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Alex Presley Web Gems

WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES

2006
A-:  260/313/404, 223 AB, 7 2B, 8 3B, 3 HR, 17 BB, 55 K, 3-6 SB 

Struggled initially at Williamsport, but picked it up in August; his OPS that month was .809, compared to .595 in July.  His plate discipline was poor throughout.  He had a terrible time with LHPs, posting a .357 OPS in just over 50 plate appearances.  He split his time between LF and CF.

2007
A:  293/348/436, 495 AB, 22 2B, 8 3B, 11 HR, 45 BB, 108 K, 18-28 SB 

Presley played regularly for Hickory, opening as the left fielder and moving to center after James Boone was promoted.  He got off to a poor start, mainly the result of a .572 OPS in May.  He got hot in June and July, posting OPS figures of .961 and .898, respectively, before cooling off in August.  He hit all of his 11 HRs against RHPs, but otherwise didn’t have much of a platoon split.  He struck out about once every four and a half ABs, which is a lot for a guy with limited power.

2008
A+:  258/325/380, 287 AB, 15 2B, 1 3B, 6 HR, 29 BB, 50 K, 13-19 SB 

Started as the regular CF for Lynchburg, but hit only .147 in his first ten games and then got hurt.  He returned in May and hit respectably for three months, posting monthly OPS figures of .740, .787 and .750, but got hurt again in early August and missed the rest of the season.  Presley struggled against LHPs, with a .574 OPS compared to .748 against RHPs.  For the season he had a much lower K rate, about once every six and a half ABs.

2009
A+:  257/305/379, 417 AB, 17 2B, 11 3B, 4 HR, 30 BB, 87 K, 9-14 SB

Presley opened back at Lynchburg and appeared set to serve as an outfield backup, but when Marcus Davis and Maiko Loyola both struggled and got released, he ended up playing more or less regularly, mainly in center.  He had almost the exact same season as in 2008, including a continued inability to hit LHPs, except that his walk rate decreased and his K rate increased.

2010
AA:  350/399/533, 246 AB, 13 2B, 7 3B, 6 HR, 19 BB, 33 K, 5-6 SB
AAA:  294/349/460, 272 AB, 15 2B, 6 3B, 6 HR, 22 BB, 42 K, 8-15 SB
MLB:  261/292/304, 23 AB, 1 2B, 1 BB, 8 K, 1-2 SB 

Going into camp, Presley seemed like a good candidate to be released, but impressed the Pirates and made the AA roster as a backup.  He then had one of the more surprising breakout seasons the Pirates have seen in recent years, dominating in AA and continuing to hit well after a mid-season promotion to AAA, although he did slump in August.  He showed surprising power while cutting his K rate to one every six and a half ABs at both levels.  His walk rate remained low.  He had no platoon split in AAA; I don’t have the split for AA.  The Pirates added him to the 40-man roster at the end of the AAA season and called him up.

2011
R:  167/286/167, 6 AB, 1 BB
AAA:  333/388/485, 342 AB, 18 2B, 5 3B, 8 HR, 28 BB, 54 K, 22-30 SB
MLB:  298/339/465, 215 AB, 12 2B, 6 3B, 4 HR, 13 BB, 40 K, 9-12 SB 

Presley went back to AAA and continued hitting well, which includes a late-season rehab.  One significant improvement he made was in his base stealing efficiency.  The Pirates brought him up at the end of June when Jose Tabata got hurt.  He homered in his first game and kept on hitting.  He eventually went on the DL in late July with a mysterious thumb injury.  The diagnosis was that it wouldn’t heal until after the season, so Presley went on a rehab assignment and adjusted his swing to account for the problem.  He didn’t hit well during the rehab, but the Pirates brought him up in late August when Ryan Ludwick went on the DL.  He struggled initially, hitting .148 in seven August games, but hit 308/327/514 in September.  One bad sign, though, was three walks and 23 Ks in September.  He’d had nine walks and 14 Ks prior to the injury.  Although he had only a minimal platoon split in AAA, he struggled with LHPs in the majors, hitting just 231/261/338 against them.  The small sample size of defensive stats showed him to be above average, possibly well above, as a left fielder.  The Pirates evidently were impressed by him there, as they moved Jose Tabata, himself a good defender, to right.

Presley and Tabata figure to start in the outfield corners in 2012.  This will leave the Pirates with a lot of speed and defense in the outfield, but the lack of power could cause serious problems for an offense that’s already extremely weak at the corner positions, especially if Pedro Alvarez doesn’t bounce back.  Presley has always had low walk rates, so it remains to be seen whether his strike zone judgment is good enough for him to hit well long-term in the majors.  At worse, though, he should be a good fourth outfielder.