Three recent Linsanity runs from the Pittsburgh Pirates

The term “Linsanity run” is used by many modern sports fans to describe a season or part of a season in which a player put up insane numbers while the rest of his career never reached that point. The term comes from former NBA player Jeremy Lin, who had a surprise career year with the New York Knicks, leading them to the playoffs in the 2011–12 season. But Lin never came close to that peak in his entire professional career.

Many players throughout the history of baseball have experienced similar tryouts, having an amazing season and then returning to much more mundane performances. The Pittsburgh Pirates have certainly had players like this before. So let’s take a look at some of Pirates Linsanity’s recent performances and compare them to the rest of their career.

Three former Pirates who have competed in Linsanity runs in recent seasons

Sean Rodriguez

Repairman Sean Rodriguez was best known as a Swiss Army knife designed primarily for defense. From 2008 to 2015, Rodriguez appeared in several games at every position except pitcher and catcher. He earned +3.9 defensive WAR in his first 763 games with the Los Angeles Angels, Tampa Bay Rays and Pittsburgh Pirates.

But over those first eight seasons, Rodriguez batted just .228/.295/.371 with a .296 wOBA and 86 wRC+. Rodriguez has hit double-digit home runs only once, and had a dozen in 2014. His 24.3% strikeout rate wasn’t great, but even worse was his 4.3% walk rate. But then, in 2016, Rodriguez would have one of the most amazing seasons in Pirates batting history.

In 342 at-bats that year, Rodriguez batted .270/.349/.510. He hit 18 home runs with a .249 slugging percentage. Rodriguez scored more often with a 29.8% K%, but he also posted a career-best 9.6%. He regularly ripped the cover off the ball with an exit velocity of 90.4 mph and a barrel velocity of 11.4%. Rodriguez appears to have finished the season with a .363 wOBA and 128 wRC+.

Rodriguez was again valuable defensively, pitching at any position other than the mound or behind the plate. He generally received average reviews for his defensive metrics. Rodriguez finished the 2016 season with +2.4 fWAR. He had fewer than 350 tournament appearances, but over a full season in which he played 600 games, Rodriguez would have had a player rating of +4.0 fWAR.

But after that season, Rodriguez hit just .182/.294/.319 with a .274 wOBA and 67 wRC+. From 2017 to 2020, he appeared in just 200 games and played 478 games with a negative fWAR. But it was a much more tragic end to his career.

In the 2016–17 offseason, following the Linsanity campaign, Rodriguez became a free agent and signed with the Atlanta Braves. But at the end of Januaryhe and his family were in a car accident As a result, people in the other car died, and his wife and children were hospitalized. The wreckage remains Rodriguez suffered a shoulder injury that was expected to keep him out for the rest of 2017.. Rodriguez made a miraculous return to the field in the second half of the season, but never seemed to recapture his 2016 spark.

Xavier Nadi

Over three seasons from 2005 to 2007, Xavier Nadi established himself as a reliable hitter, slashing .274/.330/.457 with a .339 wOBA and 105 wRC+. Nady had some success with a .183 isolated strike percentage, and while he barely walked with a 5.6 BB%, he didn’t strike out much either. His K% was below 20% at 18.9%.

But the first half of 2008 turned out to be the best period of games Nagy has ever played. In 89 games and 360 at-bats, the outfielder hit .330/.383/.535 with a .396 wOBA and 142 wRC+. He improved his walk rate to 6.9%, but significantly reduced his K% to 15.3% K%. Nadi posted individual slugging percentages above .200 as well as .205.

Before the Pirates traded him in 2008, Nady was one of the best hitters in the National League. He ranked in the top ten in wOBA (8th) and wRC+ (8th), as well as 14th in OPS, OBP and 16th in slugging percentage. Only Chipper Jones, Matt Holliday, Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman had a higher batting average than Nagy before he was dealt to the New York Yankees.

But after receiving sent to New YorkNadi came back down to earth, slashing .268/.320/.474 with a .343 wOBA and 108 wRC+. Those numbers wouldn’t look out of the ordinary compared to what he did in the previous three seasons. After 2008, Nadi appeared in just 289 games, posting a .636 OPS and 71 WRC+. The Pirates capitalized on Linsanity’s success and eventually got several good seasons from Jeff Carstens and Jose Tabata, two players sent to Pittsburgh in place of Nady.

Vin Mazzaro

Perhaps no Linsanity game had a greater impact on the Pirates than Vin Mazzaro in 2013. By the time they returned to the postseason, the Pirates had one of the best bullpens in baseball, and that was thanks in part to Mazzaro’s tremendous contributions. But Mazzaro was little more than a pitcher at the start of this season and returned to a similar role after the 2013 campaign.

Mazzaro pitched just 286 innings from 2009 to 2012. He also wasn’t particularly effective, posting a 5.22 ERA, 5.01 FIP and 1.62 WHIP with the Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals. He was then sent to Bux in petty trade involving three other players.

Mazzaro pitched 73.2 innings from the pen, the most of any Pirates pitcher who did not start a game that season. The right-hander had a quality 2.81 ERA, 3.31 FIP and 1.21 WHIP for the Bucs that season. He struck out just 15.1% of opponents, but limited walks with a 6.9% BB% and only had a HR/9 rate. Like many Pirates pitchers of that era, Mazzaro was a groundball specialist. He called grounders at a rate of 52.2%.

Early in the season, Mazzaro was a standard multi-inning pitcher. But by the end of the season, the Pirates trusted Mazzaro with a stronger job given how good he was. The right-hander added a +1.34 winning percentage for the Pirates, which was higher than Gerrit Cole, AJ Burnett and Charlie Morton.

You would think that a pitcher who pitched over 70 innings while putting up good numbers would be back for another season. But Mazzaro, oddly enough, was designated for assignment at the end of spring training in 2014, and only pitched ten and a third innings for the Bucs that season. He played with various teams after 2014, totaling 13 more frames after being released by the Pirates.

Mazzaro was as important to the Pirates’ bullpen in 2013 as Tony Watson or Mark Melancon, given that he was effective in both high-leverage and multi-inning situations. The Pirates’ bullpen did not get off to a good start in 2014, and by June of that season they ranked in the bottom half of the league in ERA, FIP and WHIP. For a team that had only missed out on two games in the division, Mazzaro’s exclusion from future plans may have made the difference.

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