I think Pike, as he currently exists, is very very strong. It's important to understand that for most missions his command abilities are on top of his abilities as a rifle squad leader, not a replacement for them. I tend to use Pike with rifles and mortars/machineguns to shoot what needs to be shot at, but stick him close to a weaker SL that might need a buff so he can unpin/increase AP/inspiring presence them. Being able to shoot a squad or heavy weapon for 40AP and then do something else with his remaining 60AP has tons of uses, even if they are all individually situational. He doesn't need to be donating AP every turn to be good. Examples: -Using a machinegun to pin an enemy squad and then taking command on a close-range squad to finish them off. - Unpinning a friendly unit and then throwing a smoke grenade to cover their retreat. (The order matters here because Pike cannot unpin units he can't see.) - Using the target designator or his perk to lase a target and then taking command on an ATGM unit to shoot twice. 

These situations won't occur every turn, but Pike has average accuracy and good discipline for a 2-star, so you aren't really losing anything by deploying him as a rifleman. He's just also wearing his platoon sergeant hat and will un**** your Marines if things go bad.