Colin Moran And Pinch Hitting

One of the most difficult things to do in all of baseball is to pinch hit, but one Pittsburgh Pirates’ rookie has not been fazed by it

Pinch hitting is one of the most difficult tasks in all of baseball. This is especially true for young hitters who are used to starting and not having to come off the bench. Even veteran bench players may struggle pinch hitting due to the difficulty of coming off the bench cold to hit.

One member of the Pittsburgh Pirates that has not struggled with pinch hitting this season has been rookie Colin Moran.

As a pinch hitter this season Moran has slashed .417/.462/.625 to go with a .464 wOBA and a 197 wRC+. Earlier this week against the Royals, Moran hit his first pinch hit home run of the season, and of his career, in a 2-1 Pirate victory. At the time, his home run gave the Bucs a 1-0 lead in the 7th inning.

Moran’s .417 average as a pinch hitter leads all of Major League Baseball. He ranks fourth in on-base percentage, sixth in both wOBA and wRC+, and eighth in slugging percentage.

Entering play on Friday night the Pirates owned 50 pinch hits as a team with Moran owning 10 of them. The next closest to Moran’s 10 pinch hits is David Freese, who is now a Dodger, with seven, following by Josh Bell and Jose Osuna with five each.

While Moran’s ability as a pinch hitter has been great, the Pirates expect bigger things from him. When the Bucs added him in the Gerrit Cole trade the team viewed him as the franchise’s third baseman of the future.

If things go according to plan then Moran will be playing third base every day for the Pirates moving forward making his pinch hitting prowess less of a need. However, his ability to pinch hit is still a useful one.