from 2012-15 proves that. Still, it never seemed like everything came together for him, and Alvarez struggled with consistency — often, he was as much of a hindrance as an asset at the plate.
Jaso couldn’t be more different from Alvarez on offense. Jaso isn’t a power threat, yet he’s been a model of consistency in his brief time with the Pirates. In his 13 games this year batting leadoff, he’s safely reached base in all of them. And Jaso has at least one hit in all but one of those 13 games. (Alvarez, by comparison, is hitting .143 with no home runs and just one extra base hit in 35 plate appearances for the Baltimore Orioles.)
So, no, the Pirates didn’t effectively replace the power they lost when Alvarez was non-tendered at the end of 2015. But, because of Jaso, it doesn’t matter.
It remains to be seen whether these trends will continue throughout the year. Alvarez could still find his power stroke in Baltimore; Jaso might hit a cold spell.
But, so far, in 2016, Jaso has been an improvement at first base.
Image credit: AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
