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Players You Probably Didn’t Know the Pittsburgh Pirates Drafted

By Noah Wright

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JUPITER, FL – MARCH 10: Trea Turner #7 of the Washington Nationals in action against the Miami Marlins during a spring training baseball game at Roger Dean Stadium on March 10, 2020 in Jupiter, Florida. The Marlins defeated the Nationals 3-2. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
JUPITER, FL – MARCH 10: Trea Turner #7 of the Washington Nationals in action against the Miami Marlins during a spring training baseball game at Roger Dean Stadium on March 10, 2020 in Jupiter, Florida. The Marlins defeated the Nationals 3-2. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

Shortstop Trea Turner

If you read my “2011 Pittsburgh Pirates Draft had the Potential to be the Best in Franchise History” article, then you’ll know that the Pittsburgh Pirates had drafted World Series winning shortstop Trea Turner in the 20th round of that draft. However, it’s still a fairly unknown fact that the Bucs once tried to get the talented middle infielder.

The Pirates were unable to sign Turner, and he was re-drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 1st round of the 2014 draft. Despite being the team’s 1st round pick, and posting very good numbers at the Low-A level for the Friars, Turner was a player to be named later in a complicated three team trade involving the Padres, Washington Nationals and Tampa Bay Rays on December 19th, 2014 where Turner was sent to the Nats on June 14th, 2015. What made it so complicated is that Turner was ineligible for trade. Regardless, Turner was sent to the Nation’s capital, and has become a top 10 shortstop in the MLB.

In his 2016 rookie season, Turner mainly played center field. However, the temporary position change did not have an impact on his offensive output, not one bit. In 324 plate appearances, the speedy infielder batted for a strong .342/.370/.567 line, including 13 long balls, and 33 stolen bases. He had a 146 wRC+ and 142 OPS+. His wRC+ led all rookies with at least 300 plate appearances. Although he had sub-par defense in the outfield (-2 DRS, -3.9 UZR, 0.3 range runs), he was a middle infielder by trade.

Moving back to shortstop, Turner saw a downturn in offensive production. Through 2017 and 2018, Trea batted just .276/.342/.429 with 89 stolen bases and 30 home runs across 1,187 plate appearances. Overall, he had an OPS+ of 100, putting him at league average. However he did see his defense go in the right direction at shortstop with +3 DRS, 2.5 range runs, and a 2.2 UZR.

In 2019, he returned to being high-level production with the bat, posting a slash line of .298/.353/.497 with 19 home runs and 35 stolen bases. His 117 wRC+ ranked 6th among players with at least 100 games played at shortstop in 2019. But in an odd turn of events, his defense saw a massive down turn. Turner had -1 DRS, -7 UZR, and -5.5 range runs.

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