Pittsburgh Pirates 2021 Previews: IF Kevin Newman
Over the last two seasons, Kevin Newman has gone from infield prospect to starting shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He won the job during the 2019 season when he hit .308 as a rookie with 12 home runs and 64 RBI. He was in the running for the rookie of the year award that season, and although he didn't win the job out of Spring Training, he sure showed he could handle the everyday duties. Heading into the 2020 season, the Pirates had no question that Kevin Newman was going to be their guy at shortstop and in the leadoff spot in the Batting Order. However, things didn't go the way Newman wanted as he entered his second full Big League season.
It was a year of struggles for a lot of players around the league, and Kevin Newman joined the club. He appeared in 44 games for the Pirates and hit .224 with a home run and 10 RBI. It was a far cry from the .308 mark that he hit during his rookie season, but he was still coming through in clutch situations for the Pirates. While his offensive numbers were dropping, his defensive numbers dropped as well as his fielding percentage went from .970 to .930 in the span of one off-season. At a position that is so defense-oriented, it was tough to watch Newman struggle so bad defensively. Today, we look at what led to Newman's struggles and how he can bounce back as the team's starting shortstop in 2021.
Down Year All-Around
Just like many of his teammates, Kevin Newman's offensive struggles were the result of a slow start at the beginning of the season. After going 1-4 in the team's opener against the St. Louis Cardinals, Newman failed to record a hit the rest of the month and only reached base twice during that span. He struck out four times in his five games played, and things weren't looking good for the then 26-year-old. It wasn't just his offense that got off to a slow start, but his defense too as he committed two errors in the field over his first five games to shoot his fielding percentage down the toilet. With such a slow month, Newman would almost need a miracle to turn things around.
The miracle would come against the Minnesota Twins on August 6th at PNC Park. Newman had gotten his batting average up to .167 thanks to a 5-12 streak at the beginning of the month but was looking to put himself back over .200. He would come up in the bottom of the ninth with runners on first and third and one out, and lines a pinch-hit single up the middle giving the Pirates the walk-off win. It was the first walk-off of the season for Newman and sent the infielder on a nine-game hitting streak, where he would tear the cover off the ball. Newman would hit .416 (15-36) with four RBI to get his average up to a respectable .292 mark. Overall in August, he hit .307 and got himself back on track both offensively and defensively.
September was a little more of a bumpy ride as Newman became very streaky on the offensive side of the ball. He hit just .181 during September and his average came back down to .224 by the end of the season. Newman's season was also cut short by injury after he took a fastball off his left knee. He would end up suffering a left-knee contusion and would end up missing the rest of the season. It was only the second time in his professional career that Newman found himself on the injured list and it put a damper on the end of the 2020 season. His defense got better as the year went on, as he committed just three errors over August and September, but his offense is looking to trend back upward in 2021.
Battle For Shortstop in 2021
In two years, the Pittsburgh Pirates' shortstop battle has come right back to where it started. After a down year from Newman, the starting shortstop job is still very much in the air as Newman and fellow infielder Erik Gonzalez battle for the position. Gonzalez is by far the better defensive player of the two, but Newman's offense has the edge as he provides more for the starting lineup day in and day out. Throughout his Minor League career, he has had an average over the .260 mark in all but one season, and his 2019 numbers seem to be a more accurate prediction of his skills. The thing that has made Newman so successful is his patience and that continued last season.
He ranked in the top 10% of the league for lowest strikeout rate sitting at 12.2% while walking a career-high 7.0% of the time. Newman is not going to chase many pitches out of the strike zone and he kept that going last season, chasing a career-low 27% of the time. So, if he doesn't strike out much and doesn't chase bad pitches, why were his numbers down? An answer can be seen in his BABIP, which sat at just .250 in 2020 as compared to .333 in 2019. His zone contact% (94.3%) and his chase contact% (67.4%) are both considerably higher than league average, but his hard-hit percentage is considerably below league average at 27.7% leading to bad luck sometimes.
For Newman, the key to his success comes when he makes solid contact and finds holes in the infield. He is not a guy who is going to wow you with power or extra-base hit ability, but he seems to have a knack for finding a way to get on base. It is this ability to sniff out the baseball that makes him such an enticing option, and what more than likely will win him the position at the start of 2021. Newman has had five walk-off hits in the last two seasons, the most of any Pirate, and can come through when his team needs him to. If he can learn how to do that consistently, he could be a staple in the Pirate's middle infield now and for years to come.
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