In 1990, Barry Bonds hit .301/.406/.565, with 104 runs, 114 RBI, 33 home runs and 53 stolen bases. He was the runaway MVP of the National League, led the Pirates to the division title and was considered by many to be the top player in all of baseball.
That supreme effort was good for only 19th on the Pirates’ all-time leaderboard of single season Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+).
Andrew McCutchen’s MVP season of 2013? That’s 35th. Paul Waner’s MVP title in 1927 earned him 25th place. Dave Parker’s award-winning 1978 season is 15th.
So who boasts the top hitting season (by wRC+) in Pirates history? We posted this poll on Twitter over the weekend:
Which hitter has the top single-season wRC+ (Weighted Runs Created Plus) in Pirates’ franchise history? Take your guess and visit https://t.co/zIwUgDffgS this week for the answer.
— Jason Gindele (@Gindelligence) January 23, 2022
We covered Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) in a season recap article in October, but for those who didn’t see that, here’s a quick primer: Weighted Runs Created Plus is a simple metric that attempts to portray a hitter’s offensive production in relation to others, regardless of ballpark or even era. A wRC+ of 100 is league average. A hitter with a 150 wRC+ in a season was 50% above league average. Conversely, a hitter with a 70% wRC+ was 30% below league average. If you want the details on wRC+, read all about it on Fangraphs.
With that out of the way, here are the top 10 (actually 11, due to a tie for 10th place) wRC+ seasons in Pirates’ history:
| YEAR | PLAYER |
PA |
HR | R | RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG |
wRC+ |
| 1992 | Barry Bonds |
612 |
34 | 109 | 103 | 39 | .311 | .456 | .624 |
198 |
| 1935 | Arky Vaughan |
610 |
19 | 108 | 99 | 4 | .385 | .491 | .607 |
194 |
| 1908 | Honus Wagner |
641 |
10 | 100 | 109 | 53 | .354 | .415 | .542 |
194 |
| 1971 | Willie Stargell |
606 |
48 | 104 | 125 | 0 | .295 | .398 | .628 |
186 |
| 1973 | Willie Stargell |
609 |
44 | 106 | 119 | 0 | .299 | .392 | .646 |
181 |
| 1949 | Ralph Kiner |
667 |
54 | 116 | 127 | 6 | .310 | .432 | .658 |
180 |
| 1951 | Ralph Kiner |
670 |
42 | 124 | 109 | 2 | .309 | .452 | .627 |
179 |
| 1904 | Honus Wagner |
558 |
4 | 97 | 75 | 53 | .349 | .423 | .520 |
178 |
| 1907 | Honus Wagner |
580 |
6 | 98 | 82 | 61 | .350 | .408 | .513 |
178 |
| 1909 | Honus Wagner |
591 |
5 | 92 | 100 | 35 | .339 | .420 | .489 |
174 |
| 2002 | Brian Giles |
644 |
38 | 95 | 103 | 15 | .298 | .450 | .622 |
174 |
Check out the full Pittsburgh leaderboard here.
Pirates fans may wince at seeing Bonds atop the list in his last season in Pittsburgh. As they should.
After going to the Giants, Bonds went on to post three of the top four wRC+ totals in MLB history. His 2002 season – in which he hit .370/.582/.799 – earned a whopping 244 wRC+, the best ever.
The top six wRC+ seasons belong to Bonds and Babe Ruth, with three each, followed by familiar names such as Ted Williams, Rogers Hornsby, Mickey Mantle, and the not-so-familiar Fred Dunlap (who briefly played for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys from 1888-1890, four years after his wRC+ bonanza).
Here’s the MLB all-time wRC+ leaderboard.
