TY WIGGINTON

10/11/77; 17th '98 (New York Mets); Univ. of North Carolina (Asheville)
R/R; 6-0, 200

Level	BA	OBP	SA	AB	2B	3B	HR	BB	K	SB	CS
1998 A- (NYM)	.239	.284	.408	272	14	4	8	16	72	11	2
1999 A+ (NYM)	.292	.373	.502	456	23	5	21	56	82	9	12
2000 AA (NYM)	.285	.319	.490	453	27	3	20	24	107	5	5
2001 AAA (NYM)	.250	.323	.377	260	12	0	7	27	66	3	3
2001 AA (NYM)	.286	.394	.393	28	3	0	0	5	5	1	0
2001 A+ (NYM)	.333	.571	.444	9	1	0	0	4	2	0	0
2002 NL (NYM)	.302	.354	.526	116	8	0	6	8	19	2	1
2002 AAA (NYM)	.300	.366	.431	383	26	3	6	43	50	5	3
2003 NL (NYM)	.255	.318	.396	573	36	6	11	46	124	12	2
2004 NL (NYM)	.285	.334	.487	312	23	2	12	23	48	6	1
2004 NL	.220	.306	.341	182	7	0	5	22	34	1	0

The Pirates obtained Wigginton, along with Matt Peterson and Jose Bautista, for Kris Benson and Jeff Keppinger. Wigginton won the 3B job on a rebuilding Mets team by getting hot after he was first called up, but the arrival of David Wright made him expendable. Wigginton was a good but not outstanding hitter in the minors, showing good power in the low minors but not very much in AAA. In the majors he's shown only fair power and has hit for only a mediocre average. He's had weak to bad K/BB numbers in most seasons. At the time of the trade, he was finishing up a hot streak for the Mets that elevated his power numbers to an unrealistic level. He came back to earth quickly with the Pirates, hitting 178/257/233 in August before having a good September. His overall numbers for the year, 261/324/433, may be a good indication of his most likely performance level. That would put him in the bottom third of major league 3Bmen. Defensively he's a liability, as his range isn't good and he's error-prone. He ranked next-to-last in the NL in fielding percentage and last in zone rating. He's also played 2B and 1B, and would probably be better cast as a UT player. He's considered a very hard-nosed player, and drew some positive attention shortly after arriving in Pgh. by barreling hard into catchers in plays at the plate twice in a short period of time. Wigginton fits with a disturbing pattern of the Pirates settling for below-average players as regulars and pretending that they're adequate. Fortunately, there have been some indications that Peterson and Bautista were the players the Pirates really wanted and that they view Wigginton as a short term solution, which is all he should be. He goes into 2005 expected to bat 5th, ahead of Tike Redman. If the Pirates go into the season with that lineup, they stand a good chance of being the worst-hitting team in baseball.

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