The Pirates hired Andy Haines as hitting coach in December of 2021. His work is obvious - the Pirates are swinging at far fewer pitches out of the zone, fewer K's as a result, more baserunners, better pitches to hit. The two veteran hitters added this offseason - Cutch and Carlos Santana - are patient, will take a walk. The Pirates will have a plus offense once Cruz returns.
First, Suwinski can hit. Second, Hayes is hitting the ball hard, in the air more, just not getting rewarded. His BABIP of .244 is 70 points below his career average. His BA is .226 but his xBA (based on how hard the ball is struck and launch angle) is .296. Third, the Pirates have a really good C prospect in AAA, Endy Rodriguez, and another in AA, Henry Davis, so the weakest position has an upgrade on hand.
The pen is legit. Stephenson, Holderman, Bednar are simply brutal on right-handers and the latter two have excellent results against lefties as well.
Starting pitching now has three completely legit arms (Kellerman, Contreras and Oviedo), another who can dominate at times (Velasquez). Yeah, Hill is ... Hill. I get it. Know what? Look around baseball and check out #5 starters. Go ahead.
The team looks really good. Notice how good the infield defense is with Santana at 1st? Hayes is the best defensive 3rd baseman in the league and if he hits enough, he gets the gold glove.
This is a good team, with a lot of talented players in the pipeline. Oh, and the #1 overall pick that should be Dylan Crews, a legit power-hitting CFer who controls the strike zone, and can run. I'll take it.
