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The Pittsburgh Pirates have Two Rookie of the Year Candidates
Due to injuries, both Kevin Newman and Bryan Reynolds have inherited primary roles in the Pirates offense. Both are having NL Rookie of the Year worthy campaigns.
News flash: there are actually other players that are having good offensive seasons for the Pirates this year outside of Josh Bell. The Pirates are 12th in the MLB in batting average, and this is partially due to the rookie duo of Kevin Newman and Bryan Reynolds.
Let’s take a look at Kevin Newman first.
Kevin Newman was drafted by the Pirates in the first round of the 2015 draft with the 19th overall pick. While Newman has always been ranked highly in the Pirates farm system, he fell out of the top 5 list of Pirates prospects in 2017 and 2018 due to lack of development. With average defensive metrics and below average power metrics, Newman needed to rely heavily on his speed and contact swing if he wanted to make it in the MLB. In 2018, Newman struggled hitting only .209 with just under 100 at-bats, however, in 2019 Newman’s bat has come alive.
Newman is currently hitting .330/.390/.451/.841 over 91 at bats in the 2019 season. This gives Newman the 2nd highest batting average and 2nd highest OBP out of the 22 rookies with 90+ at-bats in the MLB. Even though Newman has only one stolen base this season, he is using his speed to leg out infield hits. This speed has earned Newman the leadoff spot in the Pirates lineup for the near future.
However, Newman is underperforming in both power and fielding metrics. Over his 91 at-bats, Newman has only eight extra-base hits with only one being a home run. Newman’s fielding metrics line up with the predicted average to below average defense. Newman has a -1.5 UZR at shortstop this season, which is the most informative metric out of the tracked defensive metrics. Per MLB.com’s definition UZR is:
“A player’s entire defensive performance by attempting to measure how many runs a defender saved. It takes into account errors, range, outfield arm and double-play ability.”
Obviously, having a negative UZR is not good. If the season ended today, Newman would have a good argument for NL Rookie of the Year offensively, but his campaign would most likely be crippled due to his fielding woes and lack of power.
If Newman is second in the MLB for both batting average and OBP for rookies, who is first? That would be Bryan Reynolds.
Bryan Reynolds was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 2nd round and was acquired by the Pirates in the Andrew McCutchen trade. Bryan Reynolds may have been the most underrated prospect in the Pirates farm system. Reynolds has always hit well in the minors with a .312 career average but was underrated due to his below average power metrics and lack of elite speed to make up for the missing power.
With zero plate appearances in AAA going into the 2019 season, Reynolds was expected to log an entire season in AAA Indianapolis, with a small chance of earning a September call-up. But, the Pirates outfield was struck with the injury bug and Reynolds was promoted to the Big League club out of pure necessity with very low expectations.
I highly doubt Reynolds will ever log that full season in AAA.
Reynolds has absolutely crushed the ball this season, hitting .345/.406/.569/.975 over 116 at bats. On top of this, Reynolds has hit five home runs and has 17 RBIs. He has also had two separate 10+ game hitting streaks. Hurdle has started to bat Reynolds in the top five slots of the order and it isn’t hard to see why.
Reynolds batting average and OBP lead all rookies in 2019 and would put him second in the entire MLB if he had enough at-bats to qualify. I don’t expect this offensive prowess to
change any time soon. Game after game Reynolds puts together complete at bats and looks very comfortable at the plate.
Reynolds defensive metrics are also above average for navigating the large left field at PNC Park for most of his MLB tenure. He has a 0.4 UZR in left and already has two outfield assists. If the season would end today, only Pete Alonso from the New York Mets would be in competition with Reynolds for the NL Rookie of the Year award. Looking at the WAR metric, Reynolds currently sits at 1.6 and Alonso at 2.3.
Next. Pittsburgh Pirates: Projecting the Team’s First Four Picks. dark
Without a doubt, both Kevin Newman and Bryan Reynolds are helping the Pirates win games this season. It’s exciting to see these young players step up and contribute well above expectations.