Ranking the Top Five Pirates Shortstops Since the 2000 Season
Since the 2000 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates have always had a strong defender at the shortstop position. While they may not have been the heaviest hitters on the team, they all helped secure the middle infield. It is a position that the Pirates have been known for dating back to the 1900s when Honus Wagner manned the position for over 17 seasons. They are the leaders of the defense and usually the person with the most range on the field. Not many men have been able to hold the position, but the ones who have turned out to be some of the best defenders on the team.
Today, we will be taking a look at the top five shortstops since the 2000 season in Pittsburgh and see what impact they made on the team. For this list, the offensive stats for the entirety of the player's career will count, but defensively I will only look at their stats at the shortstop position. They do not have to necessarily be a starter, but they have to have played strong defense and contributed to the overall defensive success of the team. Without further ado, here is the list of the top five Pittsburgh Pirates shortstops since the 2000 season.
#5 Ronny Cedeno: .253, 10 HR, 70 RBI
The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired Ronny Cedeno in the 2009 trade that sent Jack Wilson and Ian Snell to the Seattle Mariners and brought Jeff Clement to the Pirates. Cedeno jumped in immediately as the team's starting shortstop and played well defensively while his offense left little to be desired. He played in 367 innings at shortstop that season and put up a .980 fielding percentage while helping turn 27 double plays that season. His offensive numbers would eventually catch up as in his two and a half seasons with the Pirates, he ended up hitting .253 with 10 home runs and 79 RBI.
Cedeno's best offensive season with the team was in 2010, while his best defensive season was the following year. After posting a sub-.970 fielding percentage in 2010, Cedeno bounced back in 2011 and posted a .978 fielding percentage in 2011. He played 1050.1 innings at shortstop and helped turn 72 double plays while picking up 191 putouts and 397 assists. On the offensive side of the ball, 2010 was his breakout season when he hit .256 with eight home runs and 38 RBI in 139 games played. All three numbers were the second-highest of his professional career and it looked like he was going to be the shortstop of the future in Pittsburgh.
However, Cedeno would elect free agency at the end of the 2011 season, and Pirates prospect Jordy Mercer was on the cusp of making the Major Leagues. The Pirates elected to not sign Cedeno and stick with Mercer and veteran off-season signing Clint Barmes. He would go on to play for four different organizations never sticking for more than one season with any of those teams. He was last seen in the Major Leagues during the 2014 season with the Philadelphia Phillies, but he only appeared in seven games. Cedeno would officially retire following the 2017 season after spending two seasons playing overseas.
#4 Kevin Newman: .293, 12 HR, 70 RBI
When Kevin Newman was drafted in the first round of the 2015 draft by the Pirates, he was meant to be an everyday middle infielder. It was unknown whether he would be a second baseman or a shortstop, but he played both positions all the way up through the Minor Leagues. He finally made his first Opening Day roster during the 2019 season after a strong showing the year before. He would take over the starting shortstop position by the end of the season and ended up having a breakout year. In his first year and a half in the Big Leagues, Newman has hit .293 with 12 home runs and 70 RBI while he owns a career .970 fielding percentage as an everyday shortstop.
He had a breakout season during his first full season of Big League baseball after starting the year as a bench player. An injury to starting shortstop Erik Gonzalez would open the door for Newman at shortstop and he would jump right into his new role. After struggling a bit at the bottom of the Pirates lineup, Newman found his home in the leadoff spot for the Pirates. He would end up hitting better than he ever had at any other point in his career hitting .308 with 12 home runs and 64 RBI. His rookie season performance was kind of overshadowed by guys like Bryan Reynolds and Cole Tucker, but it was still a strong rookie campaign and proved he could succeed in the MLB.
His defense took a little more time to come around, but he has turned into a quality Major League shortstop. During his rookie year, he posted a modest .973 fielding percentage in 824.1 innings of work. He had a little bit of trouble at the beginning of the season, but as the season went on, he got more of a handle on the position. He ended up helping to turn 43 double plays and picked up 235 assists during the season. Newman's future is one that is filled with questions with Tucker knocking at the Major League door. He will more than likely move to second base whenever Adam Frazier is traded, but for the immediate future, he should be back at shortstop next season.
