Pittsburgh Pirates: Top 5 Shortstops in Franchise History

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 13: Dick Groat #24 of the Pittsburgh Pirates fielding during a MLB game against the New York Mets on April 13, 1962 in New York, New York. (Photo by Herb Scharfman/Sports Imagery/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 13: Dick Groat #24 of the Pittsburgh Pirates fielding during a MLB game against the New York Mets on April 13, 1962 in New York, New York. (Photo by Herb Scharfman/Sports Imagery/Getty Images) /
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PITTSBURGH – AUGUST 31, 1935. Arky Vaughn, who as just set a new Pittsburgh Pirate record by hitting 19 home runs in a season as a shortstop, poses for a portrait at Forbes field in Pittsburgh before a game on August 31, 1935. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH – AUGUST 31, 1935. Arky Vaughn, who as just set a new Pittsburgh Pirate record by hitting 19 home runs in a season as a shortstop, poses for a portrait at Forbes field in Pittsburgh before a game on August 31, 1935. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /

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.