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Pittsburgh Pirates: Most Underrated Season at Each Position in Franchise History
By Noah Wright
Left Field: 2002 Brian Giles
I’ve previously brought up just how great this season from Brian Giles was, because it simply is forgotten about and probably the most underrated season on this list.
In 2002, Giles stepped to the plate 644 times, and hit for an outstanding slash of .298/.450/.622. He’s one of four players in Pittsburgh Pirates’ history to post both an on base percentage of at least .450, and have a slugging percentage of at least .600 in a single season.
But what’s more impressive is when you consider how good he was for the era. This is reflected in his league, park, and era adjusted stats. Giles had a 177 OPS+ and 174 wRC+. Flatout, outstanding for the steroid era.
It’s the 11th highest wRC+ mark in Pirate history, regardless of position, and the 6th highest per left fielders. Giles was the second best National League hitter this year, only being surpassed by possibly the best season ever, Barry Bonds with a 244 wRC+, .544 wOBA and 12.7 fWAR.
Giles was also an underrated base runner, stealing 13 bases, and having a +1.3 base running runs above average. He wasn’t all that great of a fielder with -14 total zone runs, but his offense was fantastic. The only person who was better than him in the NL was a guy who was about 140% better than the league average.