Ranking the Top Five Pirates Left Fielders Since 2000
Ever since the turn of the century, the Pittsburgh Pirates have been blessed with several strong outfielders who went on to be all-star caliber players. All three positions have seen their fair share of stars, but the left fielder has always seemed to be the ones who took the spotlight, mainly for their offensive prowess. Everyone who has been in the position has usually found themselves in the middle of the Pirates lineup producing at a high rate. With all the names that have played the position over the last 20 seasons, who has been the best to take the field since that time for the Pirates?
That is what we are going to look at on today's edition of Saturday Morning Rankings. We will take a look at the top five left fielders in Pittsburgh Pirates history since the 2000 season. Their offense will be considered no matter where they played in the outfield, but defensively it will be how they played while patrolling the vast left field at PNC Park. All players were considered for this list, whether they spent one year or their entire career in Pittsburgh. So, here is a look at the Buccos Cove top five left fielders since the 2000 season.
#5 Lastings Milledge: .260, 8 HR, 54 RBI
Acquired in the trade that brought Joel Hanrahan to Pittsburgh, Lastings Milledge played parts of two seasons in a Pirates uniform, and split time between right and left field. He used his speed to man left field a lot and he produced towards the bottom third of the Pirates lineup. During his Pirates career, he ended up hitting .260 with eight home runs and 54 RBI in 122 career games played. He never took the most conventional path to the ball in the outfield, but he somehow found a way to get to the ball more times than not. He wore an unconventional number on his jersey and was an unconventional on the field.
His best season in a Pirates uniform came in his only full season in a Pirates uniform, in 2010. He ended up hitting .277 with four home runs and 20 RBI while appearing in 113 games for the team. He used that spacious left field of PNC Park to rack up the extra-base hits, finishing with 21 doubles and 28 total extra-base hits. He played his best defense in left field that season appearing in 63 games without committing an error. The play he is probably best known for is ranging back with two outs in the top of the ninth and diving on the warning track to make a catch against the San Francisco Giants. He was part of one double play and racked up five outfield assists.
Following the 2010 season, Milledge left the Pirates and headed to the Chicago White Sox in free agency. However, it didn't work out for him as he appeared in just two games for the White Sox. He ended up playing in the Minor Leagues and overseas for several more seasons before retiring from baseball in 2018. Milledge was an exciting guy to watch, and although he was never an all-star caliber player, he produced some great defensive play and helped the Pirates fill a void in their outfield. He is probably the least well-known name on this list, but he is still deserving of the number five spot.
#4 Corey Dickerson: .302, 17 HR, 80 RBI
The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired Corey Dickerson right before the 2018 season in a trade that sent relief pitcher Daniel Hudson and Minor League infielder Tristan Gray to the Tampa Bay Rays. It turned out to be one of the best moves the Pirates made at the end of the Neil Huntington era. When Dickerson came to Pittsburgh, many questioned his defensive abilities but knew that his offense was good. However, Dickerson would prove them all wrong as he was the starting left fielder for the Pirates for two seasons and was a Gold Glove winner during the 2018 season. He hit .302 with 17 home runs and 80 RBI and was a fixture in the middle part of the Pirates batting order.
His best season in a Pirates uniform was during that 2018 season when he not only played solid defense but had the second-highest batting average of his professional career. He was a big pick-me-up for a team that was yearning for some offense and added some veteran leadership to the team. The big gaps in PNC Park benefitted the left-handed-hitting Dickerson and he ended up with 35 doubles during the season. Many thought that he would be an all-star that season, but he was snubbed and just missed out on the award. Unfortunately for Dickerson, he never got the chance to be a part of a playoff team in Pittsburgh, but he was one of the top players during the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
Dickerson struggled through an injury-ridden start to the 2019 season and ended up being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies by season's end. His career in Philadelphia did not last too long as he was injured once again after the trade and only ended up appearing in 34 games for the Phillies. Dickerson would elect free agency following the 2019 season and ended up signing with the Miami Marlins over the off-season. Dickerson was slated to be the starting left fielder for the Marlins, but COVID-19 ended up shutting things down and stopping his opportunity. Dickerson was one of the best pick-ups from the Neil Huntington era, and he ended up being a success in Pittsburgh.
#3 Jason Bay: .281, 139 HR, 452 RBI
In the early 2000s, the Pirates acquired outfielder Jason Bay from the San Diego Padres. He had only appeared in three Major League Games prior to the move to Pittsburgh and was very much an unproven player. However, he would blossom into one of the top run producers in recent Pirates history and was one of the first stars to play in PNC Park. He spent six seasons in a Pirates uniform and ended up hitting .281 with 139 home runs and 452 RBI. He set and held many of the early records at PNC Park including home runs and RBI and he would become the face of the franchise for several seasons. He made it to the All-Star game twice in his Pirates career and blossomed as a power hitter.
