San Diego Padres: Three Biggest Disappointments Of 2018

The lowest rated player on the San Diego Padres roster? Jose Pirela.

To be fair, Jose Pirela did win one award this season after being named the San Diego Padres winner of the MLBPAA Heart and Hustle Award. That’s great and all, but means nothing as far as actual production on the field, something Pirela failed to do in 2018.

His -0.8 fWAR is the lowest on the current roster. If he had enough at-bats to qualify, Pirela would rank ahead of only Chris Davis, Victor Martinez, and Yangervis Solarte in fWAR. Appearing in 143 games, Pirela hit just .251 with a .644 OPS and a 78 wRC+. He managed only four home runs, this after hitting 10 in 83 games last season.

One of the more notable struggles Pirela had, came when he was on the basepaths. His -4.9 BsR (Baserunning advanced metric) would place him among the top 10 worst base runners in all of baseball, if he qualified.

Pirela has been tagged out eight times while on base, placing him in a tie for the fourth-most in the majors, however, of the 28 players who have eight or more OOB (outs on base), 21 of them have at least 100 more at-bats (most more than 200).

Without a defensive position he excels out, it’s nearly impossible to find a role for Jose Pirela on next year’s team. There is zero room in the outfield and Andy Green clearly preferred playing Christian Villanueva and Cory Spangenberg over Pirela in the infield, before the injuries to Villy and Luis Urias forced Green to give Pirela more at-bats over the final few weeks of the season. So, while the heart and hustle are admirable, there are plenty of other options for the Padres, preferably one with a better glove and baserunning instincts.