Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Players Who Can Elevate the Lineup if Healthy in 2024
By Noah Wright
![Sep 4, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates designated hitter Andrew McCutchen Sep 4, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates designated hitter Andrew McCutchen](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_4944,h_2781,x_0,y_72/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/4/01hj2g45gv093vpbr6k3.jpg)
Bryan Reynolds
Bryan Reynolds had another productive season at the plate, but it was an up-and-down campaign. He ended the year batting .263/.330/.460, going yard 24 times, which marks the third year in a row he's swatted at least 20 home runs. He also had an 8.3% walk rate and 21.6% strikeout rate. All told, Reynolds owned a .338 wOBA and 110 wRC+ through 640 plate appearances.
However, Reynolds missed some time in late June with back issues, which didn't seem to subside until after the all-star break. There was a brief 95 plate appearance stretch from July 2nd through July 29th after he was activated from the IL, where Reynolds batted just .187/.222/.297 with a wRC+ of just 36.
That might not seem like a lot of time to severely impact his numbers, but if this short slump didn't happen, Reynolds would have finished the 2023 season with a .277/.349/.491 triple-slash. That is a 14-point uptick in batting average, 19 19-point increase in OBP, and 31 point upgrade in slugging percentage.
After that rough stretch, Reynolds would finish the year on a high note, batting .276/.347/.511 with a .363 wOBA and 127 wRC+ through his final 251 plate appearances. Reynolds still owned an 8.4% walk rate but struck out a little more frequently with a 23.5% strikeout rate. However, he did have a strong .235 isolated slugging percentage.
There are plenty of more positives for the all-star switch-hitter as well. Reynolds' 90.9 MPH exit velocity, 47.1% hard-hit rate, and 11.1% barrel rate were all career bests and well above average. His xBA (.280), xSLG% (.490), and xwOBA (.360) were also in the 85th percentile or better. These expected numbers are also similar to what he put up after he fully recovered from his injury.