Who is the Pittsburgh Pirates Player X? Early 2000s Edition

In this week’s addition of who is “Player X”? We look at an overlooked player for the Pittsburgh Pirates who never won anything of significance and deserves recognition. 

First and foremost I’d like to thank everyone who showed my previous who is “Player X” for the Pittsburgh Pirates article and am so thankful that I’ve decided to do another one. The previous “Player X” series drew in over 1,200 views, which is a terrific number!

Now, for those who missed the first one, here’s a quick explanation how this works exactly. A certain players specific stats, accolades, and other little tidbits about them will be revealed without revealing the player’s name. It will be your job to put your Sherlock Holmes hat on and figure out who the player is. If you do figure out who said player is, we urge you to hold your answers in until the next day when the answer is revealed in the follow-up article.

Before we delve into the stats, I will tell you now it’s not Pittsburgh Pirates legend Lonnie Chisenhall (pause for laughter.) The St.Louis Cardinals originally drafted today’s “Player X” but he made his MLB debut for the Pirates, where he would spend the next nine years. Although he was not the best player offensively, he did win one Silver Slugger award in a season in which he recorded a career-high batting average of .308.

Now on the defensive side, he was extremely talented at the shortstop position. Despite being one of the best defensive shortstops for his time, he never once received a Gold Glove honor. This is despite posting a +32 DRS as well as an elite 14.3 UZR rating in 2005. Over “Player X’s” nine years with the Pirates, he obtained an 18.3 dWAR, 3,672 assists, 1,616 putouts, 832 double plays turned, and a career RF/9 of 4.88.

As far as accolades, “Player X” received very little recognition for how consistent he was defensively staying in the top five in many categories throughout the years, most notably putouts, assists, RF/9, and fielding percentage. He did receive one All-Star appearance, which so happens to be the same year he received his Silver Slugger Award. ALthough, it remains a shame that he never won a Gold Glove Award. Over his time with the Pirates, his career slash line read .269/.311/.376, and he did possess a Jay Bell-esque trait with an innate ability for sacrifice bunts with 88, which is truly a lost art nowadays in baseball.