While nearly every facet of the Pirates roster has gotten off to decent starts, the offensive display the club is getting from the center field position has been consistently dismal.
The club’s opening day starter in that spot, Anthony Alford, is hitless in his first 19 at-bats of the season with 15 strikeouts. Dustin Fowler, the present lefty-swing platoon man in center, is 5-for-27 (.185) with two RBIs and two runs scored. Fowler will start Thursday afternoon's game against the Padres in center field.
Ben Cherington said Thursday that coming into the spring and regular season, the outfield “was an area where we were looking to get more production from and find out more about guys.” Just 12 games into the season, Cherington is still looking to learn more from specific players. But the Pirates have already tried to get creative at that spot, giving Wilmer Difo, a career infielder, a start in center Tuesday night.
“I don't think we have anything off the table,” Cherington said. “We want to continue to find ways to use our outfield situation as an opportunity and give guys a chance to earn more opportunity out there.”
The Alford-Fowler experiment is going to continue for the foreseeable future. They’re both young -- but out of options -- and getting consistent major league at-bats for the first time in their careers. The Pirates expected an adjustment period but are appreciative of the work being put into improving.
But there’s also an expectation that someone will eventually seize the opportunity and actually have some of that success show up at the plate.
“For right now, we want to give guys a chance to play and get into the season a little bit more,” Cherington said. “I think the -- what hasn't changed though is that we see opportunity in the outfield. We see opportunity for guys to step up and win more playing time.”
If neither Alford nor Fowler can prove capable of getting it done, any restructuring of the group including Bryan Reynolds, Gregory Polanco and Phillip Evans will be settled at the managerial level, not in the front office.
Reynolds has been the everyday left fielder for the Pirates this season but has played more than 300 innings at center field in the majors. Moving him over to center and allowing the emerging -- or, well, emerged -- Evans to take his place in left upon Ke’Bryan Hayes’ return seems like it would be the best lineup the Pirates can put on the field when everyone is healthy.
As Cherington mentioned, all things are being considered. But, obviously before Hayes’ can come back. they’re not there quite yet.
“I think that'll probably mostly come down to what the total group looks like and what the total alignment is and what makes sense, as far as giving our team the best chance to win on a particular night,” Cherington said. “But it's certainly nice to have guys who can do more than one thing and Bryan is one of those guys.”
Reynolds is one of five Pirates regulars hitting better than .290 to start the season. Evans leads the way with a .342 average and 1.076 OPS. He’s already played all four corner defensive positions and chipped in an inning on the mound during a blow out in Cincinnati last week.
Cherington said he doesn’t have a preference for a specific spot on the diamond for Evans, and might even be comfortable using him in his natural position at shortstop or even center field. Either way, Evans’ offensive production has made his signing one of Cherington’s better moves as general manager, at least so far.
“He is the type of player that historically does sometimes get overlooked,” Cherington said of Evans. “Guys who do a lot of things well but maybe not one thing at a superlative level that sort of grabs people's attention. … He gives a good at bat. He makes good decisions on the bases. He's obviously versatile defensively. He's reliable. He's a good teammate.”
As far as outfield options not on the active roster are concerned, Brian Goodwin and Jared Oliva are right next door at the alternate site. That group will travel to Columbus, Ohio on Saturday for games against other alternate site teams. Goodwin, along with fellow veteran Todd Frazier, has an opt out in his minor league deal coming within the next few weeks. Oliva stayed behind in Bradenton, Fla. with Cole Tucker for extra “skills development.” But based on both those players’ athleticism and defensive ability, it’s safe to just call that hitting camp. While Oliva came north, Tucker remains in Florida.
Goodwin batted .229 with three extra-base hits and six RBIs this spring while Oliva batted .120 in 25 Grapefruit League at-bats. There is a nine-game road trip to conclude the alternate site game schedule at the end of the month. And Cherington is taking all the time he can for evaluation.
MORE FROM CHERINGTON
• Although Hayes missed his earliest possible return date from the injured list, Cherington found some signs of encouragement. Mainly, the fact that Hayes is swinging a bat, which is a baby step forward that was made in the batting cage Wednesday.
Cherington gave no indication of a timeline for Hayes’ return.
“We're just going to continue to go day to day with that,” he said. “I think at some point, the question will come, does he need to see some live pitching. Just kind of what does the progression look like back into games. ... Still feel good about the longer term prognosis. ... and we'll just keep learning everyday.”
• The Pirates still have some ground to cover to reach the 85 percent threshold for vaccines that would relax some COVID restrictions put in place by MLB. Cherington said some players and staff are in between their first and second shots and they’re continuing conversations about the vaccine with Tier 1 and Tier 2 personnel.
"Our partners at AHN … has been an incredible help to us just in helping to share information, educate, answer questions,” Cherington said. “We're working hard at it and certainly support people to get vaccinated and hope that as many people as possible take advantage of that."
Cherington said that the Pirates have partnered with Manatee Memorial, who will soon begin to provide vaccinations to the players and staff in Bradenton.
• Cherington discussed the difficulties of using Pitt and Steelers facilities for an alternate site as foreseeable problems that made them want to avoid interference with their minor league teams. For example, the conflicting schedules with their hosts are forcing some batting practice sessions to happen first thing in the morning. But they feel they’ve made the right decision by keeping the alternate site local.
“My impressions are that the staff is doing a great job organizing and keeping the energy level at a good rate,” he said. “There are guys in that group who would rather be in the big leagues. Nobody wants to be at the alt site, but the energy and attitudes have been really good.”
Cherington said that the upcoming road trip for that alternate site team will allow them to get back into a rhythm more typical of a Class AAA season. Cherington also mentioned that he has not heard anything to contradict MLB’s plan to start the season on time, but would expect to keep the alternate site facilities as is in the worst case scenario.
“I guess until we’re in Indy playing games, in today’s world we’ll never know until we’re actually doing that,” Cherington said. “But that remains our desire and that remains the desire of the league, to get the minor league season started, including Triple-A.”
• Among the Pirates’ best prospects, there are a number of middle-infielders that don’t necessarily have a definitive position. Oneil Cruz, Liover Peguero, Nick Gonzales and Ji-Hwan Bae are all getting their work in in Bradenton, but Cherington said there hasn’t been enough information to determine who will go where on the diamond.
“I think this is generally a statement for most of our position player group in the minor leagues – we really don’t want to think about guys at one position,” Cherington said. “But as far as specific assignments and levels, we haven’t gotten to that yet.”
Cherington said that they’ll have a better understanding of specific roles some time before the minor league season begins in May.
• Luis Oviedo may take on a larger role than the typical Rule 5 draft pick. But he’s done well enough to impress his general manager.
“He’s a really, young, talented pitcher who’s pitching at the major league level,” Cherington said. “We’re happy he’s here.”
Oviedo is part of a bullpen which will continue to house nine members, as Cherington said that there have not yet been any plans to shift to an even 13/13 pitcher-hitter split on the roster.
• Finally, just because it’s not (non-waiver) trade season, doesn’t mean the phone isn’t ringing. Across the league, the Yankees have already traded for Rougned Odor and the Braves for Orlando Arcia.
“It's not as big a part of the day as it is in December, January and later in July, but it has been a part of the day, even early in the season,” Cherington said.
The Pirates have brought in Kyle Keller from the Angels and sent Edgar Santana to Atlanta since the season began.