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Interview with Matt Hague
Matt Hague HR in Carolina League Championship Series

WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES

2008
A-:  333/400/444, 27 AB, 3 2B, 3 BB, 5 K
A:  321/384/479, 215 AB, 14 2B, 6 HR, 20 BB, 28 K, 1-1 SB

Started off at State College, but didn’t stay there long.  The Pirates loaded up in the 2008 draft on thirdbasemen and shortstops, and one of the latter, Chase d’Arnaud, played more third than short in college.  Once d’Arnaud and Jordy Mercer signed, State College was overloaded on the left side of the infield.  The Pirates relieved the congestion by promoting Hague, who was off to a good start, and Mercer to Hickory.  Coincidentally, Hickory’s thirdbaseman, Bobby Spain, who was also off to a good start, went out for the season with a broken wrist at about the same time.  Hague got off to a very fast start at Hickory.  He didn’t sustain it, but his hitting remained solid the rest of the year.  It was mainly his power that dropped off, as he hit all but one of his six HRs in the first couple weeks.  His OPS was 240 points higher against RHPs than LHPs.  He struggled at third, with an unsightly .891 fielding percentage.

2009
A+:  293/356/412, 454 AB, 30 2B, 8 HR, 40 BB, 67 K, 3-5 SB

With Pedro Alvarez at Lynchburg, Hague opened the season playing first and stayed there all year except for one game at third.  He had a disappointing season at the plate, as he hit for average and continued to show good plate discipline, but had only eight HRs.  His .412 slugging percentage isn’t adequate for a 23-year-old firstbaseman playing in class A.  Hague again hit RHPs better than LHPs, with all of his HRs coming against the former.

2010
AA:  295/375/442, 509 AB, 30 2B, 15 HR, 61 BB, 62 K 3-9 SB

Hague moved up to Altoona and made modest progress in the power department.  His walk and K numbers were excellent.  He didn’t hit for much power early, with only three HRs total in April and May, but hit a dozen in last three months.  He again had a reverse platoon split.  He played only one game at third, the rest at first.

2011
AAA:  309/372/457, 534, 37 2B, 3 3B, 12 HR, 47 BB, 68 K, 4-7 SB

Hague continued to improve at Indianapolis.  The improvement can be traced entirely to a huge month of June, when he hit 402/449/645.  His reverse platoon split started to even out, as he had an OPS of .810 against LHPs and .836 against RHPs, with more power against the former.  He also had 15 errors at first, which is a concern.  He played 17 games at third and had only two errors, as the Pirates probably were readying him to compete for a role like the one Steve Pearce played when he was healthy in 2011.  He did not get a September callup.

The Pirates’ failure to call Hague up in September created a good deal of consternation among the fans, but the truth is that he’s not a potential major league regular.  He’s a firstbaseman who doesn’t run well, isn’t a strong defensive player, hits for only modest power and has always been a little old for his levels.  He also isn’t a lefty masher, which is unfortunate because it makes the idea of platooning him at first with Garrett Jones less attractive.  On the other hand, the Pirates’ stated reason for not calling Hague up–a lack of available playing time–was hard to take when they were reduced to using anemic hitters like Xavier Paul, Matt Pagnozzi and Jason Jaramillo game after game to pinch hit.  Hague could have gotten two dozen ABs mostly from just pinch-hitting.  Nevertheless, they added him to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.  The Pirates have said he’ll get a chance to make the team, a job for which he may have to compete with Jake Fox.