Pittsburgh Pirates: Jacob Stallings Breaking Out Offensively

Pittsburgh Pirates backstop Jacob Stallings has always been known for his defense. However, he’s opened up 2021 looking like a new batter

Pittsburgh Pirates backstop Jacob Stallings is best known for his work behind the dish. So far this season, he already has +3 DRS and 0.2 framing runs above average. He easily could be a Gold Glove finalist this year like he was last year.

However, Stallings has never really been known as much of a hitter. For a catcher he hasn’t been bad. He’s seen his offensive numbers rise ever since taking over as the team’s regular catcher late in 2018. During ‘18, Stallings had a .297 wOBA and 82 wRC+ through 210 plate appearances.

The following season, Stallings hit .248/.326/.376 with a 309 wOBA and 93 wRC+. Stallings walked a lot more, seeing his walk rate rise from 7.6% to 10.5%. He also saw his isolated slugging go from .120 to .128. Overall, he was about 11% better of a batter compared to 2018.

So far this season Stallings has been excellent at the plate. Through his first 88 plate appearances of the season Stallings is hitting .236/.375/.375 with a .339 wOBA and 114 wRC+. Among the 12 catchers this season with at least 80 trips to the plate, Stallings has the 6th highest wOBA and 7th highest wRC+. He also has a pretty solid .139 isolated slugging percentage. Stallings’ .360 xwOBA ranks above average as well, coming in at the top 65th percentile.

The major reason Stallings has been so good at the dish this season is his majorly improved patience at the plate. He’s currently rocking a 17.0% walk rate. Only Diamondbacks’ catcher Carson Kelly outdoes Stallings among his fellow peers at the position. Overall, he has the 6th highest walk rate among any player with 80 or more plate appearances.

One reason that he’s been so much better at drawing walks is he is getting better at recognizing pitches outside the zone. Between 2019 and 2020, he swung at out-of-zone pitches 31.5% of the time. This year, he’s only swung at offerings out of the zone 21.6% of the time.

Overall, Stallings is swinging less. He swung at 45.1% of all the pitches he saw in 2019-2020 but is only swinging at 38.1% of all offerings he’s seen so far this season. This has led to an outstanding chase rate of just 20.2%. However even when he does go chasing after pitches, he has a contact rate of 57.9%, compared to just 45.7% in 2020.

It also helps that when Stallings is making contact, he’s making hard contact. He has an average exit velocity of 89.7 MPH. That ranks in the top 58th percentile of batters in 2021. His 40% hard-hit rate is also a solid number but is overall slightly below average at the 48th percentile.

Overall, there aren’t many catchers in the MLB who can both hit and field. Backstops have had an 85, 90, and 91 wRC+ in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Jacob Stallings has been improving his plate discipline and has become a better and better hitter, all while remaining a Gold Glove caliber defender behind the dish. There are very few catchers in baseball who are as good as Stallings defensively, while also being able to hit.