stenzel appeared in 60 games for the pirates in 1893 and batted .362 to establish his reputation as a strong hitter. over the following three seasons, he was the team's regular center fielder. he posted the best statistics of his career in 1894, when he hit .352 with 13 home runs and 121 runs batted in in 131 games. his 148 runs scored in 1894 remains the pirates single-season franchise record. in 1895, stenzel raised his batting average to .371; his ops+ total of 157 ranked fifth in the league. in 1896, he hit .361 to lead the pirates in batting average for the third straight season. he became the first pittsburgh player to collect six hits in a game, which he accomplished on may 14.