Pirates LF Tommy Pham finds it 'frustrating' to rank among MLB's best defenders, worst hitters

As if it isn’t enough that Tommy Pham is dealing with the contrast of being both one of the best defenders and worst offensive performers in baseball, the Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder can’t block out the noise.

Playing for his 10th team in 12 major league seasons, the 37-year-old Pham wanted to make a positive impression in his first month with the Pirates. Instead, he has become a lightning rod for frustrated fans, who are booing him with the same relentlessness they did Rowdy Tellez last year.

“It’s frustrating,” said Pham, who signed a one-year, $4 million contract in February. “You’ve just got to play through it. I get (crap) everywhere from the fans. That really doesn’t make a difference anymore, whether you’re home or away, because I hear it everywhere. I’ve just got to play better, man. That’s what it comes down to.”

On one hand, Pham takes pride in providing high-level performance in left field, calling it a “focal point.” Pham leads all left fielders with six defensive runs saved through 232 innings over the first 32 games, which is tied with five others for the second best in baseball.

On the other, Pham has been a major disappointment at the plate.

With a .170/.248/.213 slash line, Pham has the worst slugging percentage and second-lowest OPS (.460) among all qualified players in the major leagues. He is 86 points below his career batting average and 96 points below his career on-base percentage.

“We’ve seen Tommy do this over the course of (his career),” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Sometimes, we have to let this stabilize out a little bit. But the fact that he’s played so well defensively has definitely helped.”

Raise the Jolly Roger!

Tommy Pham lines a walk-off single for the @Pirates. pic.twitter.com/p3X5mOXv4j

— MLB (@MLB) April 6, 2025

Despite delivering a walk-off single in the 11th inning of a 5-4 win over the New York Yankees on April 6, Pham hasn’t been able to get into a groove. He went 2 for 4 against Cleveland and 3 for 5 at Anaheim in back-to-back games, then hit .136 (3 for 22) over the next seven games.

His scuffles have served as a source of frustration for Pham.

“I’ve had some moments, but, to be quite honest, I’m not hitting the ball hard,” Pham said. “Historically speaking, I’ve always hit the ball hard. And I’m not hitting the ball hard.”

That’s evident in Pham’s hard-hit percentage (37.9), which is well below his career average (46.5). He ranks in the fifth percentile in expected batting average and expected slugging, per Statcast, a result of his hitting .109 against fastballs in general and .067 against four-seamers in particular. Pham has grounded into six double plays in 28 games this season, one more than he did in 116 last year, and his 57.6% ground ball rate is the second highest of his career.

So it’s no surprise that Pham admits he’s been “struggling visually.”

But Pham revealed that his issues are complicated. He has keratoconus, a condition in which the cornea thins and bulges like a cone and creates blurry vision. Pham hopes he discovered the answer to fix the problem in Anaheim, when he got new contact lenses.

“What I figured out is I can’t play with the cylinder in my right eye, my dominant eye, because with a toric lens, the movement of the lens on the eye is throwing off my ability to track the baseball,” Pham said. “What we have done is taken out the cylinder in my right eye.”

Pham’s defense has been eye-popping at times. Per Statcast, his arm value ranks in the 85th percentile and his fielding run value in the 80th percentile. Pham credits first base/outfield coach Tarrik Brock for designing defensive drills that push players to emulate game situations. Brock said Pham is working hard on everything from his first step to making three- and four-star catches.

“He’s been great. He’s playing with nothing to lose,” Brock said. “That’s really good for our young guys to see: A guy come out, work hard every day and play without any fear and just lay it all on the line. You can’t do anything but respect that and applaud that.”

What a catch from Tommy Pham to end the game! ???? pic.twitter.com/qhhlBUeSpO

— MLB (@MLB) April 23, 2025

Pham robbed the Los Angeles Angels’ Jo Adell of a home run April 22. Against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night, Pham threw out Michael Busch at second trying to stretch a single in the fourth inning. Later, Pham made a spectacular sliding catch on a Pete Crow-Armstrong fly ball in left while avoiding a collision with center fielder Oneil Cruz, who slid behind him.

“That play’s a lot harder than it looks. If it looked hard, it’s even harder than that,” Pham said. “It’s literally in the lights, and you don’t know where the ball is until it’s out of the lights, then it’s spinning and hooking. I’m glad Oneil slid because I would’ve been knocked out. A knee from him, that’s a knockout.”

The fiery Pham is no stranger to fighting, whether it’s with words or actions. He’s infamous for a scuffle with teammate Joc Pederson over a fantasy football league, challenged Luke Voit to a fight to defend a teammate and got into a heated confrontation with catcher William Contreras after being nailed at home plate last year.

A fan reached over the fence and touched Tommy Pham while making a play on the ball

Safe to say he did not appreciate it pic.twitter.com/nKnZh7T3WX

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 24, 2025

It reached a boiling point on April 23 in Anaheim. After a fan made contact with him while tracking a ball down the left field line, Pham made an inappropriate gesture in response. He received a fine and one-game suspension from MLB, which Pham appealed.

“That was more so out of frustration,” Pham said. “I get (crap) every day. That was out of frustration that the fan wasn’t thrown out. They were talking (crap) regarding the fan not getting thrown out and me getting touched. You can’t have fans touching us.”

Pham said he’s not interested in having the suspension rescinded and accepting a fine the way Tim Anderson did with the Chicago White Sox in May 2022 after making an obscene gesture to fans in Cleveland. Pham said he’s offered to make a donation to a charity of his choice, if the suspension and fine are dropped.

“MLB is trying to settle with me right now,” Pham said. “They wanted me to take the Tim Anderson (deal) — just pay the fine and not get suspended — and we said, ‘This ain’t similar. Tim Anderson wasn’t touched on the field. I was provoked because of getting touched.’ ”

The Pirates are counting on Pham to turn it around. Shelton believes Pham looks like he’s in a more consistent position to hit, eliminating some of the movement from early on and settling in a bit more.

“I think the one thing with Tommy, he’s done this over the course of years,” Shelton said. “He was in a tough stretch, and, hopefully, we we’re seeing him work his way out of it to get to the more consistent player that we signed.”