#3 Clint Barmes: .224, 13 HR, 75 RBI
When the Pirates signed Clint Barmes before the 2012 season, it was to provide some veteran leadership and guidance to shortstop prospect Jordy Mercer. Barmes was the full-time shortstop for one season in Pittsburgh, during 2012, and served as a defensive back-up for two more seasons, including two of the three playoff seasons. His offense never jumped off the page as he hit .224 with 13 home runs and 75 RBI over three seasons. However, he was a sure-fired defensive player consistently posting a fielding percentage of .975 or higher. Barmes was one of those under-the-radar players that helped push the Pirates over the top as they were competing for the playoffs.
His best season in Pittsburgh came when he came off the bench during the 2014 season and played all four infield positions. Offensively, he hit .245 that year and drove in seven RBI in what would be limited action for Barmes. Defensively, he played all four infield positions that season, but his best work came at shortstop where he had a .975 fielding percentage in just over 190 innings played. He helped turn 10 double plays and committed just two errors that season. Barmes was never going to be a household name in Pittsburgh but as far as shortstops go, he was one of the best defensive ones of the 21st century.
#2 Jordy Mercer: .256, 55 HR, 277 RBI
Jordy Mercer was one of the Pirate's first top middle infield prospects of the 21st century coming up through the Minor Leagues. He was drafted in the third round of the 2008 MLB Draft and worked his way up through the Pirates Minor League system. When he was called up to the Big Leagues in 2012, he got the rare opportunity to work with MLB veteran Clint Barmes to help ease him into the new role. He would end up spending seven years in a Pirates uniform and hit .256 with 55 home runs and 277 RBI. He played shortstop almost exclusively over his Pirates career and has a career fielding percentage of .989 at the position.
His best year in Pittsburgh was during the 2017 season as he had both one of his best offensive and defensive seasons of his career. On the defensive side of the ball, he posted a career-high .982 fielding percentage while playing 144 games at the position. He helped turn 88 double plays that season and recorded 385 putouts. On the offensive side of the ball, he would end up hitting .255 with a career-high 14 home runs while driving in 58 RBI, mostly from the number eight spot in the batting order. It was the year that Mercer came into his own as a Major Leaguer and showed that he could play both sides of the ball at a high level rather than being good on defense and ok on offense.
Mercer would end up leaving the Pirates following the 2018 season and signed with the Detroit Tigers in free agency. He didn't get to play much last season appearing in 74 games due to an early-season injury. He was injured for the Pirates vs. Detroit Tigers game last season and didn't get to face his old team. In the games, he did play he hit .270 with nine home runs and 22 RBI. His defense went down a little bit as he posted a .968 fielding percentage, but some of that was due to his shoulder injury that he suffered earlier that year. Mercer turned out to be a success for the Pirates and played well at shortstop during all seven of his seasons, but there is one guy who was better than him in the 2000s.
#1 Jack Wilson: .269, 60 HR, 389 RBI
This list wouldn't be complete without the man who patrolled the shortstop position throughout the 2000s, and would probably make the list of greatest Pirates shortstops of all time. Jack Wilson spent eight years in a Pirates uniform from 2001 to 2009 and played well both on offense and defense. He was a one-time all-star in his career and hit .269 for the Bucs with 60 home runs and 389 RBI. His defense was even better than his offensive numbers as he never had a fielding percentage below the .972 mark and made plays that other shortstops wouldn't dream of being able to make.
His best season came when he was named to the National League All-Star team in 2004 as he both hit the ball well and played a solid shortstop. He would hit .308 with 11 home runs and 55 RBI that season. Wilson wasn't one to ever lead the league in many offensive categories, but that season he led the NL in triples with 12. Defensively he posted a .977 fielding percentage at the position committing just 17 errors in over 1300 innings played. He helped to turn a career-high 129 double plays that season while recording 492 assists. While it may not have been the best defensive season in his career, he was able to put it all together on both sides of the ball.
Wilson was traded from Pittsburgh following the 2009 season to the Seattle Mariners, along with pitcher Ian Snell, for Ronny Cedeno and Jeff Clement. Wilson would end up playing for Seattle and the Atlanta Braves over the next three seasons before retiring following the 2012 campaign. He would resign a one-day contract with the Pirates before retiring so that he could retire with the team that gave him his start. Wilson will always be the guy I remember manning shortstop for the Pirates and proving what a strong defensive presence in the middle-infield can do for a team.
That concludes our list of the top five Pirates shortstops since the 2000 season. Feel free to debate on Facebook at Buccos Cove or comment below to see who you would keep, move, or add to the list. Be sure to follow us on Facebook for more great Pirates coverage as we officially count you down to the start of the 2020 campaign in mid-July.
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