With opening day under two weeks away, the roster is starting to take form for the Pittsburgh Pirates. There are, however, a few positions that are still open with camp winding down. The backup infielder position looks to be a two man battle between Josh Harrison and Yamaico Navarro. With the demotion of Jo Jo Reyes, the left-handed bullpen spot looks like it will go to either Tony Watson or Daniel Moskos. The most interesting player to keep an eye on to see if he gets a spot on the roster belongs to Matt Hague.
Hague has been tearing the cover off of the ball all spring training hitting .438 with four homers and nine RBIs. Hague has caught the attention of not only his coaches, but the fans of the Pirates who are hoping he grabs one of the final bench spots from Jake Fox or Nick Evans for opening day. Unlike the majority, I feel the Pirates need to send Hague to Triple-A, and leave the bench spot to Fox.
While Hague is hitting everything he sees as the plate, and is making a case for a bench spot, the Pirates would be better suited having Fox backup Garrett Jones and Casey McGehee. Jones has a lot to prove this year at first base for the Pirates, and isn’t the most defensively sound player on the Pirates. In years past, Jones has also had trouble hitting breaking balls or anything else that isn’t a fastball. So why shouldn’t Hague come up as insurance?
The answer is simple; let Hague gain more experience at Indianapolis. Would you rather have the possible first baseman of the future continue to improve at the minor league level, or have him be the next Pedro Ciriaco and not get off the bench in Pittsburgh? Last year in Indy, Hague batted .309 with 12 dingers and 75 RBIs as he made the Triple-A All-Star game for the first time. At 26 years old, Hague is still young enough for another half season of grooming before moving up to the big league team.
The last thing the club wants to do is rush Hague the way I feel they did Pedro Alvarez. If come June Hague is still swinging a hot bat, then would be the time to bring him to Pittsburgh to supplant Jones as the everyday first baseman. Remember, Hague has yet to play in a regular season big league game. It’s hard not to like what Hague has done this spring, but what happens in spring training doesn’t matter. The fields are different, the wind is different and the pitchers are often trying different things while throwing. As I stated on John Buffone’s radio show as a guest a few weeks back, Fox, who was with the Orioles last spring, led all hitters in spring training with 10 home runs, with 15 RBIs and a .297 average. Do you know what happened to Fox in the regular season? He was demoted to Triple-A Norfolk after hitting just .246 and two home runs.
While I’m going against the grain with my advice, I do believe Hague has what it takes to be an effective everyday player for the Pirates. He’s hit at every level of baseball, and there’s no reason to think he’ll stop now.
Photo Credits: Joy R. Absalon-US PRESSWIRE – Presswire
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