4 notable recent former Pirates who usually struggled in spring training

Spring training is the start of a Major League Baseball season, when all teams report to camp to warm up for the long road ahead of them. However, because spring training is so short, the purpose is to warm up rather than deliver results, and it is used as an opportunity for many to make tweaks to their game. Therefore, players aren’t always at their best. This can lead to some great players not performing well, allowing roster depth pieces to excel.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are no stranger to this phenomenon. For example, did you know that Joey Bart has the fourth-highest wRC+ among all players in spring training since 2006 (min. 150 plate appearances)? While Bart is a notable player who’s typically done well in spring training, let’s look at some notable former Buccos who haven’t shared the same sort of success before the start of the regular season.

4 notable Pirates who traditionally struggled during spring training

4. Neil Walker

Neil Walker is one of the best Pirates infielders in the franchise’s history. He was their primary second baseman from 2010 through 2015, and has the highest OPS and second-best OPS+ among Pirates second basemen with at least 1,500 plate appearances. The switch-hitter was a key piece of the Pirates’ lineup when they made it back to the Postseason in 2013, as well as the following seasons in 2014 and 2015.

Walker batted .272/.338/.431 with a .336 wOBA, and 114 wRC+ with the Pirates. He walked at an 8.1% pace, with a K% of only 17.3%. Walker provided solid power, slugging at least a dozen home runs every season from 2010 through 2017, after the Pirates had traded him. In total, he had eight different seasons in the 2010s with 12+ homers, a 100+ OPS+, and 400+ plate appearances.

You’d think someone who was that consistent for nearly an entire decade would have done well in spring training, but Walker was a subpar batter in March. He only hit .256/.314/.427 in 652 trips to the plate in the preseason throughout his career, resulting in just a .324 wOBA and a unimpressive 92 wRC+. He had more seasons with a wRC+ below 100 in spring training than over 100. His highest in a Pirates uniform was in 2007 at 172, two years before he would make his MLB debut, with his lowest at just 35 in 2013, a season in which he put up his third-best wRC+ in a Pirates uniform at 115.