In the midst of past few down seasons, the Pirates have claimed countless players off waivers.
General manager Ben Cherington has categorized the effort as a continued search for talented players, guys who may just turn it around in Pittsburgh and prove valuable whenever the Pirates begin to compete again.
Scooping up players that other clubs have designated for assignment will not always end successfully. In at least one way, though, the strategy bore fruit when the Pirates claimed outfielder Ben Gamel last season.
On Thursday, it will be a full calendar year since Cleveland designated Gamel for assignment. A few days later, on May 9, the Pirates claimed him.
He hit the ground running, with a .255 average and a .750 OPS over 111 games with the team. In an outfield that cycled through a bevy of faces, Gamel provided a steady hand, both offensively and defensively, someone Pirates manager Derek Shelton could count on to make the right plays and give an occasional spark.
For that reason, Gamel is still here. Certainly, nobody other than center fielder Bryan Reynolds has performed better than Gamel in the outfield over the last two years.
On Wednesday, in a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers that the two teams split, Gamel piled up five hits in eight at-bats, with a triple, a double, three RBIs and two runs scored.
Put in other terms, he entered the afternoon hitting .230 with a .647 OPS and exited it .275 and a .765 OPS. Not only is that a lesson that early-season sample sizes can be misleading and easily changed, but it’s a testament to just how locked in Gamel was Wednesday.
“I felt like I had missed some good pitches to hit [this season],” Gamel said. “I don’t [normally] miss fastballs, but I have been. We just hammered home some stuff and found some green grass today.”
If Gamel was frustrated with missing fastballs, his success Wednesday was a testament to whatever changes he made. Four of his five hits came against fastballs in different locations.
He poked a fastball on the outside of the plate into left field in the opener. He smoked a low fastball to the gap in right center two innings later.
In the second game, he hit a low slider into the right field corner, drove a fastball low and in to left then ripped a middle fastball the other way as well. He was locked in and helped spur the offense to one of its best days in the last several games.
“He had a great day,” manager Derek Shelton said. “Really kind of rose to the occasion, did a bunch of things well, you know, big day for him, and he’s one of the reasons we won.”
Obviously, a great couple of games is the sort of thing that can send Gamel in the right direction, but it also isn’t a sure thing in defining the rest of his season. Every game will paint more of a picture for what Gamel can become in Pittsburgh.
At the same time, Gamel has played 135 games as a Pirate now. At this point, if you were building the team’s A1, best lineup out of its current players, there is no doubt Gamel would be one of the first names written into the lineup card. On Wednesday, he hit in the lead-off spot both games.
That’s a precipitous and commendable climb for a player who was on waivers almost exactly one year ago. Gamel, however, is rarely one to take credit, even when it was he who personally helped drive the offense in both games of a doubleheader.
Perhaps that makes sense, coming from someone who was a journeyman throughout his career, playing for five different MLB teams between 2016 and 2021, before perhaps finding a more long-term home in Pittsburgh.
“I can’t say enough good things about the guys in this clubhouse,” Gamel said. “They strap up and post up every day, and I’m just proud to be a part of it.”
