Tom Shows Patience in First Pirates Start
The Pittsburgh Pirates' 2021 outfield situation has been a bit up in the air so far. The season started with Anthony Alford and Dustin Fowler battling for the starting centerfielder job, with Bryan Reynolds in left and Gregory Polanco in right. However, both Fowler and Alford have been DFA'd, Reynolds has moved over to center, and there is still no permanent fix in left field. Phillip Evans tried and hasn't been great, and Erik Gonzalez and Wilmer Difo have each had their struggles out there. In an attempt to try and go in a new direction, the Pirates decided to bring someone in from outside of the organization. So, they made a waiver claim on outfielder Ka'ai Tom, who was a Rule 5 Draft Pick of the Oakland Athletics and are going to try working him into the rotation.
After making his Pirates debut as a pinch-hitter a few days ago, Tom got his first career Pirates start on Friday night in the series opener with the St. Louis Cardinals. He reached base three times in his four at-bats, drawing three walks and finishing the night 0-1. So far, Tom has had five plate appearances with the Pirates and has drawn four walks. His on-base percentage jumped from .063 to .238 and the more he reaches base the more opportunity he gets to use his speed. Tom has been patient with the Pirates and has worked long at-bats in almost every Pirate plate appearance so far. Today, we look at Tom's first Pirate start and see if he could be the next guy to get a shot at a full-time outfield spot.
Patience, Patience, Patience
Throughout the night, Tom put together some great at-bats and saw a lot of pitches at the plate. He saw no less than four pitches in any of his at-bats and was able to work three walks on the night. Two of those three walks came in big situations as he led off the third with a walk and also had a big two-out walk in the sixth inning. Even when he struck out in the fourth inning, he was still able to battle at the plate and foul off tough pitches. However, his team could not pick him up and drive him in as he would be stranded on base all three times that he reached. His on-base percentage jumped to .238, and he showed good pitch selection throughout the night. In his best at-bat of the evening, Tom was able to see seven pitches, including fouling off some tough two-strike pitches, before eventually finding his way on base with a walk.
The at-bat came in the bottom of the sixth with two outs right after Kevin Newman singled, putting runners on first and second with two out. Tom fell behind in the count 1-2 and was forced to battle back to keep the inning alive. He ended fouling off to two tough two-strike pitches before working the count full to 3-2. Then, he got a tough curveball that went down and in, but he showed the patience to lay off the pitch and walked to load the bases. Because of this two-out walk, the team was able to score their first two runs of the ball game. Gregory Polanco would score on a balk, and Newman followed him home on a Wild Pitch that made the score 6-3. Those are the little at-bats that get lost during the course of a ball game but end up making a big difference in the end.
In his first two games with the Pirates, getting on base hasn't been a problem for Tom. In his first five plate appearances, he has an on-base percentage of .800, reaching base in four of his five plate appearances. With a guy who has a lot of speed like Tom, it is important that he get on base as much as possible to be able to use that speed to distract opposing pitchers. This is a guy who in the Minor Leagues could regularly steal double digits bases, with his career-high being 23 in 2017. He has also shown some power in the higher levels of the Minor Leagues and, once he fully develops, that could be a weapon for him to use in the Majors. So far, Tom has shown the patience to be a quality Major League hitter, he just needs to start getting the bat on ball more often to be successful.
How Tom May Play Into The Future
While it is still only a small sample size, Tom has already done more in two games than Fowler or Alford did in their time with the Pirates. Being that Tom is a Rule 5 guy, he will probably get more opportunities than either of the two aforementioned outfielders because the Pirates would have to send him back to the Indians if they would DFA him and he cleared waivers. At 26-years-old, Tom has shown that he can be a good hitter in the Minor Leagues with a career .270 average, including hitting .298 with nine home runs and 44 RBI in his first 55 Triple-A games in 2019. He has only had 17 at-bats in the Major Leagues, five with the Pirates, and he has shown the plate discipline he needs.
For a rookie, Tom's chase percentage has been very low in his first 17 Big League games. He has only chased 22% of the time, and when he does chase he is making contact 81% of the time. However, while he isn't chasing the ball out of the zone, he also isn't making contact very much when it's in the zone. He has a strikeout rate so far of 33.3%, which for a guy who hasn't yet shown any power in the Big Leagues is not a good thing. He makes contact in the zone at a 59.4% clip in his first 17 Major League at-bats, which sits 30% below Major League average. You also have to figure it has been almost two years since Tom played in a live regular-season game, and he is still working on getting his timing back that he had in 2019.
As for how the Pirates use Tom this season, I think he will get more playing time than we think. With the Pirates only having three true outfielders on their roster, and Phillip Evans showing trouble in the outfield, Tom might be the guy in left for a while. Bryan Reynolds is settled in as the team's centerfielder, so Tom will more than likely use his speed to traverse the big left field at PNC Park. This is an opportunity for Tom to start almost every day for the Pirates, and if he can take advantage he has the chance to be a solution out there long term. At just 26-years-old, he still has some developing to do, and with regular Big League at-bats, he could develop that power/contact combo we saw at Triple-A. However, if he continues to strikeouts and not put the bat on the ball, Ben Cherington has shown he is not afraid to DFA a player if he has to.
The Pittsburgh Pirates (12-13) look to bounce back after last night's series-opening loss as they take on the St. Louis Cardinals (14-12) at 6:35 pm. Trevor Cahill (1-2, 7.11) looks to be the good version of Cahill we saw last time out when he takes the hill for the Pirates against Jack Flaherty (4-0, 3.18) for the Cardinals. You can watch the game on AT&T Sportsnet or listen on 93.7 The Fan.
Despite his 3 walks, Tom was historically bad in his first Pirate start. After one of those walks, he was sacrificed to second base only to run into an out by rounding the bag and not being able to get back. So the sac bunt became a double play. He also looked terrible in the outfield, misplaying several balls including letting a routine fly ball drop in front of him with 2 outs and a run scoring on the blunder. And the only time he didn't walk he struck out with 2 runners aboard, 2 outs and the Pirates trailing by 2. He did not look like a major league ball player and his only asset seems to be his shortness that creates a small strike zone.
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