By acquiring third baseman Colin Moran in the five-player trade that sent Gerrit Cole to the Astros, the Pirates potentially addressed one of their greatest offseason needs.
Jung Ho Kang, once the club's answer at the position, is unlikely to return to the United States in 2018. David Freese, the starter there for 114 games last season, will turn 35 in April and produced a career-worst OPS+ of 96 in 2017.
Moran, 25, was ranked by Baseball America as the Astros' eighth-best prospect this offseason, despite playing only 79 games at Triple-A because of a concussion and facial fracture suffered in July.
But a mechanical adjustment to his swing led to a career high in home runs, as well as more line drives and fewer ground balls. Although he's short on major league experience, the Pirates are hoping Moran adds power to a lineup in desperate need of more production.
“Colin Moran … projects to be a quality left-handed hitting third baseman with developing power,” said Neal Huntington. “Colin is an intelligent, hard-working player who made an adjustment to his swing and approach last season. His adjustments led to increased power production that should play very well at the major league level, especially at PNC Park.”
It isn't unusual for even the most talented prospects to take time to develop power. Josh Bell, a National League Rookie of the Year finalist in 2017, did not hit more than 13 home runs until his sixth professional season.
Some evaluators thought Bell would never develop into much of a power hitter, but he hit 26 home runs with a team-high 90 RBI as a rookie.
Drafted sixth overall by the Marlins in 2013, Moran rose up prospect rankings by hitting for average through Double-A, but he began to struggle once he reached Triple-A Fresno in 2016.
He batted .259/.329/.368 with 69 RBI and 124 strikeouts to 47 walks in 117 games that season. Moran was recalled in May that year, but he went 0-for-13 to begin his big league career and wound up getting 23 at-bats with three hits and two RBI in nine appearances.
He never posted an isolated power of better than .153 in any of his four pro seasons and his career high for home runs was 10. More concerning, his ground-ball percentage was a career-worst 24.3 percent in 2016.
So, he completely retooled his swing in an effort to create more launch angle and, in turn, more power. Instead of holding his bat straight up, Moran switched to having his bat laying back over his shoulder with his hands higher. The mechanical adjustment allowed him to finish with more of an uppercut in his swing, leading to more fly balls and fewer ground balls.
"He understands the sequencing of his swing a little bit more and getting in the right slot and being able to maintain his swing through the entire swing," Astros manager A.J. Hinch told MLB.com's Brian McTaggert last February. "He was a little bit late with a lot of his movements last year, which is why we saw him swing and miss when the ball was up or any sort of high-end velocity. He's got a much better start to his swing, and the rest takes care of itself."
That resulted in a career-high 19 home runs in just over half a season in 2017, as well as a slash line of .308/.373/.543 in Triple-A. Additionally, his ground-ball percentage dropped nearly 14 percent with an increase in line-drive rate and his strikeout rate was just 16.3 percent.
His path to the major leagues was blocked until shortstop Carlos Correa was placed on the disabled list in July. But Moran suffered the concussion and facial fracture when his own foul ball hit him in the face below his left cheek during the sixth inning of his second game.
He missed nearly six weeks, returning for only three more games at Triple-A and appearing in five games for the Astros to finish the regular season. Although he only has 16 games of major league experience, the Pirates are intrigued with another player who had success by creating more launch angle.
"We worked from November on, just getting the bat path right and correcting some of the stuff I did wrong last year, and loading the hips the right away," Moran told McTaggert in February. "I'm kind of getting back to some of the stuff that made me successful and even some other adjustments I needed to make to have more success."
Although right-handed pitcher Joe Musgrove is also a major piece in the return for Cole, Moran is perhaps the most intriguing player headed to Pittsburgh. He could fill a significant offensive need.
After all, the Pirates were inept offensively in 2017, despite Bell's emergence and Andrew McCutchen's resurgence. They were one of the worst offensive teams in Major League Baseball, ranking 27th in batting average, 28th in runs, 29th in home runs and 28th in OPS. There weren't many high-impact bats in the system, either.
Their top prospect, outfielder Austin Meadows, had an OPS of .670 with only four home runs in 72 games at Triple-A Indianapolis this past season. As a whole, the organization's minor league affiliates had successful seasons — Double-A Altoona won the Eastern League championship — but Indianapolis and Altoona both ranked in the bottom half of their respective leagues in home runs.
Prospects such as Kevin Newman and Kevin Kramer have shown promise, but neither player is much of a power hitter.
With McCutchen now a member of the Giants and Josh Harrison still on the trading block, Moran could be a significant addition to the Pirates' youth movement. However, how much time will he be given to succeed?
He's viewed as an average to below-average defender at third base, and he'll need to improve there to hold off Ke'Bryan Hayes in 2-3 years.
Hayes, a former first-round pick ranked by Baseball America as the Pirates' No. 4 prospect, is an excellent defender and projects as an everyday third baseman. But he's only 20 years old and is a few years away from the majors after batting .278/.345/.363 in 108 games at High-A Bradenton this past season.
Questions remain whether Moran's new swing can translate to success in the major leagues — his production came in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League last season — but it's clear the plan is to remain patient with the newest additions to the roster.
"We can grow with these players, and I will tell you right now this group of players is going to show up every day with the intent to win that night’s game and look up in September and fight and do everything they can to put us in position to get there sooner than people think we can," Huntington said.
Analyzing the additions:
Monday: Joe Musgrove, starting pitcher
Thursday: Kyle Crick, relief pitcher
Friday: Michael Feliz, relief pitcher
Saturday: Bryan Reynolds, outfielder
Sunday: Jason Martin, outfielder