To give you some additional context, here are the top wRC+ seasons by Pirates hitters over the last 10 years:
| YEAR | PLAYER |
PA |
HR | R | RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG |
wRC+ |
| 2014 | Andrew McCutchen |
648 |
25 | 89 | 83 | 18 | .314 | .410 | .542 |
168 |
| 2012 | Andrew McCutchen |
673 |
31 | 107 | 96 | 20 | .327 | .400 | .553 |
158 |
| 2013 | Andrew McCutchen |
674 |
21 | 97 | 84 | 27 | .317 | .404 | .508 |
156 |
| 2015 | Andrew McCutchen |
685 |
23 | 91 | 96 | 11 | .292 | .401 | .488 |
144 |
| 2021 | Bryan Reynolds |
646 |
24 | 93 | 90 | 5 | .302 | .390 | .522 |
142 |
| 2014 | Josh Harrison |
550 |
13 | 77 | 52 | 18 | .315 | .347 | .490 |
137 |
| 2019 | Josh Bell |
613 |
37 | 94 | 116 | 0 | .277 | .367 | .569 |
135 |
| 2014 | Starling Marte |
545 |
13 | 73 | 56 | 30 | .291 | .356 | .453 |
132 |
| 2014 | Neil Walker |
571 |
23 | 74 | 76 | 2 | .271 | .342 | .467 |
130 |
| 2019 | Bryan Reynolds |
546 |
16 | 83 | 68 | 3 | .314 | .377 | .503 |
130 |
And for posterity, here are the wRC+ numbers for Pirates who have won relevant awards:
Most Valuable Player
| YEAR | PLAYER |
PA |
HR | R | RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG |
wRC+ |
| 1992 | Barry Bonds |
612 |
34 | 109 | 103 | 39 | .311 | .456 | .624 |
198 |
| 1978 | Dave Parker |
642 |
30 | 102 | 117 | 20 | .334 | .394 | .585 |
167 |
| 1990 | Barry Bonds |
621 |
33 | 104 | 114 | 52 | .301 | .406 | .565 |
165 |
| 1927 | Paul Waner |
709 |
9 | 114 | 131 | 5 | .380 | .437 | .549 |
160 |
| 2013 | Andrew McCutchen |
674 |
21 | 97 | 84 | 27 | .317 | .404 | .508 |
156 |
| 1966 | Roberto Clemente |
690 |
29 | 105 | 119 | 7 | .317 | .360 | .536 |
143 |
| 1979 | Willie Stargell |
480 |
32 | 60 | 82 | 0 | .281 | .352 | .552 |
137 |
| 1960 | Dick Groat |
629 |
2 | 85 | 50 | 0 | .325 | .371 | .394 |
116 |
As you may have guessed, Groat’s MVP campaign was greatly bolstered by his shortstop defense, which, itself, generated 24.3 fWAR.
Silver Slugger
There are a couple of fun pitchers (in italics) appearing in this list. Their wRC+ numbers are compared to all hitters.
(Side note: My uncle played golf with SP Don Robinson a number of times and always marveled at how far Robinson could drive the ball off the tee. In his career, the 6-foot-4, 231-pound Robinson had 13 home runs and an ISO of .098 in 665 plate appearances.)
| YEAR | PLAYER |
PA |
HR | R | RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG |
wRC+ |
| 1992 | Barry Bonds |
612 |
34 | 109 | 103 | 39 | .311 | .456 | .624 |
198 |
| 2014 | Andrew McCutchen |
648 |
25 | 89 | 83 | 18 | .314 | .410 | .542 |
168 |
| 1990 | Barry Bonds |
621 |
33 | 104 | 114 | 52 | .301 | .406 | .565 |
165 |
| 2012 | Andrew McCutchen |
673 |
31 | 107 | 96 | 20 | .327 | .400 | .553 |
158 |
| 2013 | Andrew McCutchen |
674 |
21 | 97 | 84 | 27 | .317 | .404 | .508 |
156 |
| 1991 | Barry Bonds |
634 |
25 | 95 | 116 | 43 | .292 | .410 | .514 |
155 |
| 1992 | Andy Van Slyke |
685 |
14 | 103 | 89 | 12 | .324 | .381 | .505 |
152 |
| 1991 | Bobby Bonilla |
680 |
18 | 102 | 100 | 2 | .302 | .391 | .492 |
150 |
| 2015 | Andrew McCutchen |
685 |
23 | 91 | 96 | 11 | .292 | .401 | .488 |
144 |
| 1988 | Andy Van Slyke |
659 |
25 | 101 | 100 | 30 | .288 | .345 | .506 |
144 |
| 1988 | Bobby Bonilla |
681 |
24 | 87 | 100 | 3 | .274 | .366 | .476 |
139 |
| 2014 | Neil Walker |
571 |
23 | 74 | 76 | 2 | .271 | .342 | .467 |
130 |
| 1990 | Bobby Bonilla |
686 |
32 | 112 | 120 | 4 | .280 | .322 | .518 |
127 |
| 1993 | Jay Bell |
701 |
9 | 102 | 51 | 16 | .310 | .392 | .437 |
125 |
| 2013 | Pedro Alvarez |
614 |
36 | 70 | 100 | 2 | .233 | .296 | .473 |
112 |
| 1984 | Rick Rhoden |
92 |
0 | 9 | 4 | 0 | .333 | .345 | .405 |
109 |
| 2004 | Jack Wilson |
693 |
11 | 82 | 59 | 8 | .308 | .335 | .459 |
103 |
| 1982 | Don Robinson |
92 |
2 | 10 | 16 | 0 | .282 | .311 | .412 |
101 |
| 1983 | Johnny Ray |
623 |
5 | 68 | 53 | 18 | .283 | .323 | .399 |
98 |
| 1986 | Rick Rhoden |
101 |
1 | 9 | 10 | 0 | .278 | .298 | .411 |
93 |
| 1985 | Rick Rhoden |
78 |
0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | .189 | .211 | .230 |
18 |
Rookie of the Year
| YEAR | PLAYER |
PA |
HR | R | RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG |
wRC+ |
| 2004 | Jason Bay |
472 |
26 | 61 | 82 | 4 | .282 | .358 | .550 |
130 |
One final tidbit: If there are any Dots Miller fans out there, he posted a career-high 121 wRC+ in 1909, his rookie year. I can’t be certain, but I feel like there is someone out there who will find that interesting.
