The Pirates On Base Approach To Offense Is Working

This season the Pirates are taking a new approach at the plate. Instead of having an offense built around beating teams with power and the long ball, the Pirates are using an approach that is centered around on base percentage. A lot of fans have been critical of this approach ever since the start of Spring Training. But, so far, this approach is working.

Through the season’s first seven games the Pirates lead the Major Leagues in team batting average (.312) and team on base percentage (.401). The offensive success they have had thus far this season, minus those two rough days in Cincinnati over the weekend, have helped power the Pirates to a 5-2 start to the season.

The success of this approach can also be seen in individual players thus far. Gregory Polanco is tied with Toronto’s Jose Bautista for the Major League lead in walks with 9, and Sean Rodriguez has already walked 3 times this year after drawing just 5 walks all last season.

The Pirates also have two of the ten best on base percentages in the Majors. Gregory Polanco ranks fifth in the Majors in OBP (.548) and Francisco Cervelli ranks ninth (.519). In total, the Pirates have ten batters who have an on base percentage higher than the league average of .320. They are Sean Rodriguez (.833), Gregory Polanco (.548), Francisco Cervelli (.519), Matt Joyce (.500), Chris Stewart (.500), Andrew McCutchen (.424), Starling Marte (.375), John Jaso (.375), Jordy Mercer (.357), and David Freese (.321).

Now I’ll be the first to admit that seven games is a very small sample size, but these are still all great signs to see. Even though it is not overly surprising when you look at the career walk rates of players such as Francisco Cerveli, David Freese, John Jaso, Andrew McCutchen, and Gregory Polanco.

This on base oriented offensive approach is one that the most successful franchises in baseball have used in recent years. Last season the World Series Champion Royals ranked 24th in the Majors in home runs, while the St. Louis Cardinals and their MLB best 100 regular season wins ranked 25th.

In 2014 the Royals ranked dead last in the Majors in home runs hit, and still won the American League Pennant. While the National League Champion Giants ranked 19th, and the National League runner-up Cardinals ranked 29th.

The Pirates will still hit for power this year, even if it is not traditional home run power. The Pirates have a lot of speed and a lot of gap to gap hitters in their lineup. For these reasons, the Pirates currently rank fifth in the Majors in doubles (15) and are tied for third in triples (3). Remember everyone, doubles and triples are power too.

A stat that may surprise a lot of people is where the Pirates rank in the Majors in slugging percentage. Right now, the Bucs have a slugging percentage of .426. This .426 slugging percentage is good for twelfth best in the Major Leagues. So as I said, the Pirates will hit for power this year even if it is not traditional home run power.

The Pirate offense should only improve as the season proceeds as well. This is because third baseman Jung-Ho Kang should be close to returning. Kang started playing in Minor League games during the final week of Spring Training, and the Pirates have always been aiming for a mid-to-late April return for Kang. Even if it is a late April return, that is now just two weeks away.

When the Pirates made the switch to this type of offensive approach in the off season I was very happy. In my opinion, an on base oriented approach is the best offensive approach to take in baseball. Because if you get runners on at a high clip as the Pirates have done this season, you will score runs. The Pirate offense will score a lot of runs this season.