The Pittsburgh Pirates' first roadtrip of the 2021 season went about as poorly as one could imagine, dropping five straight games by an average of 5.4 runs after an Opening Day victory.
The offense was abysmal by all accounts, hitting .199 and driving in just 17 runs while striking out 59 times.
To this point, one player’s offensive woes are sticking out more than others: Gregory Polanco.
The former top prospect, now in his eighth MLB season, simply hasn’t gotten the job done. Entering Thursday’s home opener at PNC Park versus the Chicago Cubs, Polanco is 1-for-17 (.059) with zero extra-base hits and seven strikeouts.
Polanco’s numbers should not be so concerning, especially given that the team is just six games into a 162-game marathon. What makes his poor performance so alarming is that his career has become a clear pattern of inconsistency..
El Coffee’ started his career as hot as one could imagine. An 11-game hitting streak, highlighted by an astonishing 5-for-7 performance with an extra-inning home run in a June 2014 victory over the Miami Marlins, brought much promise to the future of the Pirates outfield.
Just a few months later, Polanco was briefly demoted to AAA Indianapolis after a poor stretch. He would finish his rookie season with a sub-modest .235 average, unable to crack the starting lineup in the team’s National League Wild Card Game loss versus the San Francisco Giants.
The next three seasons brought similar mediocrity from someone with once-limitless potential. Polanco slugged 22 homers and drove in 86 runs in 2016, but each of the three seasons produced a batting average just over the standard benchmark of .250 (.256 in 2015, .258 in 2016 and .251 in 2017).
The 2018 season looked to be Polanco’s breakthrough season. Entering a Sept. 8 contest versus the Marlins, Polanco was batting .254, but had hit 23 bombs and drove in 81 runs with three weeks left in the season.
That night, while trying to stretch a single into a double, Polanco jump slid into second base. He injured himself, and would miss the remainder of the season with a dislocated shoulder.
Since then, a once-golden arm from right field has not looked anywhere near the same. A promising athlete that could once gun down runners at the plate now struggles mightily.
By no fault of his own, Polanco was rushed back to action by April 2019. Polanco would play just 42 games, hitting a subpar .242 before missing the remainder of the season with shoulder inflammation. In a truncated 2020 campaign, Polanco batted an abysmal .153, striking out in 41% (65 of 157) of his at-bats. Despite this, Polanco was given yet another chance to prove himself in 2021, and it simply hasn’t worked out.
Holding onto Polanco seems smart from a front-office perspective. His 2021 salary of $11,600,000 accounts for over 20% of the team’s entire payroll, per Spotrac. If he can hit his way out of his slump, the team could hypothetically deal him in the way it has dealt the likes of Josh Bell, Joe Musgrove and Jameson Taillon over the past four months.
Well, bad news: He’s not hitting his way out of this slump. His track record to this point makes that very clear. And it’s at the point where he’s holding minor league players back.
Young outfield prospects like Jared Oliva and Travis Swaggerty are waiting for their chances. Keeping Polanco in the lineup on a daily basis is hurting their respective developments and progressions.
It’s clear that the Pirates won’t be competitive over the next couple of seasons. Despite his genuinely good and fun-loving character, moving on from Polanco would expedite the process of restoring competitive baseball to the North Shore.
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