Ranking the Top Five Pirates First Baseman Since the 2000 Season
For the Pittsburgh Pirates, the first base position has always had famous names manning the position. The most notable of these was obviously Willie Stargell, who now has a statue commemorating him outside of PNC Park. It is a position that requires power in the middle of the order, and recently the Pirates have seen that from many who have played the position. However, the defensive department is what has been lacking as the Pirates have gone through a series of players who moved to first base from other positions on the field. Today we are going to take a look at the top five Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman since the 2000 season.
As always, for anyone on the list who was with the Pirates before the 2000 season, only the stats recorded from 2000 to present will be considered. The Pirates had a lot of power hitters man the position since 2000, so offense also took a little precedence over defense while making the list. Also, if a player played another position besides first base, those stats were included when determining who was going to make the list. So, without further ado, here are your top five Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman since 2000.
#5 Daryl Ward: .256, 27 HR, 120 RBI
Daryl Ward had a short stint in Pittsburgh during the 2003 and 2004 seasons but brought some pop that the Pirates desperately needed at that time. Perhaps his biggest accomplishment in Pirates history came when he played for the Houston Astros and was the first player to hit a ball into the Allegheny River on the fly. During his time with the Pirates, he hit .256 with 27 home runs and 120 RBI. He was one of the best fielding first basemen on this list with fielding percentages of .991 and .994, but it was his power that helped him last 11 years in the Major Leagues.
Some of those best power years came with the Pirates, including his 2005 season that saw him hit .260 with 12 home runs and 63 RBI. It was the second-highest RBI total of his career and he helped the Pirates find that power option at the plate. He may not have been a household name like Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder, but he held his own at the plate and covered the position well for two seasons in Pittsburgh. He would move on from the Pirates following the 2005 season and ended up in playing three more seasons, most of those with the Chicago Cubs.
His average spiked to .327 during the 2006 season with the Cubs, but his power had declined and that was his last show of offensive success. He would move to foreign leagues for the next six years of his career, playing in the Puerto Rican Winter League before retiring after the 2015 season. Ward may not be that liked in Pittsburgh, for his infamous grand slam river ball, but while he was in Pittsburgh, he provided a pop to an otherwise power-thirsty lineup and helped hold down the position until Adam LaRoche would eventually take over following the 2006 season.
#4 Garrett Jones: .256, 100 HR, 325 RBI
Garrett Jones's career in Pittsburgh began in 2009 and started out with a bang as he quickly showed good power and would consistently pepper with the 21-foot wall in right field. While his average may have not measured up in some seasons, his power more than made up for those shortcomings. In his five years in a Pirates uniform, he hit .256 with 100 home runs and 325 RBI over 677 games played. He hit 20 or more home runs in three of his five seasons, and never failed to hit more than 15. He will also always have his name etched in Pirates history for being the first Pirate to hit the Allegheny River on the fly on June 2nd, 2013.
He made his Pirates debut during the 2009 season and busted on the scene hitting .293 with 21 home runs and 44 RBI. Former Pirates manager Clint Hurdle had no choice but to find a spot in the lineup for the lefty slugger, and he became a fixture in the clean-up spot. He started his career in the outfield for Pittsburgh but ended up moving in to play first base towards the later part of his career. This is where he had his best offensive season in 2012 hitting .274 with a career-high 27 home runs and 86 RBI in 145 games played. He did pretty well limiting his strikeouts as he only fell 103 times that season, and it looked like he would be the guy for the future. However, he hit a brick wall in 2013, batting just .233 and hitting a career-low 15 home runs. The Pirates would designate the slugger for assignment in November of 2013, and he would hit the open market.
Jones would go on to play two more seasons in the Major Leagues, spending time with the Miami Marlins and New York Yankees, before being released in August of 2015. Jones's power dropped off as he never hit more than 15 home runs with any other team and his batting average suffered each year. He would try to go overseas to fix his problems, but he was unable to get out of the funk he was in and would end his professional career following the 2016 season. Jones was a fan favorite in Pittsburgh, and one of my personal favorites, and he gave the Pirates some good years at first base. However, it just wasn't meant to be long-term as he has moved on to life after baseball.
#3 Kevin Young: .243, 52 HR, 211 RBI
Kevin Young had a long career in a Pirates uniform and manned first base for the good part of 12 years in Pittsburgh. He hit double-digit home runs six times during that 12-year stretch and kept his average consistently above the .250 mark. However, for this list, we only focused on his final four years with the Bucs from 2000 - 2004. This was when his power numbers were at their peak and he hit .243 with 52 home runs and 211 RBI. He managed to hit more than 14 home runs in each of those seasons, but his average had dipped from his earlier years ranging from .258 to .203 by the end of his playing career.
