DK: All the bats, all the blasts ... how's it happening?
Nick Gonzales wanted a home run in the worst way.
And he'd talk about it and talk about it, even bringing it up after a big-time game amid what's become a breakout year for him. And that's because, I'm plenty comfortable putting forth if only as a theory since no one would ever speak to such a thing, no matter how high above .300 anyone's hitting, in modern baseball, it's all bush-league unless it's beyond the fences.
"Man," he'd tell me after it finally happened in the Pirates' 9-3 trouncing of the Twins this afternoon at PNC Park, "that felt good."
Sure looked like it. Check out his approach to second base:
It's almost as if hammering that hanging slider 407 feet hadn't sold him. He had to wait to see it bound all the way out into the home bullpen, where the relievers were leaping as if the hit were their own. And by the time he'd rounded third, Paul Skenes, Bubba Chandler and a few others giddily dashed across the dugout to arrange for his first Tour de Welding Helmet.
I had to ask how all that must've felt:
"Been waiting a little bit for it," he'd reply with a knowing smile. "But yeah, it was good."
And was part of that apparent angst related, in fact, to having 10 of his 60 hits go for extra bases?
"Yeah, it's always good to get extra-base hits. A little bit easier to drive runs in that way than grinding out at-bats. But you know, I think it's good to do both."
And was he swinging for this result?
"No. I try not to, for sure."
All of which, really, makes him something of a unicorn in this specific setting.
See, while Gonzales is batting a career-best and team-best .303, he's seventh in OPS at .720, behind ... wow, quite literally every other mainstay in Don Kelly's lineup:
And within that gem lies this: The Pirates' offense to date, through May's end, might be the most productive -- and powerful -- we've witnessed in these parts over the past half-century.
Hyperbole?
For anyone who's allowed all this to slip by, better take a seat.
The current offensive rankings among Major League Baseball's 30 teams, including all 25 runs, 31 hits and seven home runs in this three-game sweep of Minnesota:
That last category, the catch-all of on-base plus slugging percentage, stands out. Based on my own click-away research this afternoon, this franchise hasn't finished a full season in the top five in OPS since 2014, the middle year of the three playoff qualifiers that decade. And that was the only other such occasion unless one goes all the way back to 1991, the final year in which Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla and Andy Van Slyke formed the heart of the order.
Sure wish I'd done this research sooner, so I'd have had an answer when Reynolds asked me after the game, "When's the last time there's been an offense like this here?"
But yeah, there it is.
And all this on the hellish heels of the Pirates having been the absolute worst at anything involving a bat just a year ago, including their rock-bottom .655 OPS.
So, what changed?
Well, a couple variables are obvious: Ben Cherington and staff, boosted by a modest increase in payroll, did well to acquire both Lowe and O'Hearn, who also went deep in this game:
Ryan O'Hearn comes off the IL and mashes a solo shot 💥
To be fair, Cherington also buried $12 million under Marcell Ozuna's career grave, but the other two plus the arrival of Griffin as a rookie, plus the return to full wrist health for Horwitz have pretty much upended half the lineup. Almost as important, Reynolds and Cruz have rediscovered peak form, with Cruz strikingly increasing his average against left-handers by triple-digits over a year ago.
"We've got some guys who can hit," was how Reynolds summarized the difference for me. "I really think that's all it is."
It probably is. If only to sate my curiosity on this count, I pressed further about whether there'd be any change in general approach in the second year under Matt Hague. (I'd asked to speak with Hague afterward, but he had his priorities in order and had to rush off to catch a commercial flight to see family.) In particular, I wondered how in the world this team was achieving all these astronomical numbers while also ranking second in strikeouts.
Yeah, second. With 555. That's 9.25 per game. With 10 more on this day.
"Really? Second?" Horwitz responded when I shared that. "I hadn't even realized that."
Upon thinking about it further, he'd explain there's a reason he didn't need to realize it.
"If you slug, you can strike out," he'd proceed with a beaming smile, as if he'd just led off the game with a double, then trotted home when Lowe singled off the base of the Clemente Wall. "That's the rule now, I'd say. If you're not slugging, then strikeouts are a big problem."
Regardless, several players confirmed for me there was nothing institutional installed this offseason.
There are no problems, big or small, with this overall offense. And that's despite injuries to O'Hearn and now Griffin, almost nothing coming from the catcher positions and, again, the designated hitter who can't hit.
It's enough to get hopes up. Like, real hopes.
Just for kicks, I stretched my research even further back, to include all five of the Pirates' World Series championships, and found that Honus Wagner and the 1909 team finished No. 1 in OPS at .690 (not many outside-the-park home runs back then), Pie Traynor and the 1925 team finished No. 1 in OPS at .818, Bill Mazeroski and the 1960 team finished No. 2 in OPS at .742 (not surprisingly, only the Yankees were better ... until the end), Roberto Clemente and the 1971 team finished No. 1 in OPS at .746, and Willie Stargell and the 1979 Fam-a-lee finished No. 7 in OPS but with a still-superlative .744 figure.
All my other baseball research for the longest time focused on far less fun stuff.
THE ASYLUM
DK: All the bats, all the blasts ... how's it happening?
Nick Gonzales wanted a home run in the worst way.
