The Pittsburgh Pirates are going into this season with their starting lineup pretty much set in stone barring any injuries. They will have Russel Martin at catcher, Garret Jones at first base, Neil Walker at second base, Pedro Alvarez playing third, Clint Barmes at shortstop, Starling Marte, Andrew McCutchen, and Travis Snider patrolling the outfield. It has been said that Gabby Sanchez will get some time at first base. So that means he has solidified his spot on the bench so that only leaves 3 more spots left for quite a few players.
Jose Tabata came into last season as the team’s starting left-fielder, and was looking to turn around a previous season that was sub-par and injury ridden. Well last season was another down year for Tabata that landed him a stint in the minors for him to try and get his act together and play how he played in his rookie year. Tabata played in 103 games last year batting .248 with 3 home runs and 16 runs batted in. The Pirates were certainly hoping to see more production out of him, and a better average from their leadoff hitter. He will certainly be battling for the fourth outfielder spot with Alex Presley.
Presley was another starter coming into the 2012 season. He took over in left field for Tabata who moved over to right field. Presley had a good 2011 season in the short time he was up at the big leagues. He batted .298 with four dingers and 20 RBIs, which almost matches his production from last year. In 2012 Presley had a down year, only batting .237 with 25 RBIs and 10 homers in 104 games which is exactly double the amount of games he played in 2011. The Pirates were hoping he would be the leadoff hitter of the future, but now he is on the outside of the starting lineup looking in.
Right before Spring Training started, the Pirates signed veteran Brandon Inge to a minor league contract and invited him to Spring Training. Inge has been in the league for 12 years and could add a nice veteran presence to the Pirates roster that is very young. Inge split last season between the Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics. In 83 total games last year Inge batted a mere .218, but had 12 home runs and batted in 54 runs. It also doesn’t hurt his chances that he has basically played every position over the years. His versatility might be something that intrigues Manager Clint Hurdle and management. This spring will be a very big audition for him.
Jordy Mercer played some last year for the Buccos at shortstop and second base. Mercer appeared in 42 games for the team last year but most of that was just in late innings for defense. In those 42 games he only had 62 at bats so it’s hard to go off of his batting stats which weren’t so great. He batted .210 with one home run and 5 runs batted in. Mercer is another versatile player who can play all of the infield positions besides first base. Depending on how his offense goes and if his defense improves will determine if he will be in Pittsburgh come opening day.
The last player that is to thought of having a chance at cracking the major league level is Josh Harrison. Harrison seemed to provide a spark to the Pirates lineup at times last year. Versatility has been a theme of the infield guys and Harrison has that. Last year in 2012 Harrison saw playing time at all the infield positions besides first base. Harrison appeared in 104 games last year with 249 at-bats while batting .233 with 16 runs batted in and four homers.
The decision of who will be on the Pirates’ bench come Opening Day probably won’t be made until the last possible day probably, but you can believe that there will be a battle between these guys as to who makes it. There are three spots left for these five guys to fill and you know that all of them want to be in the majors. It will be interesting to see how the battle for the bench turns out as the end of Spring Training gets closer and Opening Day approaches.
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