JODY GERUT

9/18/77; '98 2nd (Colorado); Stanford Univ.
L/L; 6-0, 190

Level
BA
OBP
SA
AB
2B
3B
HR
BB
K
SB
CS
1999 A+ (Colo)
.289
.370
.465
499
33
11
11
61
65
25
12
2000 AA (Colo)
.285
.405
.414
362
32
3
3
76
54
18
11
2001 INJURED
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2002 AAA (Cleve)
.322
.401
.399
183
7
2
1
23
20
3
5
2002 AA (Cleve)
.281
.368
.461
256
15
2
9
34
30
17
8
2003 AL (Cleve)
.279
.336
.494
480
33
2
22
35
70
4
5
2003 AAA (Cleve)
.277
.377
.585
65
5
0
5
11
11
4
0
2004 AL (Cleve)
.252
.334
.405
481
31
5
11
54
59
13
6
2005 AL (Cleve)
.275
.357
.377
138
9
1
1
18
14
1
1
2005 NL (Chi)
.071
.188
.143
14
1
0
0
2
3
0
0

The Pirates acquired Gerut at the 2005 trading deadline for Matt Lawton. He had a big rookie season for the Indians, but has never shown anywhere close to that much power since then . . . or before for that matter. He does have a good eye and has generally posted good walk totals, but not enough, combined with his average, to produce more than a pretty good OBP. He runs and plays defense well. Although he reportedly can play CF, Cleveland seldom used him there. He tore a knee ligament late in the 2004 season, missing the last part of that season and the first month of 2005. He's had a severe platoon split, posting a .613 OPS vs. LHPs at the time of the trade and an .856 OPS against RHPs. Whether he's a useful player for the Pirates will depend heavily on whether Lloyd McClendon platoons him, something he seems very reluctant to do with players he regards as established major leaguers. Although Gerut will no doubt be portrayed by the Pirates as "young," he was just a month shy of 28 at the time of the trade, so he's probably about as good as he's going to get. His abilities largely duplicate those of Chris Duffy and Nate McLouth, including his LH bat. He's quite likely to end up blocking them. His optimal role is as a 4th OF, but on a bad team like the Pirates he's very likely to be an every day player. It's difficult to see what purpose his acquisition serves for the Pirates, other than to give them a very ordinary player to help them with their primary goal of not being too bad each year.

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