Sidetracked from stardom, 1B Jake Lamb now healthy, focused on finding a role with Pirates

Jake Lamb has something on his resume that no other Pittsburgh Pirates player can claim — a 30-home run, 100-RBI season — but the 33-year-old corner infielder also is aware that it happened seven years ago.

A lot has happened in the interim for Lamb, who has learned to adapt his mentality to make the most of the remainder of his career. An All-Star third baseman for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2017, Lamb has dealt with devastating injuries and bounced around baseball the past four years.

“I’ve been to the playoffs. I’ve won big playoff games. I’ve been an All-Star,” Lamb said. “On the opposite end of that, I’ve also been DFA’d. I’ve also been the last guy on the bench. I’ve also been back in Triple-A for the first time in seven years. So, at first, I used to look down on that. Now I use it as a tool. It’s a unique spot that I’m in, as far as I’ve kind of experienced it all, minus the World Series. I’m still here, still going, still feel great.”

And Lamb is still trying to show he can make an impact in the major leagues, this time as a role player for the Pirates. He’s batting .381 with two doubles, a home run and five RBIs for a .619 slugging percentage in nine Grapefruit League games this spring. Starting at first base, Lamb went 2 for 3 in Saturday’s 8-5 loss to the Detroit Tigers, driving Matt Manning’s 1-2 curveball 337 feet for an opposite-field home run in the first inning to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.

It’s the type of production to which Lamb was accustomed in his prime, when he followed a 2016 season with 31 doubles, 29 homers and 91 RBIs by hitting 30 doubles, 30 homers and 105 RBIs the next year, the best of his career.

“There’s no secret there. I need to drive the ball in the gaps. I need to hit doubles and home runs. I need to drive in runs,” Lamb said. “When I’m at my best, that’s what I’m doing. If I’m getting on first base every at-bat, I’m not doing a whole lot for the team. I’m a good baserunner, but I don’t got speed like that. When I’m helping the team out, I’m in the middle of the order, and I’m driving in runs. That’s plain and simple about what I’m bringing to a team.”

The flip side for Lamb is his high strikeout totals — 154 in 2016, 152 in ’17 — and a series of serious injuries that sidetracked him from stardom.

A disappointing 2018 season ended when an MRI found a frayed rotator cuff in his left shoulder that required surgery. He dealt with a quadriceps strain the following spring. He signed a $5.5 million contract for the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, but after batting .116/.240/.210 with no home runs in 50 plate appearances over 18 games was designated for assignment that September and started the nomadic phase of his career.

Lamb finished the 2020 season for the Oakland A’s, split the next year between the Chicago White Sox and Toronto Blue Jays after being DFA by both. He signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2022 and batted .290 with 15 homers in 61 games at Triple-A Oklahoma City but played only 29 games with the Dodgers before being traded to the Seattle Mariners for cash considerations at the deadline in August.

Last spring, Lamb made the Los Angeles Angels’ Opening Day roster, slashing .216/.259/.353 with two homers and five RBIs in 18 games before being designated in late June. He finished the season with the New York Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he posted a respectable .269/.396/.427 line in 51 games.

Lamb knows he has long odds of making the Pirates’ Opening Day roster. He’s behind Rowdy Tellez on the depth chart at first base, with Connor Joe and Jared Triolo also capable of playing the position, and Gold Glove winner Ke’Bryan Hayes is locked in at third base.

But toiling in the minors had a profound impact on Lamb. It served as a reminder of how much love he still has for the game, in whatever role that can allow him to continue playing. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound left-handed hitter is still fit and fresh-faced, so he’s focused on changing the narrative about his health and proving he has something left.

“That’s always the key. I understand people love to tell that story, that I’ve been injury-prone,” Lamb said. “Physically, I’ve felt great the last two years. The health isn’t really — knock on wood — a thing. It’s more just trusting my ability and going out and being a baseball player.

“You get caught up in, ‘I want to put up certain numbers. I want to do this or that.’ I just want to be a baseball player, and coming to a team like this where you don’t have a position. If you’re on the team, you might give Rowdy a couple days at first, you might give Ke’ a couple days at third, you might sneak into the outfield, you might get a DH day. It’s just being a good baseball player, being versatile. That’s what I’m trying to do.”