The Pittsburgh Pirates invested heavily in improve their defense from a year ago, acquiring one of the best defensive catchers in the game in Austin Hedges.
Ji-Man Choi and Carlos Santana were brought in to split first base, both of which having a history posting strong metrics at the position.
They also banked that the strong small sample size Jack Suwinski had in center field was legit, having him make the shift over for the most part full-time this season.
So it appeared that they were hoping to master the basics and not beat themselves this season, which hasn’t been the case slightly more than quarter into the season.