Pittsburgh Pirates: Quietly, Josh VanMeter Heating Up at the Plate

After a slow start to the season that led to him drawing a lot of vitriol from fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Josh VanMeter has turned it up at the plate since early May

Few players on the Pittsburgh Pirates roster have drawn more ire this season than Josh VanMeter. This has come as a result of VanMeter getting off to a slow offensive and defensive start to the season.

After a slow start to the season VanMeter has started to turn things around at the plate. VanMeter has started to earn every day starting reps at second base for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he has earned those reps.

Overall on the season VanMeter has hit for a .214/.280/.357 slash line to go with a wRC+ of 82. He has walked at an 8.4% rate while striking out in 24.3% of his trips to the plate to go with an isolated slugging (ISO) of .143.

Since early May, however, VanMeter has been a completely different hitter. Dating back to May 8th, in his last 59 plate appearances, VanMeter has hit for a .264/.339/.453 slash line to go with a 124 wRC+.

VanMeter has drawn walks at a strong 10.2% rate in this stretch, while lowering his strikeout rate to 18.6%. His ISO is a strong .189, to go with 2 home runs and 2 triples, thanks in large part to his increase in contact made.

During this stretch VanMeter has been powered by quality contact at the plate. His hard-hit rate of 38.1% is above league average, as is his average exit velocity of 90.1 MPH. This is a huge improvement over his 16.7% hard-hit rate and 81.7 MPH average exit velocity in his first 16 games of the season.

Typically, when a batter hits the ball hard and walks at a high rate they will find success at the plate. This is what VanMeter has done in his last 59 PAs. Odds are, VanMeter’s recent success will continue as long as he continues to draw walks at a high rate while he hits the ball rate.

As long as VanMeter continues to perform the way he has he will continue to get every day reps for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In addition to second base, he was also playing a good deal of first base while Michael Chavis was banged up.

To his credit, VanMeter has overcome a slow start to the season to hit his way into an every day role with the Pirates. As long as VanMeter continues to do what he has done offensively he will continue to play a big role with the Pirates. This would also be beneficial to the Pirates as they look to see if they have a potential late bloomer on their hands in VanMeter.