Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Alen Hanson has been a member of the Pirates organization for six years and finally got his call to the big leagues today. Hanson made his major league debut tonight and struck out in his first at bay.
On Monday, the Pittsburgh Pirates place left fielder Starling Marte on the paternity list and recalled Alen Hanson from triple A Indianapolis. Hanson has spent most of his professional career as a short stop and was at one time looked at as the Pirates short stop of the future.
Hanson has been a member of the Pirates organization since being drafted back in 2010. Since then, he has been developing as a short stop and recently got some work in the outfield to help up his stock and his chances to make the big league roster.
This season, Hanson was batting .288 with two home runs and 10 RBI in 27 games played for Triple A Indianapolis. Hanson made his major league debut On Monday night and struck out in his only at bat.
Throughout the minor leagues, Hanson has always shown an ability to hit the ball, just not on a very consistent basis. He hasn't hit below .260 in his professional career with his best year being in 201s when he hit .309 with 16 home runs and 62 RBI.
Hanson is one of those players that can use his speed to his advantage to help him pick up hits that a normal hitter would not be able to get. Hanson has stole 30 or more bases in three of the last four seasons. His speed allows him to leg out infield singles and set the table for the middle of the lineup.
One thing Hanson has to work on is his strike out numbers. He struck out 91 times a year ago in 475 at bats. He has a career strikeout to walk ratio of 2.27. If Hanson can get that number closer to 1 it will make for a more successful major league career.
The main reason we haven't seen Hanson in the big leagues, however, is his defense. Hanson is not the best defender and as a middle infielder defense is a high priority. You can't have your short stop committing a bunch of errors especially with a team like the Pirates whose pitchers often have the ball put in play.
At his natural position as a short stop, He has a career .932 fielding percentage committing 112 errors in just over 3100 innings played. And as we move around the infield it doesn't get much better as he has an .876 fielding percentage at third and a .981 at second.
He has been getting some reps in the outfield this season and has yet to commit an error, but that is only in a small sample size of work. With the Pirates outfield already full with Marte, Andrew McCutchen, and Gregory Polanco, Hanson will have to step up in the infield if he wants to make this Pirates team.
My guess is that Hanson's stay on the big league roster will be very short lived. Players have a maximum of three days in the paternity list before they have to return. When Marte returns, look for Hanson to be sent back down to the minors so he can continue his development.
For Hanson, he needs to become a better defensive player and work on hitting consistently before making the big league club. With Jordy Mercer performing well to start the season, and only in his first year of arbitration eligibility, Hanson will have a lot of work to do if he wants to be major league ready.
Only time will tell if Hanson develops into the everyday short stop that the Pirates wanted when they drafted Hanson. For now Mercer is doing a fine job and Hanson can continue to hone his skills down in the minor leagues.
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