Pirates counting on speedy Jarrod Dyson to solidify center field, provide veteran leadership
When Jarrod Dyson homered in Monday night’s intrasquad game, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton joked it was fun to watch the “fastest guy running around the bases in the big leagues.”
After striking out in his first three at-bats, Dyson cracked that he was just trying to “get off the field real quick, man.” When he hits a homer run in a regular-season game — he has 21 homers in his 10-year career but hit seven last season alone — Dyson promised he plans to take his good ol’ time.
“Absolutely, man,” Dyson said. “Everything I do is slow until I take off. I’m going to jog it out. I don’t hit many homers, so I’ve got to enjoy it.”
When he takes off, however, the 5-foot-9, 165-pound Dyson is one of the fastest players in baseball. The Pirates signed the 35-year-old to a one-year, $2 million contract primarily for his speed on the basepaths and on defense, where Dyson will patrol center field at PNC Park.
“I think we identified the people that were going to fit our ballclub, and we were lucky we were able to sign (Dyson) late,” Shelton said. “He definitely solidifies the middle of the field. He’s like the Energizer bunny. The guy continues to age, but his speed maintains and he continues to play really good defense. That’s something that’s important to us.”
Dyson has big shoes to fill in replacing Starling Marte, a two-time Gold Glove winner, in center field. A career .247 hitter, Dyson won’t be counted on to do it with his bat. But he has a career .319 on-base percentage and is a threat on the base paths, with 30 stolen bases last season to give him 250 for his career.
Where he might be an upgrade over Marte is on defense.
So far, Dyson is showing he can cover a lot of ground between Bryan Reynolds in left and Gregory Polanco in right. And that’s by design, as Dyson hopes to help preserve their legs for offense.
“They’ve seen me play. They know I can run a little bit. I done told those guys, ‘You know, I’m going to try to save you guys’ legs as much as possible,’ because we know the type of damage they can do at the plate,” Dyson said. “I know I can go gap to gap and go get it, no problem. Anything I can do out there, if I can take pressure off them, I’m all for it. I’m sure they’re all for it, as well. …
“I’ve got to do everything I can to take any kind of slack I can off them, and that’s my job. That’s how I look at it. That’s how I approach defense. Any time I can stop my pitchers from throwing an extra pitch, I’m all for it. I’m about making plays.”
The key for Dyson in training camp is to familiarize himself with the idiosyncrasies of PNC Park, more so the outfield shadows than the North Side Notch in left-center or the 21-foot Clemente Wall in right. That was especially challenging when the Pirates played a 7 p.m. intrasquad game, and the sun was starting to set.
“I’ve been burnt in this ballpark before, so I know how it is when it comes off the wall,” Dyson said. “The shadows, it’s something you still want to get used to. I think that’s the most important part for me is seeing when the sun’s getting ready to go down how the ball’s going to be looking. That’s tough. I’m not going to lie.”
What Dyson is looking to do is bring veteran leadership and positive energy to a young club with a new manager, bench coach, first base/outfield coach and pitching coach. After playing seven seasons in Kansas City and winning a World Series with the Royals, Dyson spent one year in Seattle and the past two with Arizona. The Pirates signed him as much for his leadership as they did his defense.
“Yeah, they told me about that,” Dyson said, “but as an older guy, you kind of already know that when you look at the roster and realize that everybody’s 28 on down. Being an older guy, you’re always going to come in and show leadership and give your experience on the game. Trying to help out as much as possible ‘cause that’s our way of giving back to the game.”
Shelton pointed to Dyson being first in line for baserunning drills, even though he’s the team’s oldest player.
“He’s the tone setter for this,” Shelton said. “We’ve asked him to be aggressive on the bases. We know he has the ability to be an elite base stealer. For him to be the first guy in that line, going as he hard as he was – and we weren’t going at 100% but we were going at 85% — paying attention to his cuts, paying attention to his breaks.”
That was a sign of leadership and elite baserunning. As a fun-loving veteran presence who knows how to keep a clubhouse loose and when to get his work in, Dyson brings a different dimension to the lineup as a base-stealing threat who is dynamic in the field.
“He definitely brings personality,” Shelton said. “I know he brings energy.”
Dyson believes his personality is a perfect fit for the Pirates.
And he’s enjoying the energy of this team as much they are his sense of humor.
“I love to crack jokes, love to have fun, and also I love to get my work in,” Dyson said. “You see an old guy like me going about his business like that, the rest will follow. You can’t make no excuses. If you’ve got somebody at 35 running the bases hard and doing their stuff hard, it makes the young guy feel like, hey, I can’t make no excuses. I’ve got to go hard, too.”
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
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