Pittsburgh Pirates: Constructing the Franchise’s All-Time Defensive Team

In dedication to the Pittsburgh Pirates putting a strong emphasis on defense for the upcoming 60-game 2020 season, let’s take a look back at the best defenders at each position in Pirates’ history.

Defense can sometimes be a team’s best asset in any sport. This can include defense being more valuable to a team than their offense might be. Remember, even if a team is struggling offensively if they limit how many runs their opponent’s score they will still be difficult to beat. In 2020, it appears that this will be the case for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Defense not only can be useful in run prevention, but it helps out the pitcher in more ways than one. A good catcher can be the difference between a confident pitcher and tepid one. Having a catcher that is a good framer can also help a pitcher throw more strikes. A good defense can make or break a game.

Today, I wanted to see who were the best defensive players in Pittsburgh Pirates history at each position. These players were the best at each position defensively during their Pirates’ career. So without further ado, let’s get into our first player on our list. We will start with the man who will be behind the plate on the franchise’s all-defense team.

Catcher – Tony Pena

Tony Pena was the primary catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates throughout a big chunk of the 1980s. Although he was actually a pretty good batter for a catcher, Pena was mostly known for his defensive prowess. Pena took home three straight National League Gold Glove Awards from 1983 to 1985, and unlike some Gold Glove Award winners, the ones Pena won were well deserved.

Throughout his time with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Pena had +45 total zone runs above average. That’s the highest mark of any Pirates catcher, including DRS leaders. According to FanGraphs’ positional adjustments, Pena’s defense had a +91 rating in his time with Pittsburgh. Pena was great at keeping runners at bay, catching just under 40% of them at 39.5%. All told, he has a fantastic 10.6 dWAR in the seven total seasons he appeared in with the Pirates, and averaged 1.5 dWAR a season.

Pena would then go on to be involved in one of the biggest trades in franchise history. In April 1, 1987, the Pirates traded Pena to the St. Louis Cardinals. In return, the team received Andy Van Slyke and Mike LaValliere. Van Slyke became one of the best center fielders in the NL, while LaValliere became a mainstay behind the dish for the Bucs. Both players went on to play a big role in the team winning three consecutive division championships from 1990 – 1992.

Second Base – Bill Mazeroski

You saw this coming from a mile away. Bill Mazeroski is arguably the best defensive second baseman in the history of Major League Baseball. While also being a top 20 all-time defender, regardless of position. Through 17 years, Maz established himself as a defensive wizard up the middle.

For starters, Maz has +148 total zone runs above average. The only Pittsburgh Pirate with a higher mark is an outfielder we’ll get to in a bit. But of all time? He is tied with Willie Mays, Robin Ventura and Jesse Barfield as one of the 20th greatest defenders and the third best at second base of all time, per total zone runs.

Then there’s his defensive WAR. At +24, he ties with George Davis as the 24th best defender of all time, regardless of position. He posted a 1.0+ dWAR in a season 12 different times. Gold Glove Awards obviously aren’t a great measure of how good a fielder is, but Maz captured the award eight times, which is just one short of the all time National League leader Ryne Sandberg who has nine.

In addition to being arguably the greatest defensive second baseman in MLB history, Maz also hit the greatest home run in MLB history. To this day he remains the only player to ever hit a walk off home run in Game 7 of the World Series.

Third Base – Josh Harrison

Throughout the Pittsburgh Pirates history, they’ve never had a real go-to answer as the best defensive third baseman of all time like at second, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have any good hot corner defenders in their history and it was honestly quite tough as it came down to three players. But somebody had to go here and I chose Josh Harrison.

Now, yes, Harrison played all sorts of different positions with the Pirates. He even has more innings at the keystone than the hot corner, but he was a much better defender at third than second. Throughout the 1858.2 innings he played at third, Harrison had +22 defensive runs saved, the franchise leader at third, a 10.5 UZR, and 8.6 range runs above average. Harrison has the second highest FanGraphs positional defensive rating at third base for the Pirates at +13.6. Harrison may never have qualified for a Gold Glove Award, but he was an excellent defender at third base.

The two other names it came down to was Freddy Sanchez and David Freese. Both made a very compelling case to be here instead of Harrison, but Sanchez had way less innings at third than Harrison, and Freese was a very similar defender to Harrison, but Harrison had him well beat in DRS, 8 to 22.

Shortstop – Jack Wilson

It might be a bit questionable to put Jack Wilson here over someone like Honus Wagner, but Jack Wilson might honestly be a top five shortstop defender of all time. Let me explain why.