His best season came in one of those all-star years during the 2005 season, a year in which he played in all 162 games. He hit a career-high .306 with 32 home runs and 101 RBI that season while being named a starting left fielder in the All-Star game. It turned out to be the best overall season for Bay's professional career, as he was able to hit for average while still blasting pitches out of the park. If there was one bad thing to say about Bay, it was probably that he wasn't the fastest guy in the world. He still made all the plays defensively that season as he committed just one error and had a .996 fielding percentage.
Bay ended up being traded during the 2008 season, along with many of the other Pirates stars of the time. He was sent to the Boston Red Sox as part of a three-team deal that brought back Craig Hansen, Brandon Moss, Andy LaRoche, and Bryan Morris. Bay would end up spending one and a half years in Boston before moving on to play for the New York Mets and Seattle Mariners. He spent six years in the Major Leagues after his Pirates career but never had the same offensive punch that he did in Pittsburgh. He only had two more seasons where he had double-digit home runs and never hit over .286 after leaving Pittsburgh.
#2 Starling Marte: .287, 108 HR, 420 RBI
Starling Marte started his Pirates career with a bang, quite literally, when he hit a home run on the first pitch he saw in the Major Leagues. Marte was part of one of the best outfield in the MLB during the early 2010s, as the starting left fielder for the Pirates. He spent eight seasons in a Pirates uniform and hit .287 with 108 home runs and 420 RBI. Defensively, he has always played well in left field committing just 19 errors in just over 4,300 innings of work for a .979 fielding percentage. He had a great throwing arm with 50 outfield assists and 838 putouts. He had speed, power, defense, and hitting ability and put them all on display.
He was a one-time all-star in a Pirates uniform making the big game during the 2016 season. He had one of the best years of his professional career that season hitting .311 with nine home runs and 46 RBI. It wasn't his best year in terms of run production, but he was getting on base on a consistent basis and was then able to use his speed. Marte ended up being among the league leaders in stolen bases taking 47 bases in 59 opportunities for a 79.6% success rate. While he wasn't hitting the ball over the wall, he was hitting the gap on a regular basis. He had a career-high 34 doubles that season while racking up five triples that season.
Marte was a strong outfielder throughout his career, playing both left field and center field for the Pirates. After Andrew McCutchen was traded, Marte shifted over to centerfield and was the starter there for the last two seasons for the Pirates. With the new regime entering this year, the Pirates were looking to start fresh and ended up trading Marte to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Minor League pitcher Brennan Malone and infielder Liover Peguero. Marte will be a starter in the outfield for the Diamondbacks, but it is unknown if he will be in left field or center field. This season will be especially tough for Marte as he deals with not only Coronavirus but the death of his wife. We wish Marte all the best in Arizona and thank him for his time in Pittsburgh.
#1 Brian Giles: .279, 126 HR, 391 RBI
When the Pirates hit the turn of the century, they had a pretty solid young left fielder patroling PNC Park. 1999 was his first season in Pittsburgh, but he really started to come on as the calendar turned to the year 2000. He spent three and a half years of the 2000s in a Pirates uniform and ended up hitting .279 with 126 home runs and 391 RBI over that span. He still has one of the best defensive and offensive plays in PNC Park history as he has been a part of some of the big moments but never a winning team. He hit a walk-off grand slam to help the Pirates come back from an eight-run deficit and also robbed a home run over the left-field wall reaching four rows back to make the catch.
He had two all-star worthy seasons while with Pittsburgh, but his best came during the year 2000 when he set what were then career-highs in every offensive category. He ended up hitting .315 that season with 35 home runs and 123 RBI to lead the Pirates in all three offensive categories. Giles became a household name and as a regular fixture in the middle of the Pirates batting order. He was towards the top of the league in all three offensive categories and ended up being a starter in the all-star game. That season he played some of the best defense of his career committing just one error and tallying a .987 fielding percentage.
The Pirates essentially swapped one left fielder for another when they traded Giles to the San Diego Padres during the 2003 season. For Giles, the Pirates received Jason Bay, Oliver Perez, and Minor Leaguer Corey Stewart. Giles would go on to spend seven seasons in a Padres uniform and had success in San Diego just like he did in Pittsburgh. He never appeared in another all-star game but he continued to hit well batting .290 or better in three of those six seasons. Giles would sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a Minor League Free Agent in 2010, but didn't make the team and ended up retiring before the start of the regular season. It was Giles's big-play ability and his consistent offensive performance that earned him the top spot on our list.
That concludes our list of the top five Pirates right fielders since the 2000 season, featuring all-stars up and down the list. Who do you think should be added, who should stay, and who should be taken off? Let us know by following our Facebook page, Buccos Cove, and our Twitter page, @Buccos_Cove. Check us out for exclusive content every day as we count you down to the start of the Pirates season on July 24th, and take you through the year with coverage and analysis you can only see here.
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