Brandon Wood finding home with Pirates
Major League Baseball, more than any other sport, is a game of numbers, players consistently reduced to mere stat sheets and meticulously scrutinized over their slash lines or ERAs.
Thousands of players are asked to produce tangible results in order to stick at the Major League level each year, but numbers hardly tell the whole story. If a player starts to struggle or fall into a long slump, numbers don’t reveal the amount of hours they watch video, how long they spend tinkering with mechanical changes in the batting cage, or the mental wear and tear that comes with underperforming in the big leagues.
One player that knows all about that is Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Brandon Wood.
Having had to always live up to the pressure of being a first-round draft pick, Wood’s impressive minor league career – which included a season of 101 extra-base hits – seemed to imply that he was going to have no problems hitting in The Show. Unfortunately that Major League success still hasn’t arrived yet for Wood, nor has consistent playing time.
Ranked as high as No. 3 prospect in baseball, Wood was given just 13 games to make an impression when he made his MLB debut with the Angels in 2007. He managed a mere .424 OPS over that span, and was sent down to Triple-A Salt Lake for the remainder of the season.
That same old song and dance continued for the next three seasons, as Wood would rake in the minors but could never translate it into Major League success when given small windows of opportunity. Frustrated by years of Wood’s poor performance, the Angels designated the Texas native for assignment early this season.
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Wood used the move as motivation.
“I don’t think that [33] at-bats in 2007, 150 in 2008, [41] in 2009, and [226] last year define me as a big league baseball player,” Wood told The Good Point about being seldom used in Anaheim. “I’ve still yet to have 500 [at-bats] in a season, so that’s my goal.”
After the Angels decided to cut ties with him in April, the Pirates had first crack at claiming the former first-rounder and did just that. Feeling that Wood’s potential and raw power could still be harnessed, the Bucs opted to take a chance on him before anybody else could.
To say that Wood was excited for the opportunity was an understatement.
“It’s something that was good for me,” said Wood. “Being in Anaheim, I’ve got good friends there and there’s good baseball there, but a fresh start was needed.”
After hitting just .169 with 19 extra-base hits in 450 at-bats during his time with the Angels, it was no surprise that analyzing Wood’s offensive approach was the first course of action when he joined the Pirates.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle first reached out to Wood given his years of experience as a hitting coach and gave his new infielder some valuable advice to help clear his head.
“[Clint and I] spoke about hitting when I first came over. His point was to relax and not go out and take those first 100 at-bats to try to impress everybody over here,” Wood said.
In 237 at-bats with the Pirates so far this season, Wood’s numbers have still been far from eye-popping, though. He’s currently sporting a .215 average and .617 OPS which includes a .276 on-base percentage, and he’s managed even less than that against right-handed starters. Wood is, however, making contact more than ever before in his career, and he managed to hit .291/.316/.473 with three home runs over a 21-game span from May 31 to June 30.
As hard as Wood’s numbers are to look at sometimes, they haven’t been due to a lack of effort on his part.
“I’ve been working on my swing, and [Pirates batting coach Gregg] Ritchie has been in there with me non-stop,” he said. “We’ve made some good adjustments, and I can see it in the video. I get voicemails from people who haven’t seen me since last year asking me [about] what I’m doing.”
In addition to feeling good in the cage and noticeably changing his approach at the plate, Wood’s biggest improvement this season has been the fact that he has finally ditched four years worth of bad habits that he learned while in Anaheim, which is no small feat.
“Through the pressure and some failure last year I picked up a lot of bad habits just trying to see if I could find something that was going to work on [any given] night, Wood said. “It’s taken a while to get rid of those habits, but I’m looking forward to moving forward.”
“This is the first time in a while that I’m trusting my swing and my approach. I’m comfortable, I’m confident.”
Even though he’s still occupying a part-time role off the bench with the Pirates like he did with the Angels, Wood has noticed a huge difference in opportunities in the National League simply because of more chances to see the field late in the game once pitchers start coming out of the game.
“The nice thing about the National League is that I can get in any game at any certain time, so you’re always prepared, you’re always ready, [and] you strive to stay sharp. “In the American League, you can go six or eight weeks without a start or an at-bat”
Going forward, Wood remains positive and is looking to build on his successful 2011 off of the field in hopes of finally attaining the regular at-bats that he so desperately craves.
“I wake up in the morning and come to the park and know that I can go out on the field right now and compete, and put together a good at-bat or a good game. If I go 0-for-4 with 3 Ks, I don’t lose any sleep that night.”
“When I’m in the games, I’m enjoying playing baseball again.”
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