Index cards stuffed in Pirates players' back pockets help put fielders in right spots

When Derek Shelton plants five players in the outfield grass — baseball teams normally use three — he is not trying to change the essence of the game or attract attention.

The Pittsburgh Pirates employ a team of analysts and coaches who study where opposing batters are likely to hit the ball. The idea is to get as many gloves as close to that spot as possible.

Common sense, according to Shelton.

The Pirates used that crowded-outfield deployment Wednesday night at PNC Park against the Milwaukee Brewers’ Justin Smoak, who has some pop in his bat with 192 career home runs and a .744 OPS in 10-plus seasons.

The alignment sent second baseman Adam Frazier, who has played 137 games in the outfield, into left-center between Bryan Reynolds and Jarrod Dyson. Third baseman Phillip Evans moved into shallow right field, and shortstop Erik Gonzalez shifted to the right of second base.

Actually, the Pirates didn’t need many fielders at all for Smoak’s at-bats, other than pitcher Joe Musgrove and catcher Jacob Stallings. He struck out three times.

Shifts are common in baseball.

The Los Angeles Dodgers once stationed four infielders between first and second base and got an out on a ground ball.

Former Pirates manager Clint Hurdle and his New York Mets teammate Rusty Staub switched between left and right field in a game in 1985, depending on whether the hitter batted left or right. The Mets were trying to hide Staub, 41 at the time and in the midst of his final season.

But you never know where the ball might land, which is why Tarrik Brock and Joey Cora, the Pirates’ first- and third-base coaches, devote many hours to the question.

The product of the Pirates’ detailed study of every opposing hitter’s tendencies is found on index cards Brock passes out to the players at the beginning of every series. A new series starts Friday against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, calling for a new set of index cards.

Players stuff the cards in their back pockets and glance at them — if they don’t memorize the contents — as each batter comes to the plate.

“It just makes it easier and puts a level of accountability on them,” Brock said. “We, as coaches, don’t have to sit in the dugout and move guys around and distract pitchers and hitters. It’s a better way of communicating.

“It’s just a way to make the game better, speed it up and have the guys in the right position for the pitchers.”

Those analytics pay off when an infielder plants himself outside his normal position and doesn’t need to move when the ball is hit directly at him. That happens, but the system is not foolproof. Sometimes, a fielder will vacate a spot where the ball is hit.

Nonetheless, major league coaching staffs don’t ignore tendencies and analytics.

“We’re all working as a team,” Brock said. “We have a team that does research. Joey and I check it as best as we can.”

After that, “We put it in the hands of the athletes,” he said.

The information is downloaded and disseminated to the players, but it’s up to the athletes to execute the play.

“Moreso, it’s just a combination of everything,” Brock said, “preparation work, a pitcher making a good pitch and our outfielders and infielders being in position to make a play for them.”

Shelton delegates responsibility but also contributes to the process.

“He’s on top of everything,” Brock said. “If there are any questions that he has or things that he wants you to take a deeper dive on, he’ll ask that, and you’ll go back and talk and make the final decision.”

Players also make suggestions, Brock said.

“Just a good environment to grow and just tinkering until we get it to exactly where we want it,” he said.

Shelton said the index cards are not unique to the Pirates.

“I think it’s probably within the last five years (that teams started using them),” he said. “In my career, we’ve been using them for a while.

“But you have to remember I worked for the (Tampa Bay) Rays, and we were kind of at the forefront of players shifting back then when Joe (Maddon, the manager) was there. So this is really familiar to me. I don’t think you’ll find a team now that doesn’t have somebody with something in their back pocket.

“We’ve seen the game trend that way more because we’re studying more where guys hit the ball. A guy hits the ball in X, Y or Z place and we want to stand there.”

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