As the Pittsburgh Pirates contend for their first run at the playoffs since 1992, they have landed outfielder
Marlon Byrd from the New York Mets.
Mets trade rumors began to heat up Tuesday afternoon, one day after it was announced that ace pitcher Matt Harvey
would be moved to the DL with a partially torn UCL. Adam Rubin first reported that Byrd had been claimed off waivers,
which meant the Mets would have two days to work out a trade deal with the interested party. MLBTradeRumors.com indicated
the Pirates, Reds and Orioles had all been initially interested at the trade deadline last month.
Pittsburgh, who also added backup catcher John Buck in an effort to replace injured catcher Michael McKenry, sent the Mets
infield prospect Dilson Herrera as part of the waiver trade agreement.
"He's an exciting talent. Multidimensional in a sense,” said Mets GM Sandy Alderson, on Herrera. "We'll see where it goes."
While the Mets may be clearing up salary room for an effort to
sign a superstar in the upcoming off-season after losing stars David Wright and Matt Harvey to the DL, the Pirates inherited
an exceptionally talented outfielder in Marlon Byrd. The new Pirates outfielder is suddenly enjoying a career season. Byrd, 35,
is certain to add a spark to a batting lineup considered to lack much hitting.
Byrd's productivity has nearly doubled in 2013, as he has “created” 0.6 runs per game this season (2012: 0.25), is ranked
6th in the NL in SLG% and has seen major increased in his power and presence at the plate as well.
The main addition for Byrd has been a rejuvenated power swing to left/center field.
His 21 home run season is a career high, and six of them have gone farther than 430 feet. Additionally, his GPA
(gross production average), or overall hitting ability where 0.249 is considered average, has increased from 0.084
in 2012 to 0.28 in 2013. His isolated power (slugging percentage minus batting average) has jumped from 0.04 in 2012
to 0.24 in 2013 and he is hitting better with runners in scoring position this season (.267 in 2013) than last (.083 in 2012).
He has also been 10% more effective on groundballs in 2013 (59% hits) than he was last season (50%) in 2012, and his
groundball/fly ball rate has fallen from 2.0 in 2012 to 0.91 in 2013 and it seems like he’s been swinging for the fences.
This season, Byrd has been most effective against curveballs with hits on 15% of all swings, batting .526 (MLB average: .321)
when in play. He has also been dominant against sliders, batting .470 (MLB average: .318) when in play as well.
Last season, Byrd suffered a weakness on pitches up/right in the zone and got hits on only 4% of his 50 swings there.
In the last three weeks, however, he has gotten hits/sacs on swings in that area 6% more frequently than he had previously
this season and is improving this area of play.
Perhaps with age has come wisdom for Byrd. With two teams (Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs) last season before he signed with
the Mets in the offseason, he had proven to be extremely aggressive at the plate.
In 2012, Byrd swung at the first pitch 38% of the time (MLB average: 28%) and thus fell behind in the count on 76.4% of
all plate appearances (MLB average: 50%) last season. This led to a high K/BB ratio of 11.99 (MLB average: 1.78) and Byrd
struggled to be effective at the plate.
Byrd, however, lowered high previously his K/BB rate to only 4.95 while raising his walks per plate appearance rate from
1% in 2012 to 5% in 2013. While there still may be room to improve his patience and get on base with walks more often
(MLB average: 9%), Byrd has indeed shown extreme improvement in patience during the 2013 season.
Pittsburgh is ranked 25th in runs scored in the MLB this season, which is one of the worst in the MLB. Adding Byrd will
provide major relief to their offense while also allowing the Mets to build for the future.
NOTE: All statistics accurate as of 8/27/13
By Bryan Kalbrosky
AriBall.com
