Pittsburgh Pirates 2021 Previews: IF Will Craig
In the first round of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected a power-hitting first baseman out of Wake Forrest. During the first two years of his professional career, his power really didn't show through, but once he made it to the higher levels of the Minor Leagues he showed that power that the Pirates were waiting for. He hit 20 home runs in Double-A Altoona in 2018 and followed that with a 23 home run season at Triple-A in 2019. That player was Pirates infielder Will Craig who is now looking for a shot at the Major League level. Over the last two seasons, Craig has been blocked by Josh Bell, but since Bell was traded Craig has a chance to prove his worth.
So far this spring, Craig has not made a great impression hitting just .238 with a home run and an RBI so far over 21 at-bats. During the 2020 season, Craig spent most of the time at the Pirates Alternate Training site but was able to make his MLB debut. He appeared in two games for the Pirates and had just four Major League at-bats, going 0-4 with a strikeout in two separate doubleheaders against the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers. However, it wasn't enough as he was sent back down to the alternate training site and did not return to the Major Leagues. Now entering his age 26 season, it is now or never for Craig to show he can be a consistent Major Leaguer. Today, we look back at Craig's career and see if the Pirates can salvage their 2016 first-round pick or if he is a bust that the Pirates should move on from.
Growing Power Threat
When he first entered Major League Baseball, Will Craig wasn't living up to his power that he showed at Wake Forrest. Through his first two seasons of professional baseball, he had just right home runs but consistently hit between .270 and .280. Then, the power started to develop in Double-A Altoona, and Craig started to show a glimpse of his college success. He ended up hitting .248 with 20 home runs and 102 RBI that season, leading the Altoona Curve in both home runs and RBI. However, with the new power came a new strikeout ability as he went down a career-high 23% of the time and his average dropped 30 points from the season before.
This was a trend that continued in Triple-A, as Craig once again hit for tremendous power with 23 home runs but struck put an even worse 26.2% of the time. However, his batting average stayed pretty consistent as he hit .249 throughout the year, and was able to drive in 78 RBI. While his RBI numbers went down, Craig was still consistently finding the gaps with his power, but he still wasn't doing enough to get the call to the Big Leagues. Craig knew something was wrong at the end of the season when he was getting tired more easily. Because of this, Craig committed to losing 30 pounds in the off-season and came into Spring Training 2020 in the best shape of his life.
The change really did not affect Craig's stats as he stayed with his career average during spring, hitting .217 with a home run and three RBI. Even with the shutdown and the expanded roster, it still wasn't enough for Craig to make the Big League roster as he was sent to the Pirates alternate training site. While there, his main focus was to find his way onto the Big League roster someway somehow. He would try everything from working on his offensive game to switching things up and learning the outfield. That call finally came on August 27th when the Pirates went to take on the St. Louis Cardinals in the doubleheader. He may not have gotten the results he wanted, but it was a step forward as he got his feet wet at the Big League level.
His Final Shot in 2021
As Will Craig gets set for the 2021 season, he knows this is a big season for him and the Pirates organization. At 26-years-old, he still hasn't played consistently in the Big Leagues and he is looking to do that in 2021. He has the power to be able to hit the ball out of the ballpark on a consistent basis, but his strikeouts are where the problems start to arise. His strikeouts rate has risen each of the last two seasons, and he went down a career-high 146 times during the 2019 season. This is something he tried to work on at the alternate training site, but in the short amount of live-action he did see, he went down one time on strikes in his four plate appearances.
Even in his short time in the Big Leagues last season, Craig showed that his biggest problem comes with chasing the ball out of the strike zone. In a very small Major League sample size, Craig chased pitches 45.3% of the time during his first four MLB at-bats. Compare that to his 72.7% swing rate and it shows that Craig is swinging a lot, but a lot of the time he is also coming up empty. However, when he did make contact, it was usually hard contact as he had a hard hit percentage of 33.3% in his short time in the Major Leagues. If Craig can make a little more contact than he has been, he could be a guy whose power takes advantage of the short porch in right field that PNC Park has to offer.
I think that we will see Will Craig in the Major Leagues at some point this season, the question is when. As of now, Colin Moran and Todd Frazier are manning first base, so Craig will more than likely start the year at Triple-A Indianapolis. However, as the season goes on with trades possibly looming, Craig could find his way in the Big Leagues halfway through the season. Craig's power is a big asset to his game, but he has to show that he can use that power to cut down on his strikeouts. The 146 K's in 2019 was alarming, and if Craig can show that he can slow those down a little bit, he could become a fixture in the middle of the Pirates lineup. However, it is now or never for Craig as he is fighting for his Major League life with the Pirates in 2021.
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