And he'd talk about it and talk about it, even bringing it up after a big-time game amid what's become a breakout year for him. And that's because, I'm plenty comfortable putting forth if only as a theory since no one would ever speak to such a thing, no matter how high above .300 anyone's hitting, in modern baseball, it's all bush-league unless it's beyond the fences.
"Man," he'd tell me after it finally happened in the Pirates' 9-3 trouncing of the Twins this afternoon at PNC Park, "that felt good."
Sure looked like it. Check out his approach to second base:
It's almost as if hammering that hanging slider 407 feet hadn't sold him. He had to wait to see it bound all the way out into the home bullpen, where the relievers were leaping as if the hit were their own. And by the time he'd rounded third, Paul Skenes, Bubba Chandler and a few others giddily dashed across the dugout to arrange for his first Tour de Welding Helmet.
I had to ask how all that must've felt:
"Been waiting a little bit for it," he'd reply with a knowing smile. "But yeah, it was good."
And was part of that apparent angst related, in fact, to having 10 of his 60 hits go for extra bases?
"Yeah, it's always good to get extra-base hits. A little bit easier to drive runs in that way than grinding out at-bats. But you know, I think it's good to do both."
And was he swinging for this result?
"No. I try not to, for sure."
All of which, really, makes him something of a unicorn in this specific setting.
See, while Gonzales is batting a career-best and team-best .303, he's seventh in OPS at .720, behind ... wow, quite literally every other mainstay in Don Kelly's lineup:
• Brandon Lowe: .875
• Spencer Horwitz: .857
• Ryan O'Hearn: .850
• Bryan Reynolds: .841
• Oneil Cruz: .794
• Konnor Griffin: .729
And within that gem lies this: The Pirates' offense to date, through May's end, might be the most productive -- and powerful -- we've witnessed in these parts over the past half-century.
Hyperbole?
For anyone who's allowed all this to slip by, better take a seat.
The current offensive rankings among Major League Baseball's 30 teams, including all 25 runs, 31 hits and seven home runs in this three-game sweep of Minnesota:
• Runs: 301 (fifth)
• Average: .253 (fourth)
• On-base percentage: .335 (fourth)
• Slugging percentage: .398 (eighth)
• Home runs: 68 (11th)
• OPS: .733 (fifth)
That last category, the catch-all of on-base plus slugging percentage, stands out. Based on my own click-away research this afternoon, this franchise hasn't finished a full season in the top five in OPS since 2014, the middle year of the three playoff qualifiers that decade. And that was the only other such occasion unless one goes all the way back to 1991, the final year in which Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla and Andy Van Slyke formed the heart of the order.
Sure wish I'd done this research sooner, so I'd have had an answer when Reynolds asked me after the game, "When's the last time there's been an offense like this here?"
But yeah, there it is.
And all this on the hellish heels of the Pirates having been the absolute worst at anything involving a bat just a year ago, including their rock-bottom .655 OPS.
So, what changed?
Well, a couple variables are obvious: Ben Cherington and staff, boosted by a modest increase in payroll, did well to acquire both Lowe and O'Hearn, who also went deep in this game:
To be fair, Cherington also buried $12 million under Marcell Ozuna's career grave, but the other two plus the arrival of Griffin as a rookie, plus the return to full wrist health for Horwitz have pretty much upended half the lineup. Almost as important, Reynolds and Cruz have rediscovered peak form, with Cruz strikingly increasing his average against left-handers by triple-digits over a year ago.
"We've got some guys who can hit," was how Reynolds summarized the difference for me. "I really think that's all it is."
It probably is. If only to sate my curiosity on this count, I pressed further about whether there'd be any change in general approach in the second year under Matt Hague. (I'd asked to speak with Hague afterward, but he had his priorities in order and had to rush off to catch a commercial flight to see family.) In particular, I wondered how in the world this team was achieving all these astronomical numbers while also ranking second in strikeouts.
Yeah, second. With 555. That's 9.25 per game. With 10 more on this day.
"Really? Second?" Horwitz responded when I shared that. "I hadn't even realized that."
Upon thinking about it further, he'd explain there's a reason he didn't need to realize it.
"If you slug, you can strike out," he'd proceed with a beaming smile, as if he'd just led off the game with a double, then trotted home when Lowe singled off the base of the Clemente Wall. "That's the rule now, I'd say. If you're not slugging, then strikeouts are a big problem."
Regardless, several players confirmed for me there was nothing institutional installed this offseason.
There are no problems, big or small, with this overall offense. And that's despite injuries to O'Hearn and now Griffin, almost nothing coming from the catcher positions and, again, the designated hitter who can't hit.
It's enough to get hopes up. Like, real hopes.
Just for kicks, I stretched my research even further back, to include all five of the Pirates' World Series championships, and found that Honus Wagner and the 1909 team finished No. 1 in OPS at .690 (not many outside-the-park home runs back then), Pie Traynor and the 1925 team finished No. 1 in OPS at .818, Bill Mazeroski and the 1960 team finished No. 2 in OPS at .742 (not surprisingly, only the Yankees were better ... until the end), Roberto Clemente and the 1971 team finished No. 1 in OPS at .746, and Willie Stargell and the 1979 Fam-a-lee finished No. 7 in OPS but with a still-superlative .744 figure.
All my other baseball research for the longest time focused on far less fun stuff.
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