The Pirates have had a little power surge of late and are now 17th among MLB teams in terms of hitting home runs. The Pirates have hit 73 home runs in their first 72 games, which puts them on pace to hit the most home runs they have had since 2014,
And while being 17th in the majors in home runs may not seem like a significant feat, it is when you consider how devoid of power the Pirates have been in recent years. If they finish the season 17th, it would mark the first time since 2014 that they finished higher than 25th. There are only 30 teams in the majors, so the fact that the Pirates have regularly finished 25 or below means they have been one of the worst power hitting teams in baseball.
Part of it was the previous front office had a philosophy of playing to batting average and on-base percentage as opposed to power ,but the larger part of it was the Pirates just didn’t have a lot of players capable of hitting home runs.
Last season, the Pirates were last in MLB in home runs. In 2020, they were tied for 27th. And only three teams hit fewer than they did and in 2019. It is incredible how little power the Pirates have had since that 2014 group, which featured two 20-plus home run hitters in Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker, plus Pedro Alvarez, who hit 18 in 122 games, and six other players who hit at least 10 home runs.
The Pirates hit 156 home runs that season and finished sixth in the majors and were 10th in terms of scoring runs.
This team will probably hit more home runs than that but may not finish quite as high among major league teams because home runs in general have been up in recent years. Still, the Pirates have a chance to display more power than they have in almost a decade, and that’s not a coincidence.
In fact, if chicks truly do dig the long ball as those old commercials said, there is a good chance they will grow to really like these Pirates over the next few years because they seem to have some good young hitters that all have at least a little bit of power. That should bode well for the near future and is a welcome change from the most recent years when the Pirates just never hit home runs.
The philosophy of “small ball” is nice in principle, but home runs win baseball games. This much has been proven over time and that is why the emphasis on launch angles became a thing and why statistics like batting average are considered almost irrelevant.
You can hit three singles in an inning and not score a run. You can hit two singles and steal a base in an inning and not score a run. You can have four or five hits in an inning and score only a run or two. It is hard to continue to have to manufacture runs every single game and score enough consistently to win.
Home runs change games, home runs lead to big numbers being put up in innings, and home runs often become the difference between winning and losing games. And the Pirates all of the sudden have the look of a team that may actually be able to hit enough home runs to become relevant again.
The Pirates have some really good young players who, while they aren’t pure home run hitters, have enough power to hit at least 15 or so a year. The leader of that is Jack Suwinski, who is only 23 but is tied with the team lead with 12 home runs. I was skeptical of Suwinski’s power at first, but I am beginning to believe it could be sustainable, as his swing seems to have a lot of natural power in it. He bombed one 443 feet the other day and he also had a three-homer game last week.
Bryan Reynolds may or may not be a part of the long-term future, but he has 12 home runs and seems like a lock to get to about 24-25 home runs this year if he is healthy. Michael Chavis and Diego Castillo have shown they are both capable of hitting 15-20 home runs in a season.
Oneil Cruz is an actual power hitter and will, at some point, begin to hit balls into the river behind PNC Park. He has a chance to be a 30-home run player, and the Pirates have a few prospects like Nick Gonzalez and Henry Davis who aren’t that far away from being on the major league roster and have at least a little power.
I am not saying the Pirates are becoming the old Lumber Company of the 1970s, but they are certainly going to be a team that will be fun to watch because they will have multiple players who can hit home runs. That isn’t something they have had in a long time, and it is one of several reasons they have struggled to score runs and win games.
