Projecting the Pittsburgh Pirates Opening Day Lineup
By Noah Wright
Left Field
2019 rookie standout Bryan Reynolds is the lock to be in left field for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Reynolds’s rookie campaign was simply outstanding. In 546 plate appearances, Reynolds put up a .314/.377/.503 line with 16 home runs and 37 doubles. These 37 doubles were a new Pirate rookie record.
Among rookies in baseball with at least 300 plate appearances, the switch hitter was 5th in wRC+ (131), wOBA (.371), fWAR (3.2), and OPS (.880). Although there have been some questions about his bat as he had a high batting average on balls in play at .387, it shouldn’t majorly affect him as he can hit to all fields, and makes hard contact quite often.
In left field, Reynolds wasn’t awful defensively, but he isn’t going to be a Gold Glove Award finalist, either. Overall at the position, he had +1 DRS, but -3.8 UZR and -0.2 range runs above average. All told in the outfield, he had +2 outs above average. Look for Reynolds to be among the team’s best players not just in 2020, but for the foreseeable future as he continues to be one of the main building blocks in the team’s new core. A long term extension with Reynolds may simply be a question of when, not if.