The Best wRC+ Seasons in Pittsburgh Pirates History

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:

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.

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