Position Report Card: Left Field

Starling Marte was not the only person to play left field for the Pittsburgh Pirates this season, but he was their primary left fielder, so we're going to focus on him for this position report card.

Starling Marte, who now has 2 full seasons under his belt for the Pirates, enjoyed his best year to date this season, having career best numbers in many offensive categories. Marte set career marks for hits (144), doubles (29), home runs (13), runs batted in (56), walks (33), batting average (.291), on-base percentage (.356), slugging percentage (.453), and OPS (.808). Marte also improved slightly in areas of his game that need some work. He decreased his strikeouts and caught stealings in 2014.

Overall, Marte's talent is still very raw. He is only 25 years old and his game is only going to keep improving. Marte has the ability to become a 30 home run and 30 stolen base kind of player in the near future. If that is indeed the case, the Buccos are going to be in great shape at one of the most important positions on the diamond.

***Overall Grade:  B

Position Report Card: First Base

Next on the list of position report cards for the Pittsburgh Pirates is the first base position, where time was split primarily between Gaby Sanchez and Ike Davis this year. For the past couple of seasons, the Pirates have played the match-up game when deciding who to run out their to first base. So this year if their opponent was throwing a left-handed pitcher, the Pirates would use Sanchez, a right-handed batter, and if they faced a right-handed pitcher, Davis would get the start, being a left-handed batter.

This worked out as well as you would think giving two guys limited reps, and never letting a single guy find his rhythm at the plate.... Not very well.

Gaby Sanchez, who has been with the Bucs for the past 2 1/2 years now, struggled this year at the plate. He hit only .229 with 7 home runs and 33 runs batted in. These are very wea numbers all around for a player that appeared in 123 games this season.

Ike Davis performed better than Sanchez, although still no where near great. Davis, who was traded over from the New York Mets this season, hit .235 with 10 home runs and 46 runs batted in. Davis had a very good eye at the plate. He worked 57 base on balls to bring his on-base percentage to a solid .343

Gaby Sanchez (left) and Ike Davis (middle)
photo cred: cityofchampionssports.com
 

It will be interesting to see if the Pirates make any additions to the first base position this off season, or if they decide to again go with the matchup game.

***Overall Grade:  C-