Jack Brannigan: Speed continues to be overlooked part of game

Brannigan on playing shortstop, speed being part of his game, and adjusting to pro ball.

Over the last couple of years, the Pittsburgh Pirates have put a heavy emphasis on their minor league players learning multiple positions. The more positions they know, the easier it is to find them playing time, and helps boost their potential value to the major league team.

For Jack Brannigan, it was really just an opportunity to go back to the position that he played growing up.

“I was a shortstop basically my whole life, shortstop and outfield,” Brannigan said about his experience at shortstop. “I actually got recruited to play outfield at Notre Dame, and then when I showed up they had pulled their guys kind of everywhere and there was an opening at third so they moved me over there and I kind of just ended up sticking there for college.”

So the once shortstop worked his way into becoming a third round pick by the Pirates in 2022 at a completely different position.

When he entered pro ball, the Pirates asked him to add another position, to which Brannigan said he started to get some work in at second base.

However, Bradenton manager Jonathan Johnson thought Brannigan had the potential to play his old position at the professional level.

“JJ (Jonathan Johnston) was really wanting me to play short, he thought I could handle it so he kind of just threw me over there and I started to play more games over there.”

While Brannigan played the majority of his time in Bradenton at third base (284 innings), he primarily played shortstop once getting promoted to Greensboro, and has exclusively played there during the Arizona Fall League.

With his arm and range, Brannigan has just two errors in 205.2 minor league innings playing shortstop, and has a slightly better fielding percentage than he does at third base (.977 vs .961).

In just a year and a half in the Pirates system, Brannigan has gone from someone who was drafted as a two-way player (3B/RHP), to being one of the best defensive shortstop in the Pirates organization.

Not a bad development.

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It’s interesting to see more and more people talk about Brannigan, seeing mostly the fielding and the power come up. Which is fair, he is one of the better fielding infielders in the system, and did hit 19 home runs during the season - but his speed constantly gets overlooked.

In 115 career minor league games, Brannigan has stolen 30 bases on 36 attempts, and according to him, has always been a big part of his game.

“I think speed has always been part of my game,” He said. “I know when I was younger I was smaller so I was more of a speed guy.”

So where did the speed come from? Turns out it runs (pun intended?) in the family, as his father ran track at Notre Dame.

While he stole 21 bases in 116 games at Notre Dame, Brannigan said there wasn’t a lot of emphasis on that part of the game, which is why it’s possible for it to have been overlooked.

Baseball America mentioned that ‘He’s a plus-plus runner, although he’s not a savvy base stealer’, but has he’s gotten comfortable to the professional level, we’ve seen that’s been far from the case.

“When I got here(pro ball), I started to get more comfortable on the base paths and really started to force the issue a little and try it a little bit more, you’ve seen it with some of the stolen base numbers.”

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Baseball is a grind, and going through the minor leagues is just as must adjusting to the schedule as it is facing the opposition and improving your on the field game.

Through everything, that was Brannigan’s biggest takeaway from his first full season in professional baseball.

“I think the biggest thing is just more games, in college you kind of have a lot more off days,” He said. “You play the weekend series, then you get a day off and maybe a midweek or two and then you get more days off before you start the weekend again.”

Getting injured didn’t help adjusting, and was a big part in his slow start to the season. Brannigan was hurt six games into the season, missing the rest of April and not returning until towards the end of May.

Then when he returned, he went hitless in his first six games.

“I was injured right away and when I came back it was almost like I had to restart again. So I felt it was like getting my bearings under me kind of getting used to it again,”

He certainly got his bearings down, slugging .578 and putting up a wRC+ of 158 from June till the end of the season.

“I was working with the coaches down in Bradenton on some swing stuff and stuff that had always been there and I kind of just started to hammer down on that.”