2023 Pittsburgh Pirates

2023 Pittsburgh Pirates / Franchise: Pittsburgh Pirates / BR Team Page[edit]

Record: 76-86, Finished 4th in NL Central Division (2023 NL)

Coaches: Tarrik Brock, Radley Haddad, Andy Haines, Don Kelly, Mendy Lopez, Oscar Marin, Christian Marrero, Justin Meccage and Mike Rabelo

Ballpark: PNC Park

History, Comments, Contributions[edit]

Coming off back-to-back 100-loss seasons (and a worse winning percentage in 2020, cut short by COVID-19), the 2023 Pittsburgh Pirates were hoping to make progress. Their main hopes rested on young players like SS Oneil Cruz and 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes making major strides. Their top player of the past few seasons, OF Bryan Reynolds, demanded a trade prior to the season but the team did not deal him away. They added several veterans, most notably OF Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh's most recent MVP; the media and fans went wild about the signing, though McCutchen's skills had declined since his time in the 'Burgh. Other veterans joining were C Austin Hedges to upgrade the defense, 1B Carlos Santana and Ji-man Choi (also expected to fill in at DH), OF Connor Joe, SP Rich Hill, P Vince Velasquez and RP Jarlín García.

At the other positions, the team had a few younger options fighting for the spot at 2B with Rodolfo Castro, Ji-hwan Bae and Tucupita Marcano, while they were hoping that second-year slugger Jack Suwinski would build on his 2022 pop numbers to develop into a solid contributor. On the mound, there were lots of questions as the staff had had a rough 2022 but had finished well. Joining Hill were Mitch Keller, J.T. Brubaker, Roansy Contreras and possibly Johan Oviedo or Velasquez. The bullpen was anchored by All-Star closer David Bednar, supported by Colin Holderman, Wil Crowe, García and Robert Stephenson among others. Meanwhile, several top prospects were beginning the season at AAA with Nick Gonzales, Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez. After a strong spring performance by Brubaker, the Bucs got bad news when he was sidelined by injury, possibly requiring Tommy John surgery.

Projections called for some improvement, with the Pirates expected to lose in the 90s rather than 100s. They won their opener, 5-4, against the Cincinnati Reds on March 30th with strong days from Cruz and Bae, with late bullpen addition Rob Zastryzny getting the win. The team kept rolling and was 19-9 at the end of April for the best record in the National League. Suwinski, Castro and Bae were all showing good progress while veterans like Reynolds, Joe and McCutchen were also doing well; one lowlight was an injury to Cruz that ended his season after just a handful of games. The staff was especially strong with Keller, Contreras and Oviedo all pitching very well and the bullpen of Holderman, Stephenson and Bednar also very successful. During the month, the Pirates made a big and unexpected move when they signed their best hitter, Reynolds, to an eight-year contract extension worth $106.75 million, the first time the team had granted any player a contract worth over $100 million. It was seen by most observers as a sign that the thinking of upper management was changing and that they were now willing to pay the market price in order to retain their best players. The last time Pirates management had listened to the fan base demanding something, it was the terrible trade of Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows and Shane Baz for Chris Archer that had cost GM Neal Huntington his job in 2018.

After their very good first month, the Pirates faced a big test, with back-to-back series against the Tampa Bay Rays and Toronto Blue Jays, juggernauts of the AL East. They were swept by the Rays at Tropicana Field on May 2-4, scoring just 4 runs in the three losses, then were shut out at home by Chris Bassitt and the Jays on May 5th, by a 4-0 score, on their way to being on the wrong end of another three-game sweep. It was Mitch Keller, pitching like a true ace so far, who ended the skid by recording his first career shutout in beating the Colorado Rockies, 2-0, on May 8th, keeping the Bucs ahead of the second-place Milwaukee Brewers for the time being. They had a terrible May at 9-18 to finish the month 28-27, just behind Milwaukee in a tight division. The offense was down to 10th in the NL in runs with key hitters being Suwinski (.240/.352/.507, 11 HR, 133 OPS+), Joe (.255/.346/.484, 126 OPS+), McCutchen (.273/.369/.453, 125 OPS+), Reynolds (.282/.333/.495, 16 2B, 124 OPS+) and Castro (.264/.368/.426, 118 OPS+), though Castro was struggling with the glove trying to fill in for the injured Cruz at short. Keller (7-1, 3.25) continued to pace the staff while the bullpen was stellar with Bednar (2-0, 10 Sv, 1.29), Yohan Ramirez (1.42 ERA), Dauri Moreta (2-1, Sv, 1.80), Holderman (0-1, 2.18) and Rule 5 pick José Hernández (0-1, 2.25, 4 BB in 24 IP) all pitching well.

