Derek Shelton wouldn’t go so far as to say the Pittsburgh Pirates are trying to create competition at certain positions, but the manager also didn’t deny there will be competition for starting jobs.

“We’re not trying to artificially create it, but there will be competition for the end of the year, going into the offseason and next year in spring training,” Shelton said. “The good thing about competition is it’s natural. It brings out the best in people. It’s kind of where we’re at as an organization, and it’s where we’re striving to get to to make people better. So yeah, there will definitely be competition.”

If the Pirates have manufactured a position battle, it’s in center field. Their search to replace Starling Marte started with speedy free agent Jarrod Dyson as a stopgap, turned to converting shortstop Cole Tucker, auditioning Anthony Alford and now moving Bryan Reynolds.

Tucker has started more games (17) than any Pirates player in center, though he had only started two of the previous nine before Sunday’s game at Kansas City. Alford started there three times in a four-game stretch, and Reynolds started four consecutive in center.

“I don’t think anyone’s going to win a job in these (last two weeks),” Tucker said. “You want to go out and perform and work to do that and to earn the trust and respect of your teammates and your coaches. But even last year, everyone thought we knew what our lineup was going to look like, and we surely didn’t. Things change in spring training, and as the next season unfolds, but I just want to go out and play well, show well, earn the trust of my teammates and staff and know that if center field is where they want to stick me, I’ll be fully capable of doing that.”

The revolving door in center has as much to do with an overcrowded middle infield as anything else. Erik Gonzalez has supplanted Kevin Newman as the starting shortstop, so Newman started eight games at second base and Shelton switched Adam Frazier to left field.

But the idea of playing Reynolds in center is intriguing. He played the position at Vanderbilt and in the minors and has long maintained he is more comfortable in center. Shelton discussed it with Reynolds and decided to give him a shot. In his first start, against the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 8, Reynolds threw out Nick Madrigal at the plate.

Shelton said Reynolds could see more time in center this season and next. That’s an indication the Pirates are pleased with his performance in the field, even if he has struggled at the plate in batting .176 with four home runs and 13 RBIs this season.

“Reynolds has done a nice job in center,” Shelton said. “Watching the video from him last year playing out there, his movements, his reads and breaks are really good there. To say watching it live that I was surprised that his reads are that good, I don’t know if I was surprised. But just having seen him in left and seeing him transfer over, I think he does a really nice job.”

If Reynolds remains in center, the Pirates have to decide what to do with Tucker. The 2014 first-round pick still brings infield and outfield gloves to games, and he takes grounders on the days he is not in the lineup.

Tucker is batting .235 with three doubles, one homer and eight RBIs in 33 games this season. He has made some spectacular plays in center but still is learning how to play balls hit to the North Side Notch in left-center and off the Clemente Wall in right, where it bounces differently off the plastic of the scoreboard and the chain-link fence atop the wall.

“I think Tuck’s taken to the outfield,” Shelton said. “He’s doing a nice job. It’s a little bit of a challenge. This is on me that we’re asking him to learn the outfield and learn two different spots.”

They started back to their old positions on Sunday at Kansas City, with Tucker in center at Reynolds in left until Jason Martin entered the game in the seventh inning. Martin played center, so Tucker switched to second base, playing the infield for the first time this season.

“It’s cool,” Tucker said. “The ‘outfield experiment’ still stands, I guess. Wherever they throw me, I’m just trying to gather as much as I can and make the most of where I am.”

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