It hasn’t been a great year for Ji Hwan Bae.
Injury hampered Bae’s ability to make the team out of spring training heading into 2024, and once he got healthy he started the season in Triple-A Indianapolis.
Bae has since earned a few call ups back to Pittsburgh, but injuries and depth chart roles have limited him in action. Maybe that’s for the best.
His play with the Pirates hasn’t been pretty. The bat, which was supposed to improve (even if only marginally), has instead slumped all the way below a .200 average.
And his defense, which was still a selling point given his speed in the outfield, has arguably been even worse.
Last night was a prime example of the struggles Bae is having with the glove. In the fifth inning of Pittsburgh’s series opener with the San Diego Padres, he fails to make a catch while racing towards the infield.
Granted, this is not the most routine of fly balls to center field, but the ball hits Bae’s glove. He needs to come down with that catch. Somehow, that was not credited as an error to him, unless the stat keepers have updated that ruling since the publishing of this article.
This is not an attempt to put yet another demoralizing loss at the hands of Bae. A multi-run loss would have still occurred even if Bae makes that grab. But it’s a concerning pattern for a player who needs to be a lot better than he currently is.
While the Pirates have seemingly ended the experiment of him spending some time at second base (which did not go well), Bae’s defense in center field has not improved despite him being able to focus more on set positions.
Michael A. Taylor is probably the only possible center fielder for the Pirates who has a 100% chance to come down with that ball, so this play in a vacuum for Bae wouldn’t be all that egregious if this was his only one. It’s not, however.
Other Bae blunders have included back in Toronto in June when he lost the ball in the lights at a crucial point in that game, which the Pirates eventually lost.
Defensive mistakes like that are something you can live with if a player can perform well at the plate. A great example on the Pirates is Oneil Cruz.
You can live with him messing up a groundball sometimes and him running all the way out to the left fielder for a ball that totally isn’t his because Cruz can also respond with five-hit games and launch a baseball straight into the Allegheny River.
Bae does not carry that same promise, or if he does, he hasn’t shown it at all yet.
In a small sample size of 16 games and 38 at-bats, Bae is batting only .184. Career wise, in 137 major league games and 405 at-bats, Bae is batting .235 with 2 home runs, 41 RBI, and 30 stolen bases.
His 2023 season, where he played 111 games, was his only real extended look at the major league level. He slashed .231/.296/.311 with 2 home runs, 32 RBI, and 24 stolen bases in that time, but his batting numbers fell quite a lot down the stretch last year.
Suffering an injury in the summer, Bae returned on August 18th and batted .217 during the remainder of the season.
His biggest selling point to many is still his speed. Indeed, he is one of the fastest players in Major League Baseball, but sadly he is not finding ways to put that skill to use.
It was supposed to assist him as an outfielder, primarily a center fielder, and it was supposed to make him a base stealing machine on offense.
Unfortunately for him, it’s not becoming much of a difference maker for him on defense, and with a league average at best on-base percentage, Bae isn’t putting himself into positions to steal a ton of bases either.
So what is he actually bringing to this Pirates team? He’s suffered several injury hurdles this season, limiting his availability. He no longer is being deployed with versatility. He can’t hit consistently at all. His defense is lacking. And his biggest skill is something he can’t find ways to use to his advantage.
It’s hard to find positives right now for the 25-year old. He’s left prospect status and is now stuck in project territory. There’s no part of the game he excels at in the major leagues, but his Triple-A stats replicate those of someone who is worthy of a call up.
At a certain point, however, that’s all a player becomes. Great in the minor leagues, mediocre in the major leagues.
With someone like Billy Cook, who the Pirates acquired at the trade deadline from Baltimore, getting work in at Indianapolis, there’s a chance that he, or someone like him, could take Bae’s spot. Cook has played all over the field, including the outfield.
As for Bae, he needs to find a way to turn things around, or risk being handed a ticket back to Victory Field with the Indians. He isn’t providing Pittsburgh with anything of use right now, and the Pirates already have enough players struggling to contribute.
(Featured photo from Getty Images)
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