Toe tap led Pirates’ Colin Moran to head of class among home-run hitters

Colin Moran is swinging the bat so well through the Pittsburgh Pirates’ first eight games that even a foul ball deserves mention.

His manager, Derek Shelton, can’t stop talking about one Moran hit Friday night against Chicago Cubs left-hander Kyle Ryan.

“It was aggressive,” said Shelton, who mentioned it before and after the game Saturday. “And last year, from watching his videos against left-handers, they weren’t aggressive like that.

“Seeing him take aggressive swings on every single pitch, the byproduct of that is we’re seeing him have success.”

Moran was leading the majors with five home runs entering Sunday’s games after hitting only 13 in 149 games last year. He didn’t hit his fifth until the 54th game. Talk among fans about prospect Ke’Bryan Hayes taking over third base has disappeared.

“I would be hard-pressed to say, watching him, that every swing he’s taken is not with intent aggressively,” Shelton said. “That’s what we challenged him on.”

Moran, a quiet 27-year-old not prone to talking about himself, hasn’t said much about his early-season success.

“If we get him to smile once a week, it’s a really good week,” Shelton said.

Moran did acknowledge he has been more aggressive at the plate, adding, “But I feel I was pretty aggressive last year, too.”

Moran, a product of the Gerrit Cole trade with the Houston Astros before the 2018 season, went home to Charlotte, N.C., during the offseason and quarantine and spent time in the Charlotte University batting cages.

He made one tweak to his batting style, replacing a leg kick with a toe tap with his front foot.

“Simplifying things,” he said. “Felt comfortable, felt better than the leg kick.”

Moran called it a trial-and-error method.

“I played around with it in the cages and felt something click. Been trying to make sure I’m consistently on time with it. I’ve tried a lot of things that didn’t work,” he said.

“I feel like every year the league makes adjustments. I try to pay attention to what I did well, didn’t do well. Try to capitalize on that.”

Moran’s slash line entering Sunday was .321/.367/.893 with a 1.260 OPS.

The only problem is one Moran can’t fix: He has driven in only seven runs with his five homers. That’s a product of the rest of the Pirates team that has been struggling at the plate.

Even with Moran’s contributions, the Pirates were last in the majors with a .178 batting average before Sunday. Only four others have homered: Josh Bell, Adam Frazier, Jose Osuna and Kevin Newman, with one each.

True to his nature, Moran doesn’t seem bothered.

“It’s the beginning of the season,” he said, “so everything feels like it’s more amplified.”

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