Alex Presley: A Proxy for What Ails the Pirates' Offense

The Pirates' left fielder, Alex Presley, was demoted to AAA earlier this week for a level of offensive performance that would ordinarily be considered "bad." The problem is that while this is objectively true, Presley's performance was more "typical," than "bad" by Pirates' standards.

Presley was impressive when he burst onto the scene last summer. In a series against the Toronto Blue Jays, he hit a crucial home run and a triple, and also showed the ability to draw walks, forcing pitchers to throw a large number of balls at him.

His batting average, while "nothing special" by league standards, was actually a relative plus on a Pirates' team that lacked hitting. There was some concern about his power (lack thereof, actually), but again, he was not behindhand on a squad that was not notable (apart from Andrew McCutchen) for such.

If Presley could live up to his early promise, he would be quite a serviceable offensive player, given that the Bucs' emerging strength was on the pitching staff.

Alas, Presley did not match his late 2011 performance. Early in 2012, he was still one of the Pirates' better offensive players, although at a rate below his earlier highs. More recently, his batting average skidded toward the Mendoza line. He was drawing walks at a LOWER rate than other Bucs, and striking out more, so his on-base percentage collapsed even further than his batting average.

The probable replacement, Nate McLouth, is also a light hitter in terms of batting average. Unlike Presley, McLouth has displayed meaningful power over meaningful periods of time, which is to say that he is likely to hit more home runs. And McLouth has shown that he can walk.

On some other team, Presley might just have been a bench player. The fact that the Pirates gave him a chance to start shows how starved the team was for offense. That Presley did not meet the relatively modest expectations associated with him does not augur well for his career. But if, as may now be the case, the team is full of "Alex Presleys," the Pirates may have difficulty amounting to anything soon.