Position Report Card: Second Base

Neil Walker at his alma malter, Pine Richland
photo cred: pinerichland.org

Every Pittsburgh Pirate fan knows who the team's starting 2nd baseman is. It is Neil Walker the Pittsburgh Kid out of Pine Richland high school, and up until this year being the "Pittsburgh Kid" was probably the best part of his game, but not anymore.

Although he battled injuries for a part of the 2014 season, Walker enjoyed his best season of his career both offensively and defensively. If it wasn't for getting hurt, Walker would have been an All-Star selection this season. Walker hit a solid .271 with an impressive 23 home runs and 76 runs batted in. Along with the great offensive output, Walker made only 5 errors in a whopping 630 chances, giving him a .992 fielding percentage. Walker also showed a great improvement with his range this year, surprising us as fans time-after-time with some great game changing plays.

photo cred:  espn.com

Walker definitely surprised me with his great 2014 season, and as a Pittsburgh Pirates fan and Pittsburgh native, I am really looking forward to seeing what he can do as an encore in 2015. I wouldn't be surprised if we see Walker representing the National League at 2nd base next year at the Mid-Summer Classic.

***Overall Grade:  B+

Position Report Card: Shortstop

The next position that will be examined in the post-season position report cards for the Pittsburgh Pirates will be shortstop. Shortstop is one of the most crucial positions in all of baseball, and the Pirates have been  pretty weak here in the recent past.

This year's shortstop was primarily Oklahoma St. product, Jordy Mercer, with a little bit of Clint Barmes mixed in as well. Mercer provided the offense from the position, while Barmes' main role was as a defensive specialist. Although most casual baseball fans probably couldn't tell you who Jordy Mercer or Clint Barmes is, they did a fine enough job this year for the Bucs.

After a very shaky first couple of months of the season for Mercer where he was batting in the .100's, he figured it out and became of of the most productive National League shortstops over the rest of the year. Mercer ended the year hitting .255 with 12 home runs and 55 runs batted in. Mercer was also extremely durable, playing in 149 of 162 total games this past year. Mercer has room to improve defensively in 2015 though, he committed 11 errors this year giving him a .982 fielding percentage.

Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop, Jordy Mercer
photo cred:  baseballnewssource.com

Clint Barmes played in only 48 games in 2014, his lowest total since his 2007 campaign in Colorado. His numbers were not great either. He batted .245 with 0 home runs and just 7 runs batted in. His fielding percentage was not normal of Barmes either. He fielded at just a .975%. Barmes is a free agent this off season, don't look for the Pirates to re-sign him.

Clint Barmes
photo cred:  zimbio.com

So if you throw out a month or two worth of at-bats for Mercer, the offensive numbers produced by Pirates shortstops this season would be pretty good, unfortunately that's not how it works. So below average numbers at the plate and shaky defense do not help this grade.

***Overall Grade:  C