Apparently I think much more highly of the Pirates batters than I should. But maybe it's because I see the potential in them, not the reality. For fun (really, fun?) I decided to punch in the starting eight to Baseball-Reference, to find the "most similar by ages" ...
1. RF Jose Nicolas Tabata. For a couple of years, I actually sponsored his page because from the get-go of my newpiratesfan-dom, he has been my favorite player. I see a potential .300 hitter, with some gap power, speed and D. Instead, we get Jake Gettman, who played one full season for the 1898 Washington Senators. I like the comps to Bill Buckner and Johnny Damon a bit better.
2. LF Alexander Crawford Presley. Having only played 104 games in his young career, Alex actually doesn't have a similar player posted yet. But his 162-game average of 272/308/405 with 9 homers and 20 steals makes me think of Mookie Wilson.
3. CF Andrew Stefan McCutchen. The Pirates biggest star has a lot of interesting players in his comps, including Ellis Burks, Bobby Bonds, Carlos Beltran and Chili Davis. But his most similar by age is Reggie Smith, who played nearly 2000 games, averaging 165 hits and 26 home runs a year over his 17 year career. I think Andrew is capable of even more, but that would be pretty satisfactory as well.
4. 3B Pedro Manuel Alvarez. Most think El Toro is capable of becoming one of the better power hitters of our generation, but wonder if he can put it all together. We've seen glimpses of a Ryan Howard type hitter, but right now, his comp is Steve Buechele. Somehow I think Pedro will hit more than 137 home runs.
5. 2B Neil Martin Walker. The Hometown Kid's comp is Ronnie Belliard? Yuck, looks like Neil has got some work to do, since his numbers have been in gradual decline mode since finishing fifth in the 2010 Rookie of the Year vote.
6. 1B Garrett Thomas Jones. GI almost scored well enough to get Rick Ankiel as a comp, but instead drew Lee Stevens. While not an overwhelming comp, Stevens did hit 127 home runs over a six year period, which I think sounds like Jonesy's max.
7. C Rodrigo Richard Barajas. Another fun ranking to look at is the Fan EloRater, which lists Rodrigo at #1594, right behind Ryan Theriot. But his comp (which accounts for positions) is Joe Oliver. His horrendous 1999 Pirate campaign notwithstanding, Joe did have a wee bit of pop in his bat, averaging 15 home runs over 162 games.
8. SS Clint Harold Barmes. While visions of Tim Tuefel dance in Pirate fans' head, Clint's true comp is Eddie Bressoud, who in 1964 actually made an All-Star team, hit 20 home runs once, and finished 26th and 30th in the MVP voting of 1962 and 1964. And while that sounds impressive, it's not really.
Someday I might try this exercise for the pitchers, but for now I'll settle on pulling my toe nails out, one by one.
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