Perrotto: Pirates’ Outfield Alignment Could Be out of Line

Pitching and defense go hand in hand. That’s a baseball cliché because it’s true.

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ strength going into the upcoming season is its starting pitching. Reigning National League Rookie of the Year winner Paul Skenes leads an intriguing group of pitchers.

However, it remains to be seen if the Pirates will build a strong enough defense to complement their rotation. Last season, the Pirates were 20th in fielding percentage and 24th in defensive efficiency.

The Pirates have also continued a reshuffling of their outfield during spring training that began late last season when Oneil Cruz shifted from shortstop to center field. He struggled in 23 games, grading out at minus-3 defensive runs saved.

The Pirates remain committed to Cruz in center field. They believe the 6-foot-7 Cruz has the speed to chase down fly balls from gap to gap and feel he already has one of the strongest arms of any major-league outfielder.

Time will tell if Cruz pans out as a center fielder. He was not happy about the position switch last year and looked unsteady in the outfield. The Pirates are hopeful Cruz can use a full spring training to become more comfortable.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton dropped a bit of a surprise when spring training opened last week by saying Bryan Reynolds would be his primary right fielder this season. Last year, Reynolds began the season in right but moved to left field after just 16 starts.

Reynolds led the National League with 11 outfield assists last season.

“I think it’s a combination of a bunch of things,” Shelton said of the switch. “We started him there last year at the beginning of the year and planned on keeping him there and then because of other circumstances (he went back to left). But Bryan had 11 outfield assists last year and now we’re going to shorten up where he’s at. I think we can take advantage of his full skillset by being in right.”

That is a polite way to say the 30-year-old Reynolds is losing range and having a harder time covering the spacious left-center field gap at PNC Park. Despite the double-digit assists, Reynolds was minus-5 in DRS in left field.

“It’s just certainly part of this trying to put Bryan in the best possible spot,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said. “As we look out over his career and how it we’re kind of evolving as a team, we felt like if the opportunity presented a move the right field, just let him establish himself, let him settle in there as an everyday player.

“We felt at this point in his career and where we are as a team, it could make sense, that it could make the team better. With Reynolds, we prefer not to move him around a lot, just let him get settled in one spot and this is an opportunity to do that.”

That leaves Tommy Pham at the top of the left-field depth chart after signing a one-year contract worth $4.025.000 last week as a free agent.

Playing Pham in left field at PNC Park is a gamble. He had minus-seven DRS just 83 games in the outfield for three teams last season and turns 37 on March 8.

Pham says the bad metrics came from playing too deep for most of the season and improved when he began playing shallower.

We’ll find out soon enough if that form holds true. Yet there is a good chance that a lot of balls are going to fall in for base hits this year for Pirates’ opponents.