Pittsburgh Pirates: Top 5 Shortstops in Franchise History

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a deep history. While one of the best players in the history of the game came from the Bucs’ shortstop position, who are the five best shortstops in franchise history?

The Pittsburgh Pirates have one of the richest and most storied histories in the sport of professional baseball. In that history, they have plenty of interesting players. Ones who have gone to Cooperstown, or ones that have just flown by under the radar. Regardless, they’ve had some great players at all nine positions on the baseball diamond.

One of the team’s strongest positions in history has been the shortstop position. So, today, let’s go over some of the best shortstops in the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Before we get into it, I want to make a few things clear about my qualification. A player who has more time with the Pirates will be weighed more heavily than one with fewer games/plate appearances in a Bucs’ uniform. I am also taking into account how well their era and league adjusted stats stack up against each other.

So, without further ado, let’s get started with number 5 on the list!

Number 5 Gene Alley

After Dick Groat departed from Pittsburgh in the early 1960’s, Gene Alley took over at the position. Alley, like Dick Groat, was a fairly weak batter. Throughout his entire career, which he spent in a Pirates’ uniform, Alley hit only .254/.310/.354 with an 87 wRC+ and sub-.300 wOBA (.296). However, Alley was a top-notch defender at the position.

He only ever twice posted above average offensive numbers. That being in 1966 and 1967 when he had a 108 OPS+ in both seasons. Defensively, however, Alley was a wizard for the Bucs.

Alley posted 58 total zone runs above average in his time with the Pittsburgh Pirates with 36 coming at the shortstop position. From 1965 to 1970, Alley had put up an impressive 13.1 dWAR in 788 games with the Pirates. He was rewarded for his glove work with a back-to-back Gold Glove Awards in 1966 and 1967. In terms of FanGraphs’ positional adjustments, Alley was 116.1 above average. That’s pretty darn good.

When Alley’s MLB career was all said and done, he had spent 11 seasons with the Pirates. This included playing 114 regular season games for the 1971 World Series Champion Pirates. In 1971, he had his best postseason with the bat slashing .250/.400/.250, all postseason career highs, in three games played.

Number 3 Jay Bell

Jay Bell is one of only three Pittsburgh Pirates shortstops with at least 1,000 games played in a Pirates uniform and wRC+ above 100. During Bell’s 18 year career, he spent eight of the seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In those eight seasons, Bell batted for a solid .269/.339/.402 line. Although those are not the best of numbers, it was good for an above league average 104 wRC+ and 102 OPS+. Bell had a very good stretch of seasons from 1991 to 1994. In those five seasons, the middle infielder hit for a .280/.350/.420 line, and 111 OPS+. His best offensive season was in ‘93 when Bell batted for a strong .310/.392/.437 line, 16 stolen bases, and a 124 OPS+ (his highest single season OPS+).

Bell wasn’t just a plus-offensive force, negative-defensive force. He was just as good on defense as offense. Bell had a 7.8 dWAR, including four 1+ dWAR seasons. He also had a positive mark of 64.8 on Fangraphs’ positional adjustment.

Bell was a member of three division winning clubs with the Pirates in 1990 – 1992. During those postseasons he posted a 145 wRC+, 188 wRC+, and a 80 wRC+. So, when the lights shined brightest, Bell was at his best for the Bucs.

Overall, Bell finished off his Pirates tenure with a 24.5 fWAR, 102 OPS+, and .332 wOBA. Bell went on to win a World Series with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001, and he returned to the Pirates in 2013 when he served as the team’s hitting coach

Number 2 Arky Vaughn

Had Arky Vaughn played in today’s era of the juiced ball, and power being kind, Vaughn might have went down in history as one of, if not the greatest, power hitting shortstops of all-time. With the Pirates, Vaughn hit for an outstanding .324/.415/.472 line. Now a .472 slugging percentage might not seem all that impressive in 2019. After all, the league average was .435. But during Vaughn’s playing time, the MLB average only reached .400+ twice.

That’s not even the most impressive part about Vaugh’s game. The slugger struck out only 3.7% of the time to go with an amazing 12.6% walk rate.

Vaughn’s best season was in 1935 when he batted .385/.491/.607. He was about 90% above the league average that season with a 190 OPS+. The average slugging percentage that season was .397. He struck out only 18 times in 609 plate appearances, and walked 97 times. That’s Joey Votto level plate discipline mixed with White Sox’ prospect Nick Marginal level pitch recognition. This single season ties him for the highest wRC+ (194) in one year among any shortstop in MLB history, and tied him for the 46th best offensive season of all time.

Vaughn was just about everything you could have hoped for on defense. According to Fangraphs’ positional adjustments, he was 101.7 above the average, and a 12 defensive WAR. Sadly, there just aren’t any accurate ways of saying just how good Vaughn was with the glove.

Arky Vaughn is one of the best shortstops in history. His .399 wOBA ranks 2nd all time, and his career 138 wRC+ places him 3rd all time. In terms of fWAR, Vaughn’s career 72.6 is 8th among all shortstops. But despite all this, he isn’t the best shortstop in Pittsburgh Pirates history.

Number 1 Honus Wagner

Yea, you probably saw this coming. Honus Wagner is not only the best shortstop in Pittsburgh Pirates history, most people would tell you that he is the greatest shortstop of all-time, and quite possibly even a top 10 player to ever step onto a pro baseball field.

Wagner spent 18 years playing for the Pirates and put up  a .328/.394/.468 line. Wagner was a 5-tool-player. He led the league in stolen bases five different times, and in his prime (1900-1912), he averaged 50 stolen bases per 162 games.

Wagner may have only hit 82 home runs in his career, but Wagner was a monster power hitter. While he usually posted a slugging percentage in the low-to-mid .500’s, the average slugging percentage throughout his career usually sat in the low-to-mid .300’s. Wagner was consistently 10-25% above the average. In today’s game, the one’s who sit 10-25% above the average slugging are names such as Christian Yelich, Anthony Rendon, and Nelson Cruz.

Wagner leads all shortstops in wRC+ at 147 (min. 5000 career PA’s). He also leads all shortstops in wOBA (.408). Honus even surpasses Alex Rodriguez in adjusted batting and base running combined at 704.7. Wagner’s 130.8 bWAR is the 10th highest of all-time, regardless of position.

One last thing that I want to bring up that made Honus Wagner great. In 1908, Wagner hit .354/.415/.542 with 53 stolen bases across 640 plate appearances. He racked up 39 doubles, 19 triples and 10 home runs. Simply put, Wagner was great in 1908. He was so great, OPS+ has pinned him about 105% above the MLB average, with a 205 OPS+ (100 is average). Wagner owns one of just 60 seasons in baseball history where a player has reached that plateau.

Wagner was born in Carnegie and spent his entire life in Pittsburgh. After retiring as a player, Wagner spent 19 seasons as a coach with the Pirates. Unsurprisingly, Wagner was a member of the inaugural MLB Hall of Fame class in 1936.