One for 14 on the season, 0 for 4 Monday night, 6 strikeouts and 3 walks along with a batting average of .071.
That is what the Pirates are currently getting from their highest paid player, right fielder Gregory Polanco.
Polanco hasn't hit for over .250 in a season 2018.
"Man, Polanco is not a Major League player right now," said The Fan's Jeff Hathhorn on the Fan Morning Show.
"He's a shell of himself, he's not what he once was and it's almost painful to watch at this point because he's grossly overmatched," said co-host Colin Dunlap.
Injures have plagued Polanco in the past to the point he can hardly throw into the infield anymore.
Polanco is not in the lineup for Tuesday's game in Cincinnati. Phillip Evans will start in right field with Bryan Reynolds in left and Anthony Alford in center.
Manager Derek Shelton said he's just down for Tuesday, but will spent the day working with the team's hitting coaches.
"I think with anybody who is scuffling a little bit, Polanco isn't the only guy," Shelton said. "We have a couple of other guys we need to get going also. I think the big thing is just staying positive, trying to identify things that are going to help and make it better."
"Sometimes those things don't instantly happen. You figure you go work on something and the next day it's going to translate into three hits and a homer. Sometimes it automatically transfers. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time. So you just have to keep working at it."
He's making $11.6 million in 2021.
That's more than Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward make in a year.
Of course those are different sports and ones with a salary cap but still, can you imagine Crosby playing so bad they had to bench him?
So what do the Pirates do with Polanco? They'll likely play him. It's no secret the Pirates are in a rebuilding phase and to be honest the options to replace Polanco are few and far between.
Polanco along with fellow outfielders Alford and Dustin Fowler went 0 for 9 with five strikeouts Monday night and for the year are 2 for 30 with 15 Ks.
Two of the times Alford made it on base this season he was picked off twice and Fowler hit a triple against Chicago but made a base running error and didn't score when he should've tagged.
Reynolds is the only outfielder showing any kind of production so far batting .333 with one home run and five hits.
The Pirates appear to be stuck with Polanco and as The Fan's Jim Colony points out, there isn't relief coming anytime soon in the minors.
Prospect Jarden Oilva has risen through the system but is currently out with a back injury, Cole Tucker has struggled at the plate in the Majors and Travis Swaggerty "is a former first round draft pick, and has a very cool name, but he has underwhelmed at every minor league level, most recently in high A in 2019. He turns 24 in August."
One option for the Pirates is to DFA Polanco and send him back down to the minors for a stint.
There isn't a team out there that would pick him up. In addition to the $11 million he's owed this year, he's under contract for $12.5 million in 2022 and $13.5 million the year after that.
The plan now is to work through his problem and remember it's only four games into a 162 game season and hope those issues can resolve themselves.
"Timing issues are the nemesis for hitting coaches and hitters," Shelton said. "You can do velocity machines. You can shortened up BP and do BP at a closer distance. So it limits the reaction time or the time between release and contact."
"One of the biggest challenges we have it that in baseball you very rarely practice at full speed. It's not a sport that you could ever practice at full speed because we play games every day. It's one of the challenges for hitters for timing."
It appears right now whatever the Pirates do with Polanco right now is a losing situation, one that shouldn't be noted isn't current General Manager Ben Cherington's doing. Polanco signed his big deal while the previous regime was in control.
