Perrotto: Who’s on First? The Pirates’ Battle for the Corner Bag (+)
Technically, the Pittsburgh Pirates had 10 first basemen last season. Yet for most of the wretched year, it seemed as if the Pirates had no first baseman at all.
The 10 men who took turns playing first base hit a measly .206/264/.337 with 17 homers. Their 61 OPS+ meant they were an adjusted 39% below major league average at the position as the Pirates finished 62-100.
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington, to his credit, moved decisively to fill the massive hole at first base in November. Cherington first moved to trade with the Tampa Bay Rays for Ji-Man Choi then signed Carlos Santana as a free agent.
So now the Pirates have two legitimate big league first basemen. The challenge for manager Derek Shelton in 2023 shifts from trying to find a first baseman who could provide some type of production to finding ways to get both Choi and Santana into the lineup.
Most of the time, one will play first base and the other will serve as the designated hitter. However, Shelton has yet to determine how he will split the playing time and likely won’t decide until late in spring training.
“No preconceived notion on it,” Shelton said last week during baseball’s Winter Meetings in San Diego. “We’ll get them in camp and see.”
Santana played 75 games at first and 49 as the DH last season with the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Mariners. Choi made 94 appearances at first and just 12 at DH.
Shelton realizes both players could have some limitations.
Santana will be 37 on April 8. Choi spent the last 4 ½ seasons absorbing the wear and tear of playing his home games for the Rays on the artificial turf at Tropicana Field.
“Carlos and I talked it — we have to just make sure we monitor his body,” Shelton said. “We are talking about a guy who’s 36 years old and has logged as many games as anybody in baseball or in the top three or four over the last few years. So, we have to do that.
“It’s going to be interesting once we get Ji-Man and talk to him. Now, he’s in a situation where he’s not on the turf as he was in Tampa and kind of work off that. So, it’d be more conversational or relationship things as we get into camp.”
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Regardless of how Shelton splits the playing time, he is excited to have both players. He also feels Major League Baseball abolishing infield shifts next season will help the two pull hitters.
“I appreciate the fact that we were aggressive coming into the offseason in terms of we knew first base was a place that we needed to get better. We added not only one but two,” Shelton said. “The fact that we were able to add Carlos into a situation where we have a ton of young Latin players, especially young Dominican players. If you’ve done any homework on Carlos Santana, we’re talking about an elite human being who we’re bringing into our clubhouse who wanted to be in Pittsburgh, was excited to be there.
“Then getting Ji Man, who can facilitate in so many roles, has the ability to hit. We have two guys who probably are going to benefit as much as anybody in the game from the lack of shifting. Those were important things. The fact that we were able to go out and probably take away one of our biggest needs early in the offseason by getting the first basemen and DH that we wanted was really important.”
Who’s on first? We’ll find out in March.