A bright spot came on June 11th when McCutchen recorded career hit #2,000, the first person to do so in a Pirate uniform since Willie Stargell; at the time, the Bucs were still neck-and-neck with the Brewers. They did okay in early June then imploded again, falling from a battle for first down to fourth. At one point, four hitters (Bae, Suwinski, Castro and Hedges) were a combined 1 for their past 101. Winning their last four of the month, they were back to 39-42 and still within sight of first place. Key prospects were getting their first calls to The Show, most notably Davis and Gonzales. July was another rough month, with the team falling to last before rallying to get out of the cellar into 4th by the month's end. At the trading deadline, they shipped away rent-a-players Hill, Hedges, Santana and Choi as well as Castro. The team was going into a full youth movement, with numerous rookies and second-year players appearing regularly in Rodriguez, Davis, Jared Triolo, Gonzales, Alika Williams, Suwinski, Osvaldo Bidò, Priester, Carmen Mlodzinski, Liover Peguero and (prior to their injuries) Bae and Marcano.

They finished August at 61-73, almost ensured at that point of a better record than the prior season. They were still hanging on to fourth place ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals and coming off a sweep of the Kansas City Royals. They then posted a winning record (15-13) the remainder of the way for a 14-game improvement from 2022, giving hope for the future.

The offense was only 13th in the NL with 692 runs. At catcher, Rodriguez (.220/.284/.328, 67 OPS+) and Jason Delay (.251/.319/.347, 83 OPS+) provided solid defense but little punch, though more than Hedges (.180/.237/.230, 29 OPS+) had given prior to his departure. While Rodriguez was young and had a chance to improve, he was injured in the offseason and would miss the next season. At first base, after the trade of Santana (.235/.321/.412, 99 OPS+), Joe (.247/.339/.421, 107 OPS+, 31 2B) and Alfonso Rivas (.234/.305/.436) had seen the bulk of the action. Seven different players appeared in at least ten games at 2B, with Bae (.231/.296/.311, 67 OPS+, 24 SB) slumping late and seeing the most time, followed by Castro (.228/.317/.355, 84 OPS+) and Peguero (.237/.280/.374, 77 OPS+). After losing Cruz for the year, they had four shortstops play between 31 and 58 games there - Marcano (.233/.276/.356, 72 OPS+), Williams (.198/.270/.248), Castro and Peguero. Hayes finished hot at the plate for a solid season (.271/.309/.453, 31 2B, 15 HR, 105 OPS+) while displaying his usual brilliance in the field, finally rewarded with a Gold Glove. Triolo (.298/.388/.398, 116 OPS+) filled in well and also showed a fine glove while Hayes was out, with the plan being that he would fill a utility role the next year.

Reynolds (.263/.330/.470, 113 OPS+, 31 2B, 24 HR, 85 R, 84 RBI) and Suwinski (.224/.339/.454, 115 OPS+, 26 HR, 74 RBI, 75 BB) were mainstays in the outfield and provided most of the team's offense, though both were streaky. Joining them in regular outfield work were Joe, Davis (.213/.302/.351, 78 OPS+) and Joshua Palacios (.239/.279/.413, 86 OPS+). McCutchen (.256/.378/.397, 113 OPS+, 75 BB) did a solid job in a rebound campaign prior to a season-ending injury. Davis had been drafted as a catcher, but the Pirates did not want to burden him with having to handle the pitching staff while simultaneously getting his bearings as a major league hitter, so he played almost exclusively in right field as a rookie as if learning a new position was not going to be an even bigger disruption.

The pitching was a bit sharper, finishing 11th in ERA (4.60). Keller (13-9, 4.21, 105 ERA+) and Oviedo (9-14, 4.31, 103 ERA+) were a solid 1-2 starting punch, with Keller setting a team record for strikeouts by a right-handed hurler (breaking A.J. Burnett's record), though Oviedo was lost to injury (following the season) for 2024. After that, Hill (7-10, 4.76, 93 ERA+) was okay before being traded, Ortiz (5-5, 4.78, 93 ERA+) was erratic but finished fine, Contreras (3-7, Sv, 6.59, 68 ERA+) had a terrible decline without any sufficient explanation and Velasquez (4-4, 3.86, 116 ERA+) and Andre Jackson (1-3, 4.33, 103 ERA+) did okay in limited action. Other starting pitchers in limited time struggled, such as Bidò (2-5, 5.86, 76 ERA+), Priester (3-3, 7.74, 58 ERA+) and Bailey Falter (2-2, 5.58, 80 ERA+). The disappointing turns by Contreras, Ortiz and Priester were especially notable as they were counted on as potential future building blocks. The bullpen did pretty well, on the other hand. Bednar (3-3, 39 Sv, 2.00, 222 ERA+, 80 K in 67 1/3 IP) remained stellar, and Ryan Borucki (4-0, 2.45, 182 ERA+), Mlodzinski (3-3, Sv, 2.25, 199 ERA+), Moreta (5-2, Sv, 3.72, 120 ERA+) and Holderman (0-3