Pittsburgh Pirates: Constructing the Franchise’s All-Offense Line Up

Catcher Jason Kendall

Jason Kendall’s batting profile is one you no longer see that often. Kendall wasn’t a big power hitter with a career .418 slugging percentage, and .112 isolated slugging percentage, but he was a fantastic contact/get on base hitter throughout his career.

With the Pittsburgh Pirates, Kendall had a .306/.387/.418 line. He leads all Pirates’ catchers in OPS, and is second to Fred Caroll in wRC+, 113 to 130. However, Caroll had just 2518 plate appearances with the Pirates while Kendall had 5283.

Kendall walked at a solid 8.6% rate, but struck out just 7.6% of the time. Among Pirates’ players since 1950 with at least 2500 plate appearances, Kendall has the 7th lowest strikeout rate.

Kendall also had a skill set not many catchers have in general. He was a really solid base runner. With the Pirates, he stole 140 bases in 205 attempts. From 1997 to 2002, his lowest stolen base total was 13, and swiped at least 20 bags in three straight years from 1998-2000. All told, he had a +1.2 base running runs above average. Kendall is also second among Pirate catcher wOBA (.358), and first in fWAR at 31.2. An argument can be made that Kendall is the best all-around catcher in Pirate history.

First Base Elbie Fletcher

Elbie Fletcher was the Pittsburgh Pirates’ first baseman during the 1940s. Fletcher’s best years were between 1940 to 1943. In these four years, Fletcher hit .283/.413/.420 with a 136 OPS+ and 140 wRC+. While he wasn’t any sort of power hitter with just a .137 isolated slugging percentage and 43 home runs across 4 seasons, Fletcher did lead the league in on base percentage three of those four years. He and Stan Musial had almost identical on-base percentages, with Musial sitting at .415 and Fletcher at .413.

Fletcher likely would have continued to be an on base threat after 1943, but had to serve in the United States Navy in 1945 and 1946 at the tail end of World War II. Fletcher did return in 1947 to hit for a solid .256/.384/.355 line and 108 OPS+/112 wRC+ in 651 plate appearances, showing he still had outstanding plate discipline. While Fletcher only played 69 games in 1948, he returned for one final season in 1949, and again, hit quite well putting up a .262/.396/.402 line and a 119 OPS+ and 124 wRC+ through 518 plate appearances.

All told, Fletcher batted .279/.403/.412 with 60 home runs, and a 132 wRC+ through his 3821 plate appearance tenure as a Pittsburgh Pirate. His wRC+ leads all Pirates’ first basemen with at least 500 games played with the Pirates. Among Pirates with at least 2500 plate appearances with the team, his OBP ranks 7th all time, just ahead of Honus Wagner (.394), and just behind Ralph Kiner (.405).

Second Base Neil Walker

Neil Walker was a consistently good batter for the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first half of the 2010 decade, leads in many offensive categories, and doesn’t get much credit for it. Although he was a rookie and wouldn’t receive regular playing time until 2010, he did make his debut in 2009.

Throughout his Pirates’ tenure, Walker batted for a .273/.338/.431 line, 93 home runs, and a 113 OPS+/114 wRC+. From 2010-2015, Walker had hit for a .273/.338/.433 line. His 115 wRC+ in the first half of the 2010s was the 4th highest in baseball. Only Robinson Cano, Ben Zobrist and Dustin Pedroia, three very notable names, ranked higher than him. He also ranked 4th behind the aforementioned trio in OPS and 6th in wOBA at .337.

Among Pirates’ pure second basemen, Walker has the best wRC+ in at least 2500 plate appearances. Technically, George Grantham passes him, but Grantham also played a decent amount of first base with the Pirates.

Walker’s .336 wOBA is only passed by Claude Ritchey, and Dots Miller. But like with Grantham, Miller played a lot of games at first base. Only Bill Mazeroski passes Walker in home runs at 138, but Walker’s 93 is still more impressive considering that Maz played more than double the amount of time with the Pittsburgh Pirates than Walker did. Walker also leads all Pirates in OPS. Walker is the only Pirates’ second basemen in history to win a silver slugger. Walker might be one of the most underrated batters in Pirates history considering that he was consistently a good batter throughout his career, and doesn’t get much recognition for it.

Third Base Richie Hebner

From 1969 to 1976, Richie Hebner served as the team’s hot corner defender, and he did quite well in the batter’s box. Hebner got off to a great start to his career. Through his first 3147 plate appearances at the MLB level, Hebner was batting .287/.360/.466 with a 131 OPS+ and 122 wRC+. He was a key member of the Pirates’ Lumber Company of the 1970s.

While it took a few years for his power to come around, it eventually did. From 1971 to 1976, Hebner had a .478 slugging percentage, and hit 79 home runs. Hebner was a top 10 third basemen for the first half of the decade. From 1969-1976, Hebner’s wRC+ tied him with Mike Schmidt and Darrell Evans, while sitting just behind Joe Torre (132).

