OXON HILL, Md. — Better pitching and new voices on the coaching staff should help the Pirates improve defensively in 2017, one year after the club regressed in the field, manager Clint Hurdle said Wednesday.
The Pirates ranked 27th in baseball last season in the percentage of balls in play they turned into outs, at 67.6. Their defense saved 15 runs less than the average team, as calculated by Baseball Info Solutions, after saving 21 runs above average in 2015 and 37 above average in 2014. Moving the outfielders shallower behind a pitching staff that allowed more hard contact than before did not help matters.