The past two trips through free agency haven’t exactly been all that kind to Jarrod Dyson. The 35-year-old speedster waited until mid-February to find a one-year, $2MM deal with the Pirates this winter. That contract was penned two years (nearly to the date) after he signed a two-year, $7.5MM deal with the D-backs. Dyson has been able to find big league deals, but the lengthy waits and relatively small guarantees make clear that he’s not a highly in-demand player. I’m not here to say that Dyson should’ve been commanding lucrative three- and four-year offers in either of those instances, but his deal with the Bucs could still pan out as a nice bargain.
Dyson would be miscast as an everyday player — he’s a career .247/.319/.388 hitter — but he’s a legitimately elite defender and baserunner who is at least a passable option against right-handed pitching (.250/.320/.351). The lack of power is glaring, of course, but Dyson’s batting average and on-base percentage against righties are right in line with the league averages for the decade he’s been in the Majors.
Beyond his shortcomings at the plate, though, Dyson is excellent. Since 2012, his first full season in the Majors, Dyson ranks sixth among all big league outfielders in both Defensive Runs Saved (81) and Ultimate Zone Rating (55.6). Those rankings come in spite of the fact that everyone ahead of him (with the exception of Kevin Kiermaier) has logged 1200 or more innings than his 5543 innings. Jason Heyward and Alex Gordon are both over 9000 innings of defense in that time. On a per-game stat like UZR/150, Dyson ranks slightly ahead of both those two. Among outfielders with at least 1000 innings dating back to 2012, only Kiermaier, Mookie Betts, Harrison Bader and (perhaps surprisingly) Aaron Judge have posted marks higher than Dyson’s 12.6 UZR/150. Giving Dyson more reps in the field obviously means living with his sub-par offense on a more regular basis, but he’s one of the best defensive outfielders of the past decade.
It’s a similar tale on the basepaths. Dyson ranks third among the 3140 players who’ve had a big league at-bat since 2012 in terms of FanGraphs’ composite baserunning value (BsR). The only two players ahead of him are Billy Hamilton and Mike Trout — and Trout has had more than twice as many plate appearances. Dyson is sixth overall in stolen bases in that same group, and he has vastly fewer games played and plate appearances than the five ahead of him (Dee Gordon, Hamilton, Jose Altuve, Starling Marte, Rajai Davis). He’s been successful in an outstanding 85 percent of his career stolen base attempts.
The Pirates signed the right-handed-hitting Guillermo Heredia to team with Dyson in center field, Beyond that pairing there’s no immediate threat to step into the spot. Jason Martin, acquired in the trade that sent Gerrit Cole to Houston, had a big half-season in Double-A in 2018 but has hit just .242/.297/.383 in 640 plate appearances in Triple-A. JT Riddle was signed to fill a utility role but has only logged 235 innings in center and figures to fill more of a bench role.
Dyson isn’t going to provide much with the bat, barring a huge BABIP spike, but there’s also a bit of room for him to rebound a bit from a rough two years in Arizona, where he hit just .216/.302/.299. The Pirates may want to try batting Dyson lower in the order than the D-backs did in 2019, when he hit leadoff for 376 of his career-high 452 plate appearances; Dyson, for comparison, walked 18 times in 101 plate appearances hitting eighth in front of the pitcher over the past two seasons in Arizona. Any extra bases on balls are a welcome addition for a player with his wheels.
Beyond that, Dyson began hitting the ball in the air considerably more once he left the Royals in 2016. Perhaps it’s simply attributable to the increasing focus on launching the ball, but the drop from a 57.7 percent grounder rate to a 47.7 percent mark doesn’t seem ideal for Dyson’s skill set. His fly-ball rate, conversely, rose from 23.7 percent to 32.6 percent.
Even if Dyson keeps hitting the ball in the air more than he did in his Royals days, his glove and baserunning will prove plenty valuable. But from 2013-16, Dyson was worth an average of 2.5 bWAR per season and never saw a single season south of 2.1 — despite only playing on a part-time basis. His lone replacement-level season in his career came in 2018, when he was plagued by a .216 average on balls in play. A move down the order and/or a change in his approach at the plate could make Dyson a pretty tidy bargain.
I thought the dodgers signed this guy or am I thinking of someone else
The Pirates signed him last February so you are thinking of someone else…..
Terrance Gore, you’re thinking of Terrance Gore.
No he’s thinking of the vacuum company. Dodgers signed dyson to be the clean up tool for the custodians around the ballpark. It’s easy to confuse them cause they both suck.
Yes, but the vacuum cleaners are much more efficient.
Don’t give the Astros any ideas.
You’re probably telling his future .. He probably will be on the Dodgers come the trade deadline … Every team can use the speed and defense
A decade in the majors, earning $15.4 million before this season, and a World Series ring?
Not a bad career for a dude drafted in the 50th round that accepted $5,000 to pursue his dream.
That’s what it’s all about. Having a dream, pursuing it, and watching it all pay off is what it’s about. Those are the stories I like to hear.
Dyson will catch everything hit his way in CF. If the BABIP gods are kind, he could hit .280 and steal 40 bases over a full season.
Dunno, as each days passes, I’m thinking there ain’t gonna be baseball in 2020. Hope I’m wrong, but ain’t lookin’ good right now.
No doubt there’s going to be baseball. To us baseball starved fans this is difficult but there will be some type of season. Probably starting late June or early July.
pham: Hope you are right. The sports section in my Philly morning paper has been about four pages for weeks. I should be reading box scores and making trades in my Fantasy league (It’s my 34th season!).
Sure would make being mostly homebound a lot easier to stomach. I’m about tired of My Pillow commercials and hearing Joe Namath tell me I might not be getting all the Medicare perks I deserve!
Oh noooo!! Just the mention of My Pillow will force me to change the channel. Thankfully he doesn’t advertise in baseball games, another big advantage to getting the season going.
a few years ago he was a force to have on your roster on MLB the Show. Every franchise I started would usually try and trade for or sign him.
Before life got in the way, I played a fair amount of The Show 10 and did the same with Juan Pierre.
I’d bat him lead him off and drag bunt every plate appearance and he’d hit about .490 or so each year. And then steal second. Be up 1-0 in the first most games.
Then I’d have a Dee Gordon or someone batting behind him doing the same, but they’d “only” hit .400 doing it.
maybe the Pirates can remind him how to hit the ball on the ground more … He has world class speed but it doesnt do any good when you hit fly balls ..
Does hitting the ball on the ground really work better for players with speed? How often does any player beat out a ground ball hit to an infielder? The advantage would seem insignificant to me.
First thing I did when I got the show 20 was trade him back to the royals in my franchise. He’s my favorite player, that’s what speed do. He’s batting .460 right now
Dyson is quite an outlier… one of the oldest, but also one of the fastest, most athletic, great fielding players. Great pickup for Pitt… crazy that with this lack of decent hitting great fielding CFrs out there one of the best is over 35.
“For every ball you hit in the air you owe me 20 push ups”. This team and Lou Brown’s Indians have a lot in common.
no he is simply a sign of how cheap they are