Pirates hope post-surgical Gregory Polanco can be big part of reshaped outfield

Two seasons ago, the Pittsburgh Pirates had an outfield of Corey Dickerson, Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco — all on the under side of 30 with specific, serviceable skill sets.

• Dickerson, the left fielder, was on his way to a .300 season.

• Marte ended 2018 with an impressive quadruple-double of 33 stolen bases, 32 doubles, 20 home runs and 10 assists. Plus, he could track down gap shots as well as any centerfielder in the game.

• Polanco hit a career-high 23 homers and drove in 81 runs without finishing the season.

Finishing the season has turned out to be one of the biggest problems for the Pirates outfield.

Perhaps fans couldn’t expect to keep that outfield together for long, but it couldn’t even last through that season.

The downward spiral began Sept. 7 when Polanco slid awkwardly into second base in a 5-3 victory against the Miami Marlins at PNC Park, injuring his knee and throwing shoulder. The shoulder required surgery. His season was finished.

Less than a year later, with the Pirates hopelessly out of playoff contention, Dickerson was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies at the deadline. Marte went to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a trade last month.

It has left the Pirates with a hole in center field general manager Ben Cherington must fill and questions surrounding Polanco’s shoulder.

The good news centers on left fielder Bryan Reynolds, who hit .314 as a rookie last season.

Reynolds doesn’t have the power of first baseman Josh Bell (16 home runs isn’t a bad way to start a career, though), but he had just as many doubles (37) and one more triple (four).

If he hasn’t already, Cherington should thank former GM Neal Huntington, who traded Andrew McCutchen to the San Francisco Giants to get Reynolds and relief pitcher Kyle Crick.

There isn’t much outfield depth, however. The 40-man roster includes Kevin Kramer, whose resume includes 14 big-league games in the outfield, former Tampa Bay Rays player Guillermo Heredia, a lifetime .225 hitter who never has played for a National League team, and Jason Martin, who had shoulder surgery in October.

A name to watch in the minors is Arizona product Jared Oliva, the Pirates’ seventh-round draft choice in 2017.

Oliva, a 24-year-old center fielder, might not travel on the same fast track to the majors as Reynolds did. But just like Reynolds in 2019, Oliva is not on the 40-man roster this year after spending the previous season at Double-A Altoona.

Reynolds was a better Double-A hitter in 2018 than Oliva was in ’19 (.302/.277), but their home run and RBI numbers are similar (7/46 to 6/42). Oliva also has stolen 84 bases in three seasons.

Cherington has work to do on the major and minor league levels, but so much of the Pirates’ fate is tied up in something he can’t control: Polanco’s recovery.

After playing 42 games last season when he wasn’t fully healthy, Polanco was shut down after June 16 so he could concentrate on his rehab. So far, the medical reports have been good, but his workload will be monitored closely this spring and he could need more plasma injections into his shoulder.

During his PirateFest chat with reporters last month, Cherington was asked what Polanco’s return to health might mean to the lineup, especially as it pertains to protecting Bell in the cleanup spot. A feared bat stationed before or after Bell could mean more pitches in the hitting zone for the All-Star first baseman.

But Cherington is too smart to start speculating about his lineup before the first spring training game.

“You need 26 players cooking together to win games,” he said. “Mostly, our focus has been on helping (Polanco) feel good, feel supported, feel as strong as he can.

“Going into spring training, knock on wood, no setbacks. He’s at full participation. There’s nothing holding him back, that I’m aware of, from having a full, healthy season.”

But even a healthy Polanco, who is the team’s highest-paid position player this season at $8 million, only managed a hit once every four at-bats through his first six seasons (lifetime .252 batting average). He also could stand to reduce his strikeout rate (one in five plate appearances).

Yet, if Reynolds, Polanco and Bell were batting second, third and fourth — and all were injury-free — the middle of the Pirates’ lineup could generate significant home run and extra-base power.

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