Dating back to the start of spring training, and even the end of last season, the plan for the Pirates' outfield was always Bryan Reynolds, Gregory Polanco and someone else.
With one month of the 2021 season in the books, “someone else” looks foggier than ever.
On Friday, the Pirates gave the recently acquired Ka’ai Tom his first start in left field with his new team. While he did draw three walks on the night, that was overshadowed by a misplayed pop fly and a baserunning error, playing a part in a sloppy 7-3 loss to the Cardinals at PNC Park.
The first miscue came in the third inning. After misreading a pop fly by Nolan Arenado, it wound up carrying beyond shortstop Kevin Newman’s range. Tom was playing at no-doubles depth with a runner on first and two outs, and did not sprint after the ball until it was too late, and it landed in front of him.
“It's tough. The wind tonight was pretty substantial,” Newman said. “I thought I could get there, and it ended up being 10 or 15-feet more behind me than I thought. You know, we talked about it, but it's unfortunate but kind of just one of those baseball plays. And, you know, we do everything we can to not let that happen again.”
The second miscue came in the bottom of the same inning. After drawing a walk, JT Brubaker laid down a bunt up the first base line to advance him to second. However, he rounded second too aggressively, and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt threw him out before he could return to the bag.
"I think he just got a little aggressive because Nolan vacated,” Derek Shelton said. “Goldy made a nice play on it."
It was an inauspicious beginning to his Pirates tenure, which officially began last week after the Pirates claimed the Rule 5 pick off waivers from the Athletics.
It goes without saying is that’s not how the Pirates thought the outfield position would go this year.
During spring training, they opted to take both Anthony Alford and Dustin Fowler north to start the year and have them split time in center. Both were once top 100 prospects who had never found their footing in the majors. They struggled, and slashed .138/.240/.154 over 75 combined plate appearances.
The Pirates designated both for assignment during their last road trip, and both cleared waivers. Now they’ll get a chance in a lower-pressure situation in Indianapolis to try to figure out what went wrong.
“Sometimes, when you get in a major league setting and you get in ballparks, you’re trying to perform while you’re also trying to make adjustments, it can be challenging,” Shelton said. “So when you get out of the major league setting and we outline things we can work on it can be a better situation.”
The Pirates can hardly count on either of them breaking out, though, the same way they can’t really count on Tom, the new Plan C.
Tom was the eighth different outfielder the Pirates have used this season. That’s not an egregious number -- the Diamondbacks and Angels have both used 10, and the Dodgers, Phillies and Giants have each used nine -- but those teams have been much more injury prone. With the exception of losing third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, the Pirates’ position player group was healthy through April. The outfield had barely so much as a scratch. Their volume of outfielders thus far has been because they can’t get someone to stick.
Phillip Evans has taken plenty of reps in left, but he’s a converted infielder. He’s a short-term solution in the outfield. Wilmer Difo had two fly balls sail on him in his last start Wednesday. There aren’t any plans right now to use Adam Frazier as an outfielder, except when necessary.
There are going to be more outfielders to come.
Turning to the minors, Travis Swaggerty could be in the mix later this season, but he’s yet to play a game above Class AA. He needs some more time. Jared Oliva is out for the coming weeks with an oblique injury.
Oneil Cruz is returning to the Curve to start the 2021 minor-league season, and while his future is probably in the outfield, the Pirates are going to continue to develop him at shortstop.
“He’s going to play shortstop,” Shelton said. “To say that he won’t bounce around – because we’ve talked about versatility. Obviously, that’s going to be important, but he’s going to play shortstop.”
All of this is to say it doesn’t look like the outfield has a direction for that third member.
Reynolds has looked close to his 2019 form at the plate, and has made a case to stick in his natural center field. He did so again Friday, robbing Arenado of a base hit in the seventh. A little justice after he got a misplayed double earlier.
Since getting a few days off after the first two series to work on his timing, Polanco has actually played fairly well. If nothing else, he is above replacement level. That's more than can be said for many of the other options.
But this almost certainly Polanco’s last year with the Pirates, so Reynolds is the only outfielder the club can really rely on going forward. They’re going to need to find some stability beyond him for not only this year.
If there’s any good news, it’s that there are five months to go to find those players.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
Adam Frazier, 2B
Erik Gonzalez, 3B
Bryan Reynolds, CF
Colin Moran, 1B
Jacob Stallings, C
Gregory Polanco, RF
Kevin Newman, SS
Ka'ai Tom, LF
JT Brubaker, P
And for Mike Shildt's Cardinals:
Tommy Edman, 2B
Dylan Carlson, RF
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
Nolan Arenado, 3B
Paul DeJong, SS
Tyler O'Neill, LF
Andrew Knizner, C
Harrison Bader, CF
John Gant, P
THE SCHEDULE
The Pirates continue their series with the Cardinals on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Trevor Cahill (1-2, 7.16 ERA) is set to take on St. Louis ace Jack Flaherty (4-0, 3.18 ERA).
THE CONTENT
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