Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Goals For Shortstop In 2021
Goal Number Two – Improve The Defense
The second goal is to improve defensively for all three shortstop candidates. Last season was a poor season for the shortstop position defensively. Gonzalez started the most games last season, 36, and had five errors in that span. That is an average of about one error every seven games.
Next was Newman who started 22 games and also managed to commit five errors. This equates to an error about every four and a half games. Newman and Gonzalez both tied for eight for the most errors committed by National League shortstops.
The damage defensively does not stop here though. The defensive runs saved above average per 1,200 innings (Rtot/yr) totals were astronomically bad last season. Gonzalez had a Rtot/yr of -4, which is not horrid but was still four runs under the league average.
The real problem in this category was Newman. Newman managed to get a Rtot/yr of -20. This total is just completely unacceptable from a defensive perspective. The Pittsburgh Pirates were not expected to win many games last year as it was, but stats like these certainly helped to get the number one pick, especially with how bad the hitting was last season.