KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Steven Brault was bounced early and the Pirates left too many ducks on the pond in a 4-3 loss to the Royals Friday at Kauffman Stadium.
Despite it being yet another loss for the Pirates, dropping their record to an MLB-worst 14-28, there were still some bolts of excitement that offer hope for the future. Many were provided by the recently promoted and new No. 3 hitter Ke’Bryan Hayes, who in addition to having a multi-hit night and stealing his first base in the majors, did this to open the home half of the first inning:
On the other side of the coin was Kevin Newman. While he did draw two walks, he was hitless, including making the final out in the ninth, a grounder to second base. He also had an ugly misplay in the field on a Hunter Dozier hot shot:
That was ruled a hit, sparing Newman of an error. That was the second time in three games Newman couldn’t handle a one-hopper right at him that was eventually credited as a hit. Chalk those the plays up as reasons for why errors and fielding percentage are not the best tools to measure defense, but it is telling that one year after Newman made 10 errors -- four of them of the fielding variety -- he is already up to six this season, three of which are fielding. Those totals could very easily be eight and five.
His advanced defensive metrics were not very flattering in 2019, but the main criticism was his range. If he could get to a play, he would make it. That isn’t happening this year. Perhaps some could be attributed to him getting more time at second base instead of shortstop, which has happened quite frequently since Hayes was promoted. However, these problems were rearing their head when he was playing at shortstop.
After Tuesday’s game, I asked Derek Shelton if he had noticed any change in Newman’s game defensively compared to what he saw on film from last year. Through a glitch in the Zoom call, I actually got a response about his night at the plate instead.
“Take away the last at-bat tonight, which he continued to battle,” Shelton said. “He had two walks. His fourth at-bat was a really good at-bat. He fouled off four or five pitches for the walk. His first at-bat, he lined out. His second at-bat he hit a hard ground ball to the second baseman. Just right at people. Nothing to it. He actually took pretty good swings tonight and just hit the ball at people until the last at-bat.”
After that, I asked again and got an answer on his defense.
“I think both balls in the last three days, it’s a ball he’s got to drop-step on,” he said. “And neither ball he drop-stepped on. When you get on that side of the field, that’s an awkward play. We just have to continue to work on it. Both those plays, we should have drop-stepped and put ourselves in a better position.”
It seems telling that through the communication error, Shelton assumed the question was focused on Newman’s hitting. He’s an optimist, so he made sure to the positives of Newman’s night at the dish. There were some, and the two walks were an obvious plus, but his overall production has dropped dramatically.
A year ago, Newman finished with a .308 batting average and .800 OPS. While his overall batted ball profile was not as glowing as those two metrics, it did greatly improve as the season progressed, lending optimism towards the future. His stats were initially inflated by a flurry of infield singles. Towards the end of the year, they were roped line drives.
This season, he is hitting .234 with a sub .300 on-base and slugging percentage, with a slightly worse batted ball profile. He isn’t spraying the ball to all fields like he was in 2019.
Over his last 16 games, he is batting .161 (9-for-56) with two doubles. It is worth noting he suffered an abdominal injury around this time too, on Aug. 23. He’s played the hero and walked off a couple games, but those are just flashes from his rookie campaign.
Now Newman isn’t the only player who has regressed this season. Bryan Reynolds has had a wicked sophomore slump. Josh Bell has slid after his All-Star campaign, though he did homer as part of his three hit night Friday. Gregory Polanco, Adam Frazier, Jarrod Dyson, Jose Osuna… the list goes on and on. There’s a reason why this team is flirting with one of the worst offensive outputs over the past century. And the whole season is just two months, so there’s no saying that this wouldn’t have been just an early season slump for some players.
But in Newman’s case, it may be more.
The word “meritocracy” has been thrown around a lot over the last week, first by Ben Cherington on his radio show and then by Shelton. They want there to be an active sense of competition among the roster going into spring training.
