Pirates utility player Michael Chavis learns to harness his diverse skills in quest for playing time

Michael Chavis can do so much on a baseball field that he needs to be careful: Sometimes, he ends up trying to do too much.

That was his dilemma with the Pittsburgh Pirates in spring training while competing for playing time. He settled down in the final days before the start of the regular season, revealed his natural skill with a bat in his hand and displayed the important ability to play multiple positions.

“Early in the spring, he didn’t swing the bat very well. He was trying to find his swing,” manager Derek Shelton said. “He was trying to find his groove a little bit.”

Shelton said hitting coach Andy Haines and assistant Christian Marrero helped Chavis adjust his swing and become more aggressive in the batter’s box.

Chavis said it was a matter of putting the meat part of the bat on the ball.

“A lot of it is really just what I’m trying to do with the ball,” he said. “A lot of it was not trying to do too much, truly.

“Subconsciously, it’s so easy for you to fall into that trap of trying to hit a home run or trying to destroy the ball every single time. I’m really just trying to catch it on the barrel right now, keep things simple, and that’s really what’s showing up.”

The results so far have been good. Before the Pirates’ game Monday night in Milwaukee, Chavis was hitting .500 (8 for 16) and leading the team in RBIs (six, thanks to his grand slam April 10 in St. Louis) — even while playing in only six of the first nine games.

Since he was a first-round draft choice of the Boston Red Sox in 2014, he has played every infield position, plus both corner outfield spots, in either MLB or the minor leagues.

Hoping Chavis, 26, could become part of their future, the Pirates acquired him from the Red Sox at the 2021 trade deadline for pitcher Austin Davis.

With the Pirates this season, he has started at first and third base, but he also can’t be ignored as an option at second. He’s part of a mix of players there that includes Diego Castillo, Hoy Park, Cole Tucker and Josh VanMeter.

“He’s got the ability to play in multiple spots on the diamond and swing the bat,” Shelton said of Chavis. “That’s a very useful tool for us.”

He won’t get many chances at third, but he started there against the Washington Nationals on Sunday when Shelton wanted to give Ke’Bryan Hayes some time off. When Hayes entered the game for defensive purposes in the eighth inning, Chavis moved to first.

But not before he robbed the Nationals’ Cesar Hernandez of extra bases with a diving grab of a line drive behind the bag.

“(Playing defense) is significant to me because I had to work for it,” Chavis said. “I was always pretty talented at hitting, but I was never really taught how to field a groundball until I got to pro ball.

“So once I got to pro ball, it was something I had to work at to be good at. So when I make a good play or I do something like that defensively, it’s something I’m truly proud of.”

With the bat this season, he’s done a little of everything — a double, triple and home run, plus five singles — and struck out for the first time Sunday.

“I’m not expecting to hit .500 the whole year,” he said. “But I’m really happy with the at-bats I’m putting together.”

The triple Saturday night was as much the result of hitting the ball hard — 107.2 mph, the Pirates’ hardest hit of the game — as it was thinking while his feet were in motion.

“I saw (Nationals left fielder Yadiel Hernandez) coming up to throw, and it had just a little air in it,” Chavis said. “So I knew with the height of that throw, I knew I had enough time to get to third base.

“It comes with playing the game. You start getting used to seeing the trajectory out of the hand, how fast it comes out of the hand, you get a feel for how fast you are and how much time you have.”

Chavis said coming to the Pirates was like pumping life into his career.

“I have an awesome opportunity,” he said. “Guys enjoy playing baseball here. I know we haven’t had the best record the past few years, but guys here want to win and I think that’s really something that’s significant.”

Every Pirates victory this season has occurred after erasing a deficit. Chavis hopes that also says something about the team.

“We’re down one run in the eighth inning (Sunday),” he said. “It would have been so easy — we lost (101) games last year — to say ‘Oh it’s another loss.’ But we fought back. We fought back the night before. It says a lot about the guys and the attitude we have in this clubhouse.”