Pittsburgh Pirates: Revisiting Michael McKenry’s 2012 Season

Quickly after arriving in Pittsburgh in 2011 catcher Michael McKenry became a favorite among fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates. During his time in Pittsburgh, his 2012 campaign was his best.

The 2012 season was a strange one for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the final season of their streak of 20 consecutive losing seasons, the Pirates appeared to be on their way to at least having a winning record, if not making the postseason, for a majority of the season.

One of the best success stories of the 2012 Pittsburgh Pirates was catcher, and friend of Rum Bunter, Michael McKenry. As readers of the site know, McKenry has done multiple interviews with us and has been on the Rum Bunter Radio Podcast more than once. That includes the latest episode of RBR.

With McKenry being a great friend of the site, why not put the spotlight on his best season with the Pittsburgh Pirates? A season that one could make a strong argument for being the best of his MLB career.

McKenry played in a career high 88 games in 2012. In these 88 games he hit for a .233/.320/.442 slash line to go with a career best 8 home runs. McKenry walked at a 10.5% rate, which was the second best of his career, and his 108 wRC+ was also the second best of his MLB career.

The Fort also posted a career best .208 isolated slugging (ISO). His 26 extra base hits and 10.8% extra base hit rate were both career best, too. McKenry hit balls with a 53.8% hard hit rate, which was also the second highest total of his career.

While McKenry’s 2014 season with the Colorado Rockies was the best offensive season of his career, it came in 30 less games than he played in 2012. He was also better defensively in 2012 than he was in 2014. Due to this a strong argument can be made that 2012 was the best season of McKenry’s career. Regardless, it was undoubtedly the best season he had with the Pittsburgh Pirates.