3 former Pirates who went on 'Linsanity' runs in recent seasons

The term "Linsanity run" has been used by many modern sport fans to describe a season or part of a season where a player posted insane numbers when the rest of their career never reached that point. The term originates from former NBA player Jeremy Lin, who unexpectedly had a career year with the New York Knicks, leading them to a playoff berth during the 2011-2012 season. But Lin never came close to this peak again in his pro career.

Plenty of players throughout baseball history have had runs like this, having an astounding season before returning to much more mundane performances afterward. The Pittsburgh Pirates have definitely had players like this before. So, let’s take a look at some recent Pirates Linsanity runs and compare them to the rest of their careers.

3 former Pirates who went on 'Linsanity' runs in recent seasons

Sean Rodriguez

Utility man Sean Rodriguez was mostly known as a defensive-first Swiss army knife. From 2008 through 2015, Rodriguez appeared in multiple games at every position aside from pitcher and catcher. He earned +3.9 defensive WAR across his first 763 games with the Los Angeles Angels, Tampa Bay Rays and Pittsburgh Pirates.

But across those first eight seasons, Rodriguez only batted .228/.295/.371 with a .296 wOBA and 86 wRC+. Rodriguez hit double-digit home runs just once, with a dozen in 2014. His 24.3% strikeout rate wasn’t great, but even worse was his 4.3% walk rate. But then, in 2016, Rodriguez would have one of the most surprising seasons in Pirates history with the bat.

In 342 plate appearances that year, Rodriguez batted .270/.349/.510. He mashed 18 home runs with an isolated slugging percentage of .249. Rodriguez struck out more frequently with a 29.8% K%, but he also drew walks at a career-best 9.6% rate. He was regularly ripping the cover off the ball with a 90.4 MPH exit velocity and 11.4% barrel rate. All told Rodriguez finished his season with a .363 wOBA and 128 wRC+.

Rodriguez was once again valuable on the defensive side of the ball, logging innings at every position but on the mound or behind the plate. He generally received average reviews for his defense by metrics. Rodriguez ended his 2016 season with +2.4 fWAR. He had less than 350 plate appearances, but across a full season of 600 plate appearances, Rodriguez would have been a +4.0 fWAR player.

But after that season, Rodriguez would hit just .182/.294/.319 with a .274 wOBA and 67 wRC+. He’d only appear in 200 more games with 478 plate appearances from 2017 through 2020 with negative fWAR. But it was a far more tragic end to his career than that. 

During the 2016-2017 off-season, after his Linsanity run campaign, Rodriguez became a free agent and signed with the Atlanta Braves. But in late January, he and his family were in a car crash that resulted in the deaths of the people in the other car and the hospitalization of his wife and kids. The wreck left Rodriguez with a shoulder injury that was expected to keep him out all of 2017. Rodriguez would miraculously return to the field during the second half of that season but never seemed to recapture his 2016 spark.

Vin Mazzaro

No Linsanity run has arguably provided a more significant impact than Vin Mazzaro to the 2013 Pirates. The Pirates had one of the best bullpens in baseball in their return to the postseason, and part of the reason was Mazzaro’s huge contributions. But heading into that season, Mazzaro was nothing more than a depth pitcher and would return to a similar role after the 2013 campaign.

Mazzaro had pitched just 286 innings from 2009 through 2012. He was not particularly effective either, with a 5.22 ERA, 5.01 FIP, and 1.62 WHIP with the Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals. He was then sent to the Bucs in a small-time trade involving three other players.

Mazzaro pitched 73.2 innings out of the pen, which was the most by any Pirates reliever who did not start a game that season. The right-hander had a quality 2.81 ERA, 3.31 FIP, and 1.21 WHIP for the Bucs that season. He only struck out 15.1% of opponents but limited walks with a 6.9% BB% and only had a HR/9 rate. Like many Pirates pitchers of this era, Mazzaro was a groundball specialist. He induced grounders at a 52.2% rate.

At the start of the season, Mazzaro was a standard multi-inning reliever. But by the end of the season, the Pirates entrusted Mazzaro with higher leverage work with how good he was. The right-hander contributed +1.34 win percentage added to the Pirates, which was higher than Gerrit Cole, A.J. Burnett, and Charlie Morton.

You’d think that a reliever who pitched over 70 innings while producing strong numbers would have returned for another season. But Mazzaro was oddly designated for assignment at the end of Spring Training 2014 and would only pitch ten and a third innings for the Bucs that season. After 2014, he would bounce around with multiple different teams, totaling just 13 more frames after the Pirates let him go.

Mazzaro was as important to the Pirates’ bullpen in 2013 as Tony Watson or Mark Melancon, given that he was effective both in high leverage and for multiple innings at a time. The Pirates’ bullpen did not get off to a great start in 2014, and they ranked in the bottom half of the league in ERA, FIP, and WHIP heading into June of that season. For a team who missed out on the division by only two games, leaving Mazzaro out of future plans may have been the difference maker.

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