Pittsburgh Pirates: All-Time Award Winning Team

Pittsburgh Pirates players have won a ton of awards throughout the franchise’s history, so who has the most awards at each of position?

It’s award season in Major League Baseball. Gold Gloves have already been handed out and will soon hand out the Sluggers. But now we’re moving on to the big awards. The MVP, the Cy Young, the Rookie of the Year, and the Manager of the Year. The awards that get the most attention, the highest honors, the ones that everyone is excited to see the winner of.

The Pittsburgh Pirates might not have any finalists for any of the big awards, but they watched Jacob Stallings outpace both Yadier Molina and JT Realmuto for the Gold Glove, and Bryan Reynolds just missed out on a Silver Slugger. But throughout the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates they have had a ton of awards won.

Today, I want to put together a team of the players with the most hardware at every position. By hardware, I mean anything the player took home a trophy for. Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, MVP, Cy Young, Hank Aaron award, you name it. If it’s sitting in that player’s trophy case right now, it’s considered hardware (minus World Series Rings). But I’m also considering just what they received as Pirates players, so Barry Bonds’s 5 other MVP awars won’t be taken into cosnideration.

Given that, what does a team with the most awards at each position look like?

First Base – Willie Stargell

Here’s a fun fact. No Pittsburgh Pirate who played first base as their primary position throughout their time with the team won an award. There have been some All-Star Game nods, but no Silver Sluggers, Gold Gloves, anything. The closest that we got? One MVP award from Willie Stargell in 1979. Now I consider Stargell more of a left fielder than first baseman as he played just over 60% of his career in left. But when you have no other options to put, you have to make some exceptions. Plus, Stargell won it as a first baseman, so while I’m bending my own rules, I’m not breaking them completley.

Stargell, simply put, is one of the greatest Pittsburgh Pirates of all time. Throughout his long, 21-year career, Pops Stargell hit .282/.360/.529 with a .387 wOBA, and 145 wRC+. He also blasted an impressive 475 home runs, which ties him with St. Louis Cardinals’ legend Stan Musial for the 32nd most of all-time.

Among all-time Pirates with at least 1500 PA’s, Stargell’s 145 wRC+ ties him with Barry Bonds for the 4th highest franchise mark. He also ranks 11th in wOBA, 8th in OPS, and 4th in slugging percentage, 3rd in isolated slugging, and has the most franchise home runs by a large margin. The only player who comes close to Stargell in long balls is Ralph Kiner, with just 301. Overall, his career 62.9 fWAR ranks 5th among all Pirates, ever.

Stargell’s one MVP season, which earned him the spot on this team, was kind of a down year for his standard. He still put up a high-quality .281/.352/.552 line with a .385 wOBA, and 137 wRC+. Plus he slugged 32 home runs. He wasn’t a very good defender at first, which led to an fWAR of just 2.7. But that seems pretty meh for a guy who consistently had a 150-160 wRC+ from the mid-’60s through the mid-70s.

Despite Stargell mainly being a left fielder for most of his career, he won his one and only MVP award as primarily a first baseman. Given that no other first baseman won anything of the sort, Pops didn’t have much competition at the position.

Second Base – Bill Mazeroski

Now Hall Of Fame second baseman Bill Mazeroski wasn’t known for his offense. He only hit for a .260/.299/.367 line, .667 OPS, .293 wOBA, and 82 wRC+. Though offense wasn’t his big selling point, nobody is going to forget his 1960 World Series walk off home run. But what the second baseman lacked in offense, he made up for in his defensive prowess.

Maz had a total of +148 total zone runs as a second baseman. That is the 24th most of all time. It ranks ahead of some of the best defenders of all-time like Ichiro Suzuki, Scott Rolen, Omar Vizquel, and Mike Schmidt. Mazeroski had a +24 dWAR, which also ranked 24th of all-time. However, both marks are the highest among any primary second baseman ever.

Mazeroski was awarded for his defensive prowess with 9 Gold Glove Awards. The only second baseman with more of the award is Roberto Alomar with 10. That easily gave him the spot on this team. No other Pirates’ second baseman even came relatively close to 9 awards.

Third Base – Bobby Bonilla

Bobby Bonilla was part of the late-80’s to early-90’s Pittsburgh Pirates. The slugger played a good portion of his career at third base, which landed him a spot here. Throughout his 6 year tenure with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Bonilla took home three Silver Sluggers.

Bonilla appeared in a total of 843 games with the Pittsburgh Pirates, stepping to the plate 3485 times. His final line consisted of a strong .284/.357/.481 line, .365 wOBA, and 132 wRC+. Bonilla 114 home runs, which makes him just one of 4 Pirates’ third basemen to have 100 or more home runs. Bonilla’s 20.6 fWAR also ranks 5th among Pirates’ third basemen.

Bonilla wasn’t much of a defender. He had -4.1 dWAR as a third baseman and right fielder for the Bucs. But he was consistently a good hitter. Bonilla’s three Silver Sluggers came in 1988, and 1990-1991. Bonilla finished 2nd and 3rd in MVP voting in ‘90-’91 and his lowest wRC+ in each of those 3 Silver Slugger seasons was still a healthy 127 mark.

