Bucs’ Ngoepe a late-blooming prospect
BRADENTON, Fla. — Most players who have spent seven seasons in the minor leagues are no longer considered prospects.
However, Gift Ngoepe is hardly the ordinary professional baseball player. As such, the 26-year-old infielder’s learning curve has been steeper than most as he has worked his way through the Pirates’ farm system.
Ngoepe was the first native African to sign with a major league team back in 2008 after a Pirates scout saw him playing in an amateur tournament in Italy. Having played against inferior competition on his own continent, it has taken time for Ngoepe to catch up to the much more advanced players from the United States, Latin America and the Far East.
However, Ngoepe is finally on the doorstep on the major leagues. He was placed on the 40-man roster in November and is in the Pirates’ spring training camp for the first time with at least an outside shot of winning a job as a utility infielder.
Ngoepe’s chances of being with the Pirates on opening day could grow if it is determined that third baseman Jung Ho Kang is not ready by April 3 when the St. Louis Cardinals visit PNC Park. Kang is still recovering from a broken left leg and torn knee ligament suffered last September.
“I see an opportunity for me to break camp with the squad,” Ngoepe said recently at the Pirates’ spring training camp. “I think it’s realistic. That’s what I’m working to do.”
Defense and speed have always been Ngoepe’s best tools and he has long been considered the top-fielding infielder in the Pirates’ system.
“I take my defense to heart,” Ngoepe said. “I have always taken pride in it and I believe it is the reason I have made it this far.
“Hitting-wise, you don’t know what you’re going to do. All you can do is hit a ball and whatever outcome you get is whatever happens from there. Defense, you can control a lot of stuff. I’ve worked on it since I was a kid.”
Ngoepe has just a career .235 batting average in 2,345 minor league plate appearance with just 28 home runs and a .673 OPS.
However, he has shown improvement in recent seasons.
Ngoepe abandoned switch-hitting last season and batted exclusively from the right side. He wound up hitting .257 with three homers and a .685 OPS in a combined 91 games between Class AA Altoona and Class AAA Indianapolis.
He believes his statistics would have been better if not for a strained left oblique muscle that hampered his swing and eventually caused him to miss the last six weeks of the season.
Sticking to one side of the plate has put Ngoepe’s mind at ease — “I feel a lot less stress now that I only have one swing to worry maintaining instead of two” — and he feels that will lead to more offensive production this season.
“I see the pitches better and I’m able to make adjustments much quicker than I used to be able to when I was switch-hitting,” Ngoepe said. “I’m a lot more confident, and I get to my hitting position in a much better way.”