Is there any position that has more depth in this organization than shortstop? Between Erik Gonzalez showing why those scouts banged tables for him, Cole Tucker still in the mix and at least three legitimate prospects who could potentially play the position (Oneil Cruz, Nick Gonzales and Liover Peguero all rank among their top 10 farmhands, with the first two potentially getting called up in 2021), there is plenty of competition up the middle.
A year ago, Newman looked like a building block for the next competitive Pirates team, whenever that may be. He still can be, but 2020 has been an ugly sophomore slump. If Shelton and Cherington are serious about creating that meritocracy, and all indications say they are, he is going to have to show more in the field and at the dish.
• Ok, one more look at that Hayes play from earlier before we dive into the Pirates' 28th loss of the season.
That was Whit Merrifield, one of the fastest players in baseball, dropping a perfect bunt and still getting thrown out.
Hayes took a couple steps back after Brault threw strike one, thinking it would be less likely he would bunt. However, he noticed that between pitches Merrifield took a peek down at third, so he moved a step back in.
"As the pitcher was going, I kind of crept in and got some momentum," Hayes said. "It was a good bunt but he bunted a little too hard and I was able to get him out.”
See why his glove and baseball instincts were so hyped up?
"You don’t see too many guys make that play," Shelton said.
"I was genuinely surprised," Brault said. "I thought we had no shot of getting that out. I was blown away."
"The kid's spectacular," Bell gushed.
Merrifield was just as in awe, believing he had a hit 10 times out of 10 there. Later on the game, he and Bell talked after he reached first base. Whit said he couldn't believe the play, and Bell said that's why Hayes has those minor-league Gold Gloves.
"I wish that was in the scouting report," Merrifield joked to Bell.
• Onto the rest of the game.
Brault had a hard time finishing batters, needing 97 pitches to make it through four innings. He allowed three runs on five hits and three walks, striking out four.
Afterwards, Brault said his rough night was part mental, but mechanical.
"We’re athletes. We’re big, dumb idiots," Brault said. "We should be thinking as little as possible while competing. So, it’s kind of a combination. It’s something to work through right now."
Dovydas Neverauskas, Chris Stratton, Nik Turley and Geoff Hartlieb provided four innings of one run relief to keep the Pirates in it, but Adalberto Mondesi swiped a pair of bags off Stratton, leading to the deciding run.
"The second one, the steal of third, we’ve got to do a better job of controlling our looks and keeping him there," Shelton said. "The stealing of second doesn’t bother me because of the fact it’s 3-2, they’re moving on a 3-2 pitch, which a lot of teams do. The steal of third, we have got to do a better job of controlling him there and getting him to stop."
Mondesi also homered in the first and scored three runs.
• Offensively, the Pirates went just 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position. That includes failing to bring home anyone with runners on the corners and nobody out in the second inning.
"Shorten up, put the ball in play," Shelton said about what he wished Jacob Stallings, Adam Frazier and Cole Tucker would have done there. All three batters struck out swinging. "Even there, if we get a double play, we get a run. Even more so to that, they were all elevated fastballs. We have to do a better job of identifying the pitch that we’re going to be able to take a good swing on.”
Wriggling out of that jam allowed Royals starter Kris Bubic to go five innings, allowing one run and getting the win.
• One of those two hits with a runner in scoring position came from Bell in the eighth, parking one in right field.
That was on a high and tight fastball, a pitch he has seen a bit more frequently lately.
"I want to say there was two or three opportunities [in the last series] for me to drive a ball up and in, and I either chopped it up the middle or grounded to second base," Bell said. "So it was good to be on time and be able to turn on it."
Bell did not take batting practice Friday, opting to instead get extra work in the cage with hitting coach Rick Eckstein, which he said helped "dial him in."
Bell went 3-for-4 on the night.
• Before the game, right-handed pitcher Tyler Bashlor was placed on the 10-day injured list with low back inflammation.
LHP Austin Davis, who was part of the taxi squad, took his place.
• Factoid of the night: Frazier's 12 game hit streak came to an end, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Of the 14 hits he had that streak, 13 were singles and one was a double, giving him a .368/.489/.395 slash line over those 47 plate appearances.