First baseman John Jaso has been a welcome addition to the Pittsburgh Pirates linuep in 2016. His ability to get on base at the top of the lineup has helped the Pirates score runs and set up big innings.
The Pittsburgh Pirates signed left handed hitting first baseman John Jaso this off-season to be a platoon partner with Michael Morse at the first base position. Not only has he taken over the first base position, but he has excelled at it in the early going this season. His defense has been very good for a guy who before this season only played a total of 5.0 inning at the position.
However, the thing that really made the Jaso signing worth the Pirates' while is his offensive production early on in the season. Batting mostly in the lead-off spot, he has done a nice job of making the starting pitcher throw a lot of pitches. Jaso has been known for his ability to get on base, and manager Clint Hurdle has used that to his advantage by having Jaso bat at the top of the lineup this season.
Currently, Jaso is hitting .346 with no home runs and four RBI while having a .417 on-base percentage. Jaso's .346 average is good for the team lead and ranks him 13th in all of major league baseball. He is seeing the ball really well these first couple of weeks and it is paying off at the plate. He hit .363 in the Brewers series and continues to show poise at the plate.
He has also been able to keep his reputation of a guy who can get on base tied for 19th in the league with a .417 OBP. He has a career OBP of .369 which puts him 24 points above the league average of .345. The key to this stat lies in Jaso's patience at the plate. This season he has seen 3.80 pitches per at bat. He makes the pitchers work to get him out and it has been a winning formula for him at the plate.
He has also been using PNC Park's spacious outfield gaps to his advantage as he is currently second on the team in doubles with four and has one of only four triples on the team. While Jaso may not be the fastest guy around he has been able to collect some extra base hits to help set up the Pirates offense this season.
Early on in the season, balls that have been put in play by Jaso are finding holes as Jaso owns a .383 BABIP. The old saying, sometimes its better to be lucky than good, holds true for this stat. If Jaso can consistently find holes and get on base for the Pirates, there is a good chance that the Pirates will be successful.
If there is one bad thing to say about Jaso it is his current strike out to walk ratio. Jaso currently has six walks and six strikeouts on the season giving him a 1:1 strikeout to walk ratio. Jaso likes to work deep in the count and that results in more strikeouts for him. As long as he can keep working the count and turn more of those at-bats into walks than strikeouts, he will be just fine at the top of the lineup.
Coming into the season, many fans were wondering how a guy with limited power like Jaso could come in and replace a big run producer in Pedro Alvarez. Well, at this time last season, Alvarez was only hitting .232 with four home runs and seven RBI from the middle of the Pirates order. Jaso clearly has the better average and is getting on base far more than Alvarez did as a Pirate.
Now as a designated hitter for the Baltimore Orioles, Alvarez is only hitting .143 with one RBI and a .314 on-base percentage. Jaso is a big improvement over Alvarez and it has shown for the Pirates both offensively and from a defensive stand point. Last season, Alvarez was one of the worst first baseman in the league ranking last among eligible first baseman with a .978 fielding percentage committing 23 errors.
Currently, Jaso has not made an error at the first base position in his 100.1 innings at the position. For a guy who coming into the season only played 5.0 innings at first base, he has impressed me so far this season making all of the plays that he needs to and then some. On more than one occasion, he has been able to make sliding and diving plays to take away would be base hits.
Jaso has also made some of the plays that don't show up on the score card at the end of the night. He has gotten some key outs by lunging out and stretching to catch the ball beating the runner to the bag. Those are the types of plays that most people don't see as anything spectacular, but it definitely helps at the end of the day.
Jaso has been arguably the best off-season signing to this point for the Pirates in 2016. He leads the team in average and has been able to get on base at a high rate. His defensive ability has also shone through in the early going. The question with Jaso is will he be able to keep this up as the season goes on. We will have to wait and see, however, in my opinion Jaso will do just fine manning the position for the Pirates.
John Jaso and the rest of the Pittsburgh Pirates will be back in action tonight for game two of a three game series against the San Diego Padres. On the mound for the Padres will be Drew Pomeranz (1-1 3.27). Last time out, Pomeranz pitched 6.0 innings giving up two runs on three hits while walking three and striking out eight in a losing effort against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Pirates will oppose with Jeff Locke (0-1 2.53) who is coming off of a rough start against the Milwaukee Brewers where he through 4.2 innings giving up two runs, three earned, on five hits while walking seven and striking out four. First pitch for tonight's game is scheduled for 10:10 p.m.
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