Jack Wilson has +116 defensive runs saved. Only one other shortstop has at least 100 DRS, that being all-time great defender already Andrelton Simmons at +193. He’s also just one of 14 fielders of all time to have reached the triple digit DRS mark. Wilson also had quite a high total zone mark of +76. On the other hand Wagner only had +67 total zone runs above average. Wilson also had an outstanding 41.3 UZR. That ranks 6th all time and tops among all Pittsburgh Pirates defenders.

Although Wilson may not have had the best of range with just 0.5 range runs above average, you can’t deny the defensive value he brought to the table. All told, Wilson has an outstanding defensive WAR mark of 18.3 with the Pirates, an 21.0 in his entire career, including reaching the 1.0 dWAR mark in a single season 10 times. That ties him with Hall of Fame second baseman Nellie Fox for the 47th highest mark of all time.

Despite all of this, Wilson never won a Gold Glove Award? Why you may ask? Well Wilson was never the flashiest of players and played on some not very popular and unexciting Pittsburgh Pirates teams of the early to late 2000s.

Gold Gloves Awards before the early-to-mid-2010s were mainly about who was popular, and who made the flashy plays. Not about who was actually good. For example in 2005, Jack Wilson’s best defensive season, he had a 4.1 dWAR, +32 DRS, +14.3 UZR and +8.0 range runs above average. The Gold Glove Award winner that year, Omar Vizquel had +1 DRS, +6.9 UZR, and +5.5 range runs above average. Good numbers, but pale in comparison to Wilson’s. Why did he take it home over Wilson? Well mainly because his name was Vizquel, a well established and well known name across baseball.

Left Field – Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds may have mostly been known for his bat during his career, I mean he is the all time home run leader, but that doesn’t mean he was a bad fielder. He was actually one of the Pirates’ best defensive outfielders in the franchise’s history.

Bonds had +115 total zone runs in his Pirates’ tenure, making him one of the other three Pirates with at least 100+ total zone runs in their time with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He had over a 18 total zone runs above average in a single season four different times, including a +37 mark in 1989.

Bonds also reached at least 10 outfield assists five times. Bonds had plenty of range too. Even though range runs above average didn’t exist when he was with the Pirates, he had a +9.4 mark in the last six years of his career, in his late 30s and early 40s. So you can just assume how good he was in his early-to-mid 20s.

In his career Bonds won eight Gold Glove Awards. This included capturing the first three of those awards while still a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1990 – 1992.

Center Field – Bill Virdon

Bill Virdon was not much of a batter in his career. He only had a .696 OPS and 89 OPS+ in his 6522 career plate appearances. But what Virdon lacked in hitting, he made up for in fielding, and then some. He’s one of the more underrated defensive center fielders in Pirates’ history.

Virdon was the team’s primary center fielder from 1956 up through 1965. All told, Virdon was a really impressive defensive force. Virdon had +43 total zone runs above average, which is a bit over double of the next guy, Omar Monero at +23.

No modern Pirate has reached that mark in their career at center field in terms of DRS. The next closest in that stat is Nyjer Morgan at just +5. Virdon also threw out a ton of base runners too. Virdon had exactly 100 outfield assist in his career, and consistently reached double digits throughout his career.

Virdon was the team’s starting center fielder when they won the World Series Championship in 1960. After his playing career ended, Virdon remained active with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Virdon joined the Pirate coaching staff in 1968, and was one the staff that won the 1971 World Series. He also served as the team’s manager in 1972 and 1973.

Right Field – Roberto Clemente

No surprises here. Roberto Clemente might be one of the best defenders regardless of position not just in Pirate history, but in MLB history as a whole. The legendary Pirates’ right fielder had +204 total zone runs above average. Only four players have at least 200 total zone runs above average, and it’s some pretty notable names like Ozzie Smith, Mark Belanger, and Brooks Robinson. Clemente’s the fourth name. Clemente’s cannon of an arm in the outfield is highlighted by 266 outfield assists. That’s the 17th most in baseball history.

Age didn’t slow down the all time great either. Clemente’s final four seasons saw him have +46 total zone runs above average and throw out 54 runners, including a career high 27 in 1969. It seems that teams finally got the message not to run on Clemente in 1970 to 1972 as it was the first time in his career he didn’t reach at least 12 assists in back to back seasons. Overall, Clemente has 12.0 defensive WAR in his career, and reached at least 2.0 dWAR three separate times.

During his 17 year MLB career, Clemente took home a whopping 12 Gold Glove Awards. These awards came in each of the final 12 seasons of his MLB career from 1961 – 1972. If not for his untimely death, he likely would have won a few more Gold Glove Awards before his career was all said and done.