The first thing you think of when you hear Bobby Bonilla’s name probably isn’t the silver sluggers. But all three of them were well deserved. He was consistently a strong hitter, year-in-year-out with the Pirates.

Shortstop – Jay Bell

Many of the Pirates’ greatest shortstops of all time played well before awards in baseball were a thing. Honus Wagner and Arky Vaughn never really got a chance to win an award because of the era they played in. So our guy here will be Jay Bell.

Bell was a key cog of the Pittsburgh Pirates roster from his first season with them in 1989 all the way through 1996. Those 8 seasons saw him bat for a solid .269/.339/.402 with a .332 wOBA, and 104 wRC+. Bell only struck out 16.3% of the time while having a decent 8.9% walk rate. Overall, decent numbers for a glove-first shortstop.

Bell won two awards: a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove, both coming in 1993. During that year, the middle infielder batted .310/.392/.437 with a .371 wOBA, and 125 wRC+. He struck out just 17.4% of the time, but his 11% walk rate was a career-best up to that point. Bell had +11 total zone runs as well as 2.2 dWAR at short. Bell racked up an impressive 6.6 fWAR that season, which ended up as a career-best by almost 2 wins.

Jay Bell might not be the first name you think of when you think of all-time Pirate shortstops, but he was a good player nonetheless. He had a solid bat to pair with a strong glove up the middle.

Left Field – Barry Bonds

Everyone knows who Barry Bonds is. He’s the most polarizing player in MLB history but whether you love him or hate him, there’s one thing everyone can agree on. He was damn good at the sport of baseball. He showed this early in his career with the Pirates too. In his final 3 seasons as a Pittsburgh Pirate, Bonds won 3 Gold Gloves, 3 Silver Sluggers, and 2 MVPs, giving him 8 awards before he turned 30.

Those final 3 seasons were just a hint of things to come in Bonds’s career. From 1990 to 1992, Bonds batted .301/.424/.566 with a .424 wOBA, and 172 wRC+. He blasted 92 home runs and 134 stolen bases. He was the definition of power/speed combo. He was the only player with 90+ home runs and 100+ stolen bases. Bonds was so far ahead of most of the players in the league, it wasn’t even funny. His 27.2 fWAR dwarfed Cal Ripken Jr’s. 20.4 mark. The only player that could rival Bonds’ hitting ability was Frank Thomas, who just barely edged out Bonds in wRC+ and wOBA, but Bonds had the upper hand in OPS and home runs.

The amount of value Bonds brought as a defender can’t be understated. He earned those 3 Gold Gloves. Bonds had +52 total zone runs in these 3 phenomenal seasons. The only two players to have more were Cal Ripken Jr. (57) and Tony Gwynn (54). Bonds had a +4.1 dWAR, which for a left fielder, is very impressive since it’s weighted so it’s harder to put up a good dWAR at a less defensive premium position, like left field.

Bonds would blow all of these numbers out of the water, and then some, during the early-2000’s. But it’s impressive nonetheless that he was able to get so many awards in such little time. The only one he missed out on was the 1991 MVP. But he finished 2nd in voting and was arguably the true winner of it.

Center Field – Andrew McCutchen

From 2009 to 2017, Andrew McCutchen became one of the greatest Pittsburgh Pirates of all time. He took home the National League MVP in 2013, as well as a Gold Glove, and four consecutive Silver Sluggers. His 2012-2015 prime was one of the best 4-year stretches in Pittsburgh Pirates’ history.

During those 4 seasons, Cutch took home all the hardware he would earn as a Pirate outfielder. He put up a .313/.404/.523 line, .397 wOBA, and 157 wRC+. He brought the power, and he brought the speed. He smacked 100 home runs as well as swiping 76 bases. All told, Cutch had a 28.8 fWAR during these 4 campaigns.

Cutch was a top 5 player in baseball during this time. The only batters who surpassed him in wRC+ were Mike Trout, Miguel Cabrera, and Joey Votto. They were also the only players to have a higher wOBA than Cutch. His .926 OPS only ranked 7th but was still just one of 10 qualified hitters with a .900+ OPS. He was also just one of 5 players with an OBP of at least .400. But he and all-time great Mike Trout were the only ones to have both 100+ home runs and 75+ stolen bases.

McCutchen’s tenure will never be forgotten among Pirates fans. He’ll go down in history as one of the Pirates’ greatest outfielders of all time. His 45.7 fWAR is considered the 9th highest among all Pirates position players. As unlikely as it is, it would be fun to see him return to the team in 2022 and climb a little higher on that all-time fWAR list.

Right Field – Roberto Clemente

Roberto Clemente takes home the award in right field. The legendary Pittsburgh Pirate won 12 consecutive Gold Glove awards from 1961 all the way through 1972. He may have won more if his life wasn’t tragically cut short when he was delivering supplies to Nicaragua, which had recently been hit by an earthquake on New Year’s Eve, 1972. To go with all those Gold Gloves, he added on an MVP award in 1961.

