SAN DIEGO — In spring training, the Pirates spray-painted a white dot in left, center and right field. These represented the starting points for outfielders in the defensive grid, which the team tweaked this season to bring the outfielders closer to the infield.
The shallower outfield is the most noticeable aspect of the plan, but it is only part of a larger initiative to better tailor the outfield alignment to the batter-pitcher matchup.
“This was a small particle of what we’re trying to achieve to be a better team and to get more out of our players, the ability to put more pressure on the other side,” said Pirates first-base coach Rick Sofield, who works with the outfielders. “There are times that we want to be more shallow than we have previously. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re not deep at some times. Each hitter against each pitcher brings a different challenge or a different possibility.”
On opening day, Sofield said, he and the outfielders — left fielder Starling Marte, center fielder Andrew McCutchen, right fielder Gregory Polanco and fourth outfielder Matt Joyce — determined where “straight up” would be in PNC Park. Before each game, the players get a document detailing where they will play each hitter, which changes even within a series based on that day’s starting pitcher.
“As a group, we did tend to be deeper last year than ideally we wanted to be in most situations,” general manager Neal Huntington said. “There is an across-the-board intent to move our guys in a little bit, but then there is a much more nuanced approach with our outfield positioning based on a number of factors, the two big ones being hitter and pitcher.”
The Pirates know where every opposing batter hits every kind of pitch — 96 mph fastballs vs. 89 mph fastballs, changeups, curves, etc. This data informs the positioning.
From the straight-up position — for example, a right fielder is straight up when he is in line with both second and third base — the Pirates base their alignment on a defensive grid. While everyone has the same starting point, the shifts differ from player to player — Joyce will play the same hitter-pitcher combo differently than Marte, because of the difference in athleticism.
“When we were reviewing the numbers last year, there was so much collateral damage done in front of us last year,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “Balls that fell in, extra bases that were taken [as outfielders were] trying to get to balls, that it was glaringly apparent that we could make an adjustment on our end.”
Hurdle likened the adjustment to the difference between a free safety and a cornerback. By playing shallower, the players will have more of a cornerback mentality.
“You see a guy in Baltimore do it today as good as anybody did it back in the day, [Adam] Jones, their center fielder,” Hurdle said. “You’re on top of things and you just go get balls.”
Hurdle said they showed film of Jones to McCutchen, “And one of the great things about Andrew, he did his own work over the winter and looked at a number of guys as well.”
Bill Brink: bbrink@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrinkPG.
First Published: April 20, 2016, 2:50 a.m.
Updated: April 20, 2016, 4:38 a.m.
