BRADENTON, Fla. -- Mound Visits usually start with a question surrounding the team as a bouncing off point. While there are plenty of questions on the Pirates’ pitching, their two main ones on offense are who will be the designated hitter and who will be the leadoff hitter.
The former is an opportunity for the Pirates to get another bat in the lineup, and there’s a good chance Derek Shelton will try to rotate who gets reps there as a way to get players off their feet but keep their bat in the lineup. That was his intention in 2020, but he ended up using Josh Bell or Colin Moran as the starting DH in 46 of the team’s 60 games, with the other almost always playing first base. Shelton’s idea works in theory, but in practice, someone is going to get the majority of the reps at DH.
The latter was a problem through the final months of the season after Adam Fraizer was traded, with 11 different players (including the handful of pinch-hitters and players who came in on a double-switch) combining to post a .272 OBP in that spot starting July 27. It's a cherrypicked date, but they were a good 20 points lower than the next closest team in OBP starting that date (Padres, .292). The Pirates had offensive troubles throughout the season, but they got worse once they lost an All-Star at the top.
The Pirates could easily get in on the free agent frenzy that will break out once a new collective bargaining agreement is reached and the lockout ends, but until then, we have to look at internal options to fill those holes, and there is a strong case to be made that the player who makes the most sense for both is Ben Gamel.
Gamel has definitely earned his title of a journeyman outfielder, playing for six different teams in his six seasons in the majors. It’s pretty unlikely that Pittsburgh is going to be his last stop either. The two sides agreed to a one-year deal to avoid a final year of arbitration shortly before the lockout, but with free agency looming, he’ll either walk at the end of the season or get traded before the deadline. A seventh jersey is very likely.
Despite bouncing around the league throughout, he’s carved out a solid major-league career, and 2021 was one of his best, posting a .255/.352/.399 slash line and 104 OPS+ over 383 plate appearances with the Pirates.
He stumbled out of the gate with Cleveland, which is why the Pirates were able to claim him off waivers on May 9, and it carried over whenever he started with his new team. But once he found his footing, he was remarkably consistent. Starting July 4, he did not have a 15-game stretch where his on-base percentage went below .308:
Gamel has always been able to work a walk, but he jumped into the 90th percentile in 2021 with a 12.8% walk rate. A good chunk of that healthy .352 OBP came from those free passes. Interestingly, that spike in walks came while he was noticeably more aggressive at the plate, swinging at pitches in the zone and the first pitch of an at-bat more often:
In August, Jack Stern of PitcherList pointed out some changes Gamel made to his set up after 2020, most notably pulling his hands closer to his body, bending his knees and adopting a more open stance.
As Stern noted, Gamel looked more comfortable at the plate, and I would agree with that assessment:
There are still concerns with Gamel’s offensive profile, like a below average hard hit percentage and ranking in the 19th percentile in strikeouts. It’s what has held him back from being a really good hitter, but he’s making good swing decisions and has a knack for getting on base. Those are the two most important jobs for a leadoff hitter.
But there is another catch with Gamel: His defense.
Last season, FanGraphs had him at -10 defensive runs saved in the outfield, by far the worst of his career. Going by his Baseball Savant page, he was fine coming in on the ball, but struggled when he had to backtrack. He was valued at -8 Outs Above Average when he had to go back on a ball, the worst in the league.
That’s especially problematic at PNC Park with the notch in left field and the 21-foot wall in right. If a hitter finds the left field gap, then a potential flyout could turn into an extra-base hit. In right field, one bad bounce off the wall can turn a double into a triple.
So why keep him in the outfield if they have options elsewhere?
Bryan Reynolds is the Pirates’ only proven outfielder, but they certainly have plenty of other options on the roster. Anthony Alford, Greg Allen and Jared Oliva will vie for an opening day spot, knowing that failing to make the team could put them on the waiver wire. All three could potentially be above average defense outfielders and will be relying on their gloves to boost their overall value.
In addition to them, Travis Swaggerty, Canaan Smith-Njigba and Jack Suwinski all had their contracts selected this winter and are in position to make their debuts at some point in 2022. And then you have the infielders who can play the outfield, like Michael Chavis, Cole Tucker, Yoshi Tsutsugo and Tucipita Marcano. Gamel technically doesn’t need to play any outfield in 2022, if they would rather him focus on hitting and perhaps first base.
Gamel isn’t a long-term option for the Pirates, but he provides a veteran voice in the clubhouse and a good bat for the lineup. If he’s utilized in the right way, he could have a strong walk year in 2022. The Pirates would certainly love for that to happen and fill a couple short-term holes while the prospects they’ve been growing get one step closer to the majors.