So Foo Bug got me thinking... if the Pirates have to fall back on Gregory Polanco in the middle of the season and he is not really tearing up AAA what can he bring to the team?
He is young and obviously could struggle at the plate so what about the rest of his game? Foo mentioned that Barry Bonds struggled a bit in his first half season as he hit only .223. The thing is when you dig a little deeper Bonds' batting average (and probably attitude) was the only downside to his game. Much like Bonds in his first go round in the majors what Polanco has shown over the last two years is that even when his batting average is down a bit or he isn't dominating competition he still has a low strikeout rate and a high walk rate.
So what does that say? Well that at the young age of 21 he could still handle AA pitching even though he wasn't dominating it. Now that jump to the majors is another beast all together but to this point there is no indication the he would not be able to adjust and at least be adequate. Heck, there was a point last year where Keith Law stated he would let Polanco take over right field right away over a guy like Andrew Lambo for pretty much that exact reason.
Now if hitting was his only ability then I would be concerned with moving him so quickly. However, much like we saw with Starling Marte this year when a player has the secondary skill to dominate on defense and be excellent on the bases then even an average bat is just fine. Barry Bonds only hit .223 his rookie year but because of his high walk rate he had a .330 OBP. Because of his ability on the bases he stole 36 bags. And we all know that despite that play in 1992 Barry could play in the outfield those first few years.
Well Gregory Polanco is said to be as good of a defender as Marte and he has 98 stolen bases in less than 300 minor league games. With an OPS in the .700's Barry Bonds managed a WAR of 3.5 his first half season. Last year Marte wasn't great at the plate but had a 1.1 WAR in 47 games which is what Jose Tabata managed in more than twice as many games in 2013. Marte managed the highest WAR among all left fielders in baseball in 2013 and that with a bat that could not push his OPS over .800. While WAR is obviously not a perfect stat I think most would agree Marte is one of the best at his position in the league.
So, if Polanco's bat does struggle a bit could he still be more valuable in right field than any other player currently in the organization?