Do The Pittsburgh Pirates Need Brandon Inge?

Pittsburgh Pirates skipper Clint Hurdle keeps looking for situations in which Brandon Inge can be a hero.

Inge can’t deliver though.  Take a look at Inge over his last ten games.

Look at Inge over the last 30 days, he is hitting .191.

In 67 at-bats, Inge has struckout 19 times and walked twice.

In the month of May, Inge is batting .186 after hitting .292 in April.  The average is also pretty empty for Inge:  two doubles and fifteen singles.

HIT THE MUSIC!

Where have all the good pinch hitters gone, where are all the bench Gods?
Where’s the street wise Hercules to fight the rising odds?
Isn’t there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need

I need a hero
I’m holding out for Inge to be a hero ’til the end of the night
He’s gonna be strong and he’s gonna be fast
And he’s gonna be fresh from the fight

I need a hero
I’m holding out for Inge to be a hero ’til the morning light
He’s gonna be sure and it’s gonna be soon
And Inge is gonna be larger than life, larger than life

Somewhere after midnight in my wildest fantasy
Somewhere just beyond my reach there’s someone reaching back for me
Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat
It’s gonna be Inge that sweeps me off my feet

___________________

Inge hasn’t delivered that big hit this month.  He didn’t have a whole lot last month either.  Recently, the heroes for the Bucs have been young players- guys like Travis Snider, Pedro Alvarez, Neil Walker, and Jordy Mercer.

It’s easy for young players to fail in situations that Inge is failing in too.  The Bucs pinch hitters are hitting .181.  There is plenty of failure to go around.  But the Inge factor isn’t something that impresses me.  Inge is hitting in the 220’s and has a .313 BABIP,  that seems really hard to do?

Inge is swinging at (31.3%) more pitches outside the strike zone than he ever has in his career.    It makes me wonder what sort of production Hurdle could get with a different player off the bench.

Decisions are going to be made as the season moves along.  Some we will like, others we will disagree with, it’s just the way it is.  But we would have to think that the odds are that we won’t be seeing Inge go anywhere, anytime soon.  The guy who hangs with the skipper at NHL games probably has a spot on the roster as long as he wants it.

In a few days John McDonald (who is 0-for-7 with AAA Indy) will be eligible to return to the Bucs.  So we will have plenty of time to discuss that decision, but in the meantime….

Inge keeps things loose.  That’s great.

So is the ability to get a big hit.

Hero.  I’m holding out for a hero.

And his name isn’t Inge.