Pittsburgh Pirates Free Agent Target: Outfielder Tyler Naquin

After being non-tendered by the Cleveland Inidans on Wednesday evening, outfielder Tyler Naquin could become a free agent target of the Pittsburgh Pirates

This offseason, general manager Ben Cherington will have his goals of what he wants to accomplish for the Pittsburgh Pirates. With the MLB Winter Meetings set to kick off on Sunday night, there are three goals that Cherington and the Pirates should look to accomplish. One of these goals is deciding what to do with the outfield in 2021.

Bryan Reynolds will have a role in the outfield for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2021, rather it be in left field or center field. Other than Reynolds having a spot, nothing is a given. Due to this Cherington will likely look to add outfield help this offseason. A new member of the free agent market that could now be a target of the Pirates is Tyler Naquin.

Wednesday night, the Cleveland Indians non-tendered Naquin. This made the left-handed hitting outfielder a free agent. With the Pittsburgh Pirates likely in pursuit of outfield help this offseason, Naquin could now fit that bill.

Naquin can play all three outfield positions, which would be a boost to the Pittsburgh Pirates as they are primarily in need of help in center field and potentially right field, depending on what they decide to do with Gregory Polano. During his MLB career, Naquin has a +2 Defensive Runs Saved in left field and a +10 DRS in right field. While he has a negative career DRS in center field, he has not posted a negative DRS since 2016.

In 2020 Naquin struggled at the plate hitting for a .218/.248/.383 slash line to go with a 62 wRC+. He walked just 3.5% of the time, and his 28.4% strikeout rate was his worst since his rookie season in 2016. Nquin’s performance in 2020, however, does not represent the hitter he had always been in his MLB career.

Entering the 2020 season, Naquin had hit for a .283/.335/.435 slash line to go with a 105 wRC+ in the Big Leagues. He owned a 6.6% walk rate, 25.8% strikeout rate, .171 isolated power, and a 9.7% extra base hit rate through his first 879 MLB plate appearances.

When you dig deeper on Naquin’s stats from 2020 he looks like a prime bounce back candidate for 2021. His 51.6% hard hit rate was in the 93rd percentile in all of baseball, while his 91.7 MPH exit velocity was in the 87th percentile.

Hitting the ball hard was not an issue for Naquin in 2020. In his career he has a 42.3% hard hit rate (7.4% higher than MLB average) and a 90.3 MPH exit velocity (2.0 MPH higher than MLB average). Naquin has always hit the ball hard and with authority, his career barrel rate is 7.6% and MLB average is 6.4%, assuming he continues to do this in 2021 he will bounce back offensively.

The biggest issue with Naquin in his career, and the driving force behind him being non-tendered, have been injuries. During the 2015 season Naquin was limited to 84 minor league games due to a concussion. Due to injuries, including a broken hand, Naquin was limited to just a combined 80 games with the Indians between 2017 and 2018.

Naquin could fit a lot of roles for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2021. He could start in center field, he could be insurance in case things continue to go sideways for Polanco in right field, he could start in right field if the Pirates move on from Polanco, or he could bounce around where needed. Regardless, addind Naquin would make the Pirates better.