The State of the Pittsburgh Pirates Address

Biggest Surprise: John Jaso

Another no brainer. When the Pittsburgh Pirates signed John Jaso in December, he was not expected to light the world on fire at first base. Hell, I thought he would be a platoon at best with Mike Morse. However, Jaso has proven the skeptics wrong, both at the plate and in the field. Jaso’s slash line is currently .291/.358/.812, but the biggest surprise has been his defense. After experiencing the haunted house that was Pedro Alvarez at the keystone sack, you can’t fault Bucco nation for being skeptical of bringing in a man who had all of 5 innings of experience at first base in his entire career. However, with the help of Kevin Young, Jaso worked hard over the winter and has not only been a serviceable first baseman for the Bucs, but he has also made some plays that any first baseman in the league would consider to be solid. There’s no telling how long this will keep up, but Jaso has certainly been one of the feel-good stories of the 2016 Bucco campaign thus far.