Pittsburgh Pirates All-Time Lineup From the 20 Consecutive Losing Seasons

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LOS ANGELES – APRIL 22: Adam LaRoche #25 of the Pittsburgh Pirates swings at the pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on April 22, 2007 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES – APRIL 22: Adam LaRoche #25 of the Pittsburgh Pirates swings at the pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on April 22, 2007 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images) /

First Baseman – Adam LaRoche

We’ll preface this by admitting that this is a player that is not remembered fondly by many Pittsburgh Pirates fans. That said, he was still an above league average player during his two and a half seasons in Pittsburgh. Who is this player? Adam LaRoche.

Now, a lot of fans may say the first baseman on this team should be Kevin Young. After all, Young spent 11 seasons with the Bucs and had some very strong seasons. However, in eight of his 11 seasons he was a below league average hitter. LaRoche was an above league average hitter each season he was in Pittsburgh.

The Pirates netted LaRoche from the Atlanta Braves in a trade prior to the start of the 2007 season. Many people viewed LaRoche as some savior for the Pirate lineup. While LaRoche was a quality hitter, he was never the lineup anchor fans expected, but that does not lessen what he did as a Pirate.

As a Pirate, LaRoche slashed .265/.340/.469 with a 109 wRC+ in 1,554 plate appearance. He slugged 58 home runs, collected 161 extra base hits, his 10.1% walk rate and .204 ISO were both above league average, and he drove in 213 runs.

LaRoche’s tenure in Pittsburgh ended in July 2009 when he was traded to Boston in exchange for reliever Hunter Strickland and utility man Argenis Diaz.