Polanco Injury Brings Questions to Pirates Outfield
During the off-season, outfielder Gregory Polanco has been working on his game in the Dominican Republic Winter League. He was playing for Leones del Escogido and was hitting .197 with two home runs and nine RBI over 21 games between outfield and designated hitter. However, his season has come to an end as he has a "small non-displaced fracture of the triquetrum bone." Reports say that Polanco will be 100% by the time Spring Training rolls around, but the wrist will have to be immobilized for a short period of time. Polanco has dealt with a few different injuries in recent years and has only played a combined 92 games since September 8th, 2018, and hasn't played in a full season yet.
He is in the final year of his five-year, 34 million dollars, contract and is owed 11 million this season. While he is expected to be back for Spring Training, the injury does bring up the question of whether or not the Pirates have enough outfield depth should Polanco not be ready. Ben Cherrington said that picking up a young MLB ready outfielder was one of his priorities this season, and with Polanco currently on the mend, it becomes even more important. The future is still a year or two away as the Pirate's #6 prospect Travis Swaggerty and #15 Cal Mitchell are both just starting Double-A. We look at the severity of Polanco's injury and who the Pirates might call on if a setback occurs.
Polanco's Winter Season-Ending Injury
While his stats in the Dominican Winter League weren't impressive, .197 2 HR and 9 RBI, he was making some progress. He had dropped his strikeout rate from nearly 40% last season to just over 20% this season. However, that progress will now stop as the 29-year-old outfielder rests for the start of Spring Training 2021. But what exactly is a small non-displaced fracture of the triquetrum bone? According to Healthline, the triquetrum bone is the most commonly fractured bone in the wrist and usually occurs when you brace yourself during a fall. Surgery is usually not required in these cases, and for Polanco, they are immobilizing the wrist. The injury usually takes about a month to heal.
With that in mind, Polanco should be ready to go by the end of January and, if there are no setbacks, should be good to go for the start of Spring Training at the end of February. Polanco has dealt with his fair share of injuries since the 2018 season, with the biggest being his shoulder surgery at the end of 2018. This isn't the start to the 2021 season that Polanco imagined, but hopefully, he can be at full strength by the time the team reports. Polanco has played in just 92 games since September 2018 and is trying to show that he still has talent in the tank as he enters the final year of his contract. He is hoping to break out so that he can test the free-agent market.
After the Josh Bell trade on Christmas Eve, Polanco now becomes the longest-tenured Pirate player on the team. He made his MLB debut in 2014 and hasn't quite met the hype that followed him. His best season was in 2016 when he hit .258 with 22 home runs and 86 RBI. It was one of only two seasons where Polanco hit 20 or more home runs and his batting average never went above that point any other time in his career. Ben Cherrington and Pirates ownership seem to have confidence in Polanco, even if it is because they owe him 11 million this season, and all signs point to him being the starting right fielder in 2021.
Polanco's Back-up
However, if Polanco hits any setback and has to delay his 2021 season, who is up next? The obvious choice would be to keep Cole Tucker as an outfielder and have him in center field, Bryan Reynolds in left, and Anthony Alford in right. Of course, there was an adjustment period last season, but Tucker played solid defense not committing an error in 246 innings of work. He made all the plays that he had to make and collected 54 putouts throughout the year. Tucker has the speed to play outfield, but his arm strength needs some work from centerfield. Plus, his offense has yet to come around as he hit just .220 with one home run and eight RBI. If Tucker wants to succeed in the outfield, he has got to get his offense to improve.
Another option is to advance the Pirate's #6 overall prospect Travis Swaggerty straight to the Big Leagues. Swaggerty spent time at the Pirates alternate training site last season but hasn't played a live game above Advanced-A Ball yet in his career. In 2019, Swaggerty was playing with Advanced-A Bradenton and ended up hitting .265 with nine home runs and 40 RBI in 121 games played. All of those numbers were career-highs as Swaggerty tries to prove he can be a top of the lineup bat. Swaggerty was drafted in the first round of the 2018 draft and has an expected ETA in the Major Leagues of 2021 according to MLB Pipeline. He will likely start the year with Triple-A Indianapolis, with hopes of making the Big League club during the second half of the season.
The final option would be to move Jared Oliva into centerfield and give him a full-time shot at the Big League level. The Pirates got a 16 at-bat peak at Oliva last season when he hit .188 over his six MLB games. However, a look at his first three years of professional baseball shows that he has the ability to consistently hit the ball. He is a career .274 hitter and if it weren't for the Minor League shutdown would have been in Triple-A last season. Oliva is definitely the fastest of the three options, as he had back-to-back 30+ stolen base seasons in 2018 and 2019. If Oliva would be the option the Pirates would go with, he would likely be the center fielder with Reynolds and Alford flanking him. Polanco's injury doesn't seem to be holding him back for the season, but the Pirates do have back-up plans if need be.
Would wo a doubt use Oliva as the starting center fielder with there being no other option as it is currently. Having seen Olivia play there are a lot worse players / options you could spend money on
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