Hebner did fall off the last two years with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and returned to the team in 1983 and 1984, but wasn’t quite the same batter in any of those years. But he still has a career .277/.350/.442 line, 122 OPS+/wRC+. If you don’t consider Bobby Bonilla a third baseman, then Riche Hebner leads all Pirate third basemen in wRC+, 4th in wOBA (.355), and 3rd in OPS.

Shortstop Honus Wagner

Honus Wagner is not just the shortstop in the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he’s probably their greatest player of all time. There is also a strong argument to be made that Wagner is the best shortstop in baseball history. Wagner spent 18 years of his 21 year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates In those 18 years, Wagner hit .328/.391/.467 with a 151 OPS+ and wRC+.

Wagner won eight batting titles with the Pirates, including four straight from 1906 to 1909. In those four seasons where Wagner led the league in batting average, he was hitting .346/.415/.502 with a 185 OPS+ and 178 wRC+. The equivalent of a 178 wRC+ today would be somewhere between 2019 Christian Yelich and 2019 Mike Trout. While nobody was hitting home runs back in these days, Wagner still finished with a slugging percentage above .500 eight different times, mainly because he was a doubles machine. From 1900 to 1910, Wagner averaged about 40 doubles a season.

Wagner was also a speed demon. He stole 639 bases with the Pirates, including leading the league five different times. Only Max Carey has more stolen bases in Pirates’ history. All told, Wagner’s wRC+ is third in team history, sitting behind Brian Giles and Ralph Kiner. His .411 wOBA ranks 5th behind the aforementioned Kiner and Giles, but also Elmer Smith and Grantham.

Left Field Willie Stargell

Willie Stargell is probably the best slugger in Pirate history. The Hall of Fame left fielder has a career .282/.360/.529 line with 475 home runs and a 145 wRC+ throughout his 21 year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Stargell leads all Pirate batters in home runs, and has the highest slugging percentage and isolated slugging percentage of any Pirate with at least 5000 plate appearances. However, he still ranks top three among each category among Pirates with at least 2000 plate appearances. Stargell’s wRC+ ranks 4th all time among Pirates with at least 2500 plate appearances, and ties him with Barry Bonds.

Stargell was an absolute monster during the 1970s. From the start of the decade up through 1979, Stargell hit .287/.374/.555 with a 154 wRC+ and 156 OPS+. Stargell also blasted 296 home runs during the decade. Despite playing 185 fewer games than Reggie Jackson, Stargell still outdid the fellow Hall of Famer in home runs. Stargell also led the decade in wRC+, wOBA (.405), ISO, and OPS.

Stargell was also the heart soul of the 1979 World Series Champion Pirates. He was a key cog in the team winning the Fall Classic in 1971, too.

Center Field Andrew McCutchen

Andrew McCutchen had an outstanding, and extremely memorable run as the Pirates’ primary center fielder. From taking over the position in 2010 up until his final year in a Pirate uniform in 2017, Cutch batted for a .291/.379/.487 line, hit 203 home runs, and finished out with a 136 OPS+/137 wRC+.

Among Pirates’ center fielders with at least 2500 plate appearances McCutchen leads them all in wRC+, OPS, slugging percentage, on base percentage, and wOBA (.373).

From 2012 to 2015, McCutchen absolutely dominated pitchers. Throughout the 2680 plate appearances in these four seasons, Cutch hit .313/.404/.523 with 100 home runs, 76 stolen bases, and a 157 OPS+/wRC+ plus he finished top-5 in MVP voting three straight seasons in a row from 2013 to 2015. Among all MLB players during those seasons, Cutch ranked 7th in OPS, 4th in wRC+, and 5th in wOBA (.397). Among outfielders, only Mike Trout was better than him in wRC+.

During this terrific four year stretch, McCutchen put together arguably the greatest offensive season in Pirate history. This came in 2014 when he hit for a .314/.410/.542 slash line to go with a 168 wRC+, .228 ISO and posting a 51.3 oWAR. Most impressively, all of this came in just 146 games after missing two weeks in August with a rib issue.

Right Field Paul Waner

Paul Waner won the first Pittsburgh Pirates’ MVP Award back in 1927, and for a good reason. He’s probably the best Pirate right fielder in terms of what he did in the batter’s box.

From 1926 up through 1940, Waner hit for an outstanding .340/.407/.490 line, 136 OPS+ and 138 wRC+. While Roberto Clemente might be a top three Pittsburgh Pirate of all time, but Waner edges out the great one in terms of batting. In comparison, Clemente hit .317/.359/.475. More importantly were the era and park adjusted stats where Clemente had a 129 wRC+ and 130 OPS+.

Nobody during this era was a home run hitter, but he still got plenty of extra base hits. Waner hit 558 doubles with the Pirates, the most by any Pirate ever. Among Pirates all time, Waner ranks 7th in wRC+, just edging out the aforementioned Andrew McCutchen. He’s also 6th all time in Pirate wOBA at .409. His OPS is the 4th highest mark in Pirates history, just outdoing Willie Stargell and Jason Bay.

During this era, batting average meant a whole lot more than it does now, and while it’s not very important anymore, it’s still worth mentioning that Waner leads all Pirates in that, and has three batting crowns to his name. In addition to being a member of the Hall of Fame, Waner also has his number 11 retired by the Pirates.