His best year in the 2000s came in the year 2000 when he managed to hit .258 with 20 home runs and 88 RBI. It was the third straight season that Young hit 20 or more home runs and, although his average dipped a little bit from the year before, his power made up for that. To add to his power, he was a tough guy to strikeout going down just 96 times in 496 at-bats. He had two more great seasons in a Pirates uniform using his power numbers to start in the middle of the Pirates order, but he just didn't have it by the 2003 season, and his stats showed as he appeared in just 52 games that season.
Young would retire following the 2003 season, and stayed in the organization, coming back to help coach the team's first basemen in Spring Training. He has worked with many of the guys on this list including, Garrett Jones, and has helped them as they developed into Major Leaguers. Now, Young will continue his run with the Pirates organization as he begins his career as a color analyst. He will be rotating with former Pirates Michael McKenry and Matt Capps calling games alongside Greg Brown and Joe Block. It will be just another way that Yong can pass along his experience in the game, but this time he will be passing the knowledge to the fans.
#2 Adam LaRoche: .271, 58 HR, 213 RBI
Adam LaRoche manned first base for the Pirates for part of three seasons from 2007 to 2009. If this were a list of the best defensive first basemen for the Pirates since 2000, LaRoche would probably be first on the list. He committed just 14 errors in just under 2,500 innings played at the position and consistently had a fielding percentage over .993. On the offensive side of the ball, LaRoche had a decent .271 average while hitting 58 home runs and driving in 213 RBI. He got the chance to play with his brother for a season and a half and they would man the corner of the infield for the Pirates. His Pirates career was full of ups and downs, but overall he had a strong career in a Pirates uniform.
His best season in Pittsburgh was in 2008 when he hit .270 with 25 home runs and 85 RBI. It was the least amount of games he would play in a single season with Pittsburgh at 136, but it was also the season that he showed the most power. He, Jason Bay, and Xavier Nady made up the middle of the Pirates lineup, and all three players ended up hitting 20 or more home runs. LaRoche's biggest problem was his strikeout ability as he went down 122 times in 492 at-bats. His power made up for his strikeout ability and he was one of the best run producers for the team.
The Pirates would trade Adam LaRoche during the 2009 season to the Boston Red Sox for shortstop Argenis Diaz and pitcher Hunter Strickland. He would play just four games for the Red Sox before being flipped over to the Atlanta Braves before the end of the season. He would end up spending 2010 with Arizona before catching on with Washington for four seasons and had some of his best offensive seasons. He would be traded to the Chicago White Sox in 2015 but would retire before the end of the season because his son wasn't allowed to be in the clubhouse. LaRoche was a man of little emotion, but he was able to produce for the Pirates in his three seasons.
#1 Josh Bell: .265, 78 HR, 287 RBI
If you were asking me to make this list last season, Josh Bell definitely wouldn't be in the top spot. However, he earned this spot last season after having a career year with the Pirates. In his first four seasons with the team, he would hit .265 with 78 home runs and 287 RBI. Before last season, Bell was regarded by many as a flop because he wasn't living up to his first-round draft pick expectations. One columnist wrote that he was a waste of a roster spot and would never produce at the Major League level. Bell would end up proving them all wrong and had a career season in a Pirates uniform.
Before last season, Bell never reached his full potential in a Pirates uniform with a low average and up and down power numbers. He hit 26 home run back in 2017, and it looked like he would finally put up those first-round draft pick numbers, but he slipped up in his second full season hitting .261 with 12 home runs and 68 RBI. The .261 average was better than the year before, but the drop in power was alarming as first base is a power position on the field. Bell went through a new training regimen prior to the 2019 season and it helped him get better prepared for a full season's worth of games. The hard work would pay off for Bell and kick-started his career
He would hit .277 with 37 home runs and 116 RBI in what would be a shortened season due to injury. Of his 37 home runs, 24 of them would come before the month of June and he was on pace to set career numbers in a Pirates uniform. He would be named to his first all-star game and ended up representing the Pirates in the 2019 MLB Home Run Derby. He would end up with an injury at the end of September and was shut down from the middle of the month on to try and recover. Bell proved all the haters wrong and showed he could not only be a good first baseman but an elite one. His offensive game was better than his defensive game but he solidified himself as the lone power threat in the Pirates lineup.
That concludes our Saturday Morning Rankings list of the top ten Pirate's first baseman since the 2000 season. As always, feel free to debate and move guys around or add some of your own picks. Be sure to come back next week for the Saturday Morning Rankings when we continue around the horn and rank the top five Pirates second baseman since the 2000 season. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Buccos Cove, for stories, plays of the day, and even more Pittsburgh Pirates coverage.
Comments
Post a Comment