Pittsburgh Pirates: Brian Giles was the Best Hitter in Franchise History

While he only played a few seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, outfielder Brian Giles might just be the best hitter the franchise has ever had

When you think of the best hitter in Pittsburgh Pirates history, who do you think of? Honus Wagner, Roberto Clemente, Ralph Kiner, Willie Stargell are probably a handful of names who pop into your head. Now you wouldn’t be wrong if that’s who you thought of. They are all very talented hitters the team has had, but one name you probably don’t think of outfielder Brian Giles. But, despite that, he might just be the best out of all of them.

Giles was number five on my list of top five left fielders in Pittsburgh Pirates history. But I honestly believe had he kept up the production he had with the Bucs over two or three more seasons with the Pirates, he could have been #1, and I still stand by that. Here is why.

Giles spent four and three quarters of a season with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Acquired by the Pirates for relief pitcher Ricardo Rincon, Giles immediately made an impact with the Bucs. In 1999, Giles batted for an outstanding .315/.415/.614 line with 39 long balls. Compared to the league average, he was 54% above league average with a 154 wRC+.

But this wasn’t even his best offensive season with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In 2002, the lefty slugger hit .298/.450/.622 with a 177 OPS+ and 174 wRC+. His wRC+ this season was the 11th highest in Pirate history. He also slugged 39 home runs. The most impressive part is how many times he walked, collecting 135 walks to combat 74 strike outs. Giles also had an impressive .444 wOBA. In comparison, Alex Rodriguez hit .300/.392/.623. He only had a 158 wRC+, and a much lower wOBA at .424.

Giles was not just limited to these two seasons. His bottom line with the Pittsburgh Pirates is a .308/.426 /.591 line, a 165 home runs, and a 156 wRC+ and 158 OPS+. Giles also had a wOBA well above .400 at .425. He walked an impressive amount of times with a 16.7% walk rate, and struck out 10.9% of the time.

But among all Pirates’ batters, you’d be surprised how many categories he ranks number one in. I limited it to guys with at least 2000 plate appearances. Giles ranks first in wRC+. He outranks Kiner by just 2%. Giles 1.018 OPS is the only Pirate outfielder with an OPS above 1.000. He is also the only Pirate to have an OPS above 1.000 and at least 2000 plate appearances as well. The next highest is the aforementioned Kiner at .971, so there is a bit of a gap between Giles and Kiner. The former all-star is one of seven Pirates to have an OBP above .400. He leads them all at .426. Giles’ slugging percentage also leads the franchise at .591. He is the closest to .600 of any Pirate, and the next closest is, again, Kiner at .567.

But these are only the stats he ranks as the best in Pirate history in. That isn’t talking about other stats that he ranks second in. Giles was a master at controlling the strike zone. His 16.7% walk rate was just a tenth of a percent lower than Kiner’s, who leads all Pirates. In terms of isolated slugging percentage, Giles again falls just short of Kiner with .284 to Kiner’s .286. Another stat Brian sits just behind Ralph Kiner in? wOBA at .426 to Kiner’s .438.

But just look how good Giles was for the era. During the early 2000s, you had some of the best offensive seasons in baseball history. Now was this due to the steroid era? Yes, but Giles wasn’t a player connected to usage.

From 1999 to 2003, Giles had a .307/.426/.588 line, .425 wOBA, 156 wRC+ and 169 long balls. Giles ranked 7th in wRC+, above Jim Thome, Sammy Sosa and Rodriguez. He ranked 8th in wOBA, higher than Chipper Jones and Vlad Guerrero, had a higher isolated slugging percentage than Albert Pujols (.280 to .279), and was 9th in OPS, again ranking above A-Rod, Guerrero, and Gary Sheffield.

He also had more home runs than Mike Piazza, Luis Gonzalez and Eric Chavez. Overall, in his career, Giles is just .009 batting average points away from reaching the .300/.400/.500 club. A group that contains 14 of some of the best batters in history like Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Stan Musial just to name a few.

When you look back on it, Giles was an excellent batter. He hit for power, got on base, hit for average, pretty much everything you’d want from your three or four hole hitter. Even though Giles played less than five seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, I still think you’re looking at the best batter the Pirates ever had. He ranks first or second in so many important categories that you can’t just overlook that. He was even better than some stars of his era with the bat like Rodriguez and Jones. Giles might not be the biggest name in Pittsburgh Pirates history, but his bat was probably the greatest the Pirates ever had, and I personally think he deserves another look at the Hall of Fame.