Throughout his career, Clemente was a good hitter. He batted .317/.359/.475 with a .365 wOBA, and 129 wRC+. He finished his career with exactly 3000 hits. He also went yard 240 times. While he wasn’t known for his massive power, from 1960 up through his final season, he reached double digits in home runs, which is still a very good feat nonetheless.

But as good as he was at hitting, those 12 Gold Gloves weren’t because he was popular. His ability to field pales in comparrison to his ability to hit. Clemente had +201 outfield total zone runs. The only other players to reach 200+ TZ are Brooks Robinson (294) and Ozzie Smith (239). Clemente was known for his rocket arm. Calling it a rocket may be an understatement. He had 283 career outfield assists, which is the 11th most all-time. But no outfielder comes even within 50 assists since the end of World War II. The next closest since 1945 is Braves’ all-time great Hank Aaron with a still-impressive 219.

Clemente ended up with 80.6 career fWAR. That’s the 16th most of any outfielder of all time. Though he could have conceivably passed Joe DiMaggio and Al Kaline if it weren’t for the tragic plane crash. The only Pirate to have more fWAR is Honus Wagner at +127.2.

Starting Pitcher – Rick Rhoden

This one probably isn’t what you’d guess. But right-hander Rick Rhoden has the most awards of any Pirates pitcher. Ironically, it isn’t his pitching prowess. Instead, it was for his hitting as he took home three Silver Slugger awards.

Now that’s not to say that Rhoden wasn’t a good pitcher for the Pirates. He was one of the Pirates’ primary starting pitchers from 1979 to 1986. Throughout 1448 innings, Rhoden pitched to the tune of a 3.51 ERA, 3.31 FIP, and 1.313 WHIP. Rhoden wasn’t a big strikeout or major command pitcher with just a 14.3% strikeout and 7.3% walk rate. Though his .56 HR/9 was still above average, even back then.

Rhoden also went to the all-star game in 1986 (his final season with the Pirates) while finishing 5th in Cy Young voting. That wasn’t even his best year as he posted better numbers three years prior in 1983. As a pitcher, Rhoden had a 24.1 fWAR.

But Rhoden won his awards for his bat. So was he deserving of those 3 Silver Sluggers? He won all three from 1984 through 1986. For a pitcher, he he had really good numbers. He batted .270/.288/.355 with a .286 wOBA, and 77 wRC+. Heck, in 2021, there were 63 batters with a lower wRC+ in at least 200 PA’s. He only struck out 11.1% of the time as well. This was over 271 plate appearances. Among pitchers with at least 100 trips to the plate across these 3 campaigns, Rhoden ranked 2nd in wRC+, OPS, and wOBA. Montreal Expos’ swingman Dan Schatzeder was a better hitter than Rhoden in those 3 stats but had 165 fewer plate appearances.

Batting average is the furthest thing from perfect. When you are looking at how good/bad a position player is batting, other stats like OBP, slugging, wOBA, and wRC+ are much more telling stats. But in any case, when your pitcher is batting .270, he’s not an automatic out every single time. Most of the time, you’d be lucky for your pitcher to crack .150.

Relief Pitcher – Mark Melancon

Very rarely do relief pitchers get big awards. There’s been no MVP relief pitcher and many don’t even finish as a top-3 finalist in Cy Young voting, even when they are having extremely dominant years. The last relief pitcher to finish top-3 in Cy Young voting was all-time saves leader Mariano Rivera in 2005 (2nd place behind Los Angeles Angles and fan-favorite pitcher Bartolo Colon).

When Fernando Rodney in 2012 and then Zack Britton in 2016 broke the single-season best ERA mark for a reliever, they finished just 5th and 4th in Cy Young voting. Though there is the Trevor Hoffman Award, which is given to the best relief pitcher in the National League every year (Mariano Rivera award in the AL). In 2015, that was Mark Melancon’s award.

Melancon was a fixture in the bullpen for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2013 through 2016. He was a big reason the team returned to the playoffs. In 260.1 innings, Melancon had a 1.80 ERA, 2.27 FIP, and 0.93 WHIP. While he only had a 23.8% strikeout rate, which is fairly low for a relief pitcher he walked just 4.2% of all the batters he faced. Plus he only gave up 9 home runs, in part because of his knack of getting a bunch of ground balls, having a strong 56.8% ground ball rate.

Melancon’s 2015 season wasn’t even his best year, yet was still so good, he won NL Reliever of the Year. The right-hander pitched a total of 76.2 innings posting a 2.23 ERA, 2.82 FIP, and 0.93 WHIP. Just to show how good Melancon was during his time with the Pirates, those were all the worst numbers he had as a Pirate in a single season. Melancon only struck out 21.2% of batters faced, but had a strong 4.8% walk rate and allowed just 4 home runs all season. He also saved 51 games, a franchise-best mark.