Jaff Decker is forcing his way to a spot on the 25-man roster

Jaff Decker has a grand total of 36 big-league plate appearances in two cups of coffee, one with the San Diego Padres in 2013, and another with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2014.  Five of those plate appearances were with the Pirates.  He went hit-less out of those five, and threw in three strikeouts for good measure.

Yet, in spring training 2015, Decker is 4-for-7, with one HR and seven RBI, and may very well be playing his way into the Pirates’ opening day roster.

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Say it with me: It’s only spring training.  To take prevailing wisdom even further, the Bucs as a team have only played in four games.  Yet, with continued struggles from Jose Tabata and Andrew Lambo, Decker being in uniform on April 6 against the Reds may not be as far-fetched as it sounds.  The very same argument used to disqualify Decker’s inclusion was conversed last year to deny Lambo a roster spot, proving that good or bad springs do matter.  Should Lambo continue to be a dud in Grapefruit League action, the Pirates may have no choice but to look elsewhere for a fourth outfield option.  The other options aren’t so encouraging, either.  After impressing the team and onlookers in team drills, Tabata has since shown to be off to a very slow start in actual game-action.  This is particularly disappointing for fans and team alike, as Jose’s recent troubles gave us hope that he would come into spring training with a new approach, proven to us by encouraging results.  We just have not seen that yet.

Say it with me: It’s only spring training.  To take prevailing wisdom even further, the Bucs as a team have only played in four games.  Yet, with continued struggles from Jose Tabata and Andrew Lambo, Decker being in uniform on April 6 against the Reds may not be as far-fetched as it sounds.

Of course, the prevailing wisdom here is that Lambo has added value because he can play 1B.  This is true, but assuming that Corey Hart and Pedro Alvarez will form somewhat of a platoon against left and right-handed pitching, the need for Lambo to play first is diminished somewhat.  This becomes readily apparent by the fact that Sean Rodriguez can also play 1B for late-inning double switches and defensive replacements.  While all reports are that Hart is healthy, I think any appearances by him in RF will be extremely rare and few and far-between, leaving less competition for Decker to stake his claim.

All of this opens the door for none other than Jaff Decker to claim a spot on the 25-man roster for opening day.  While he will never be anything more than a bench player for the Pittsburgh Pirates, if he keeps the hot hand, he may force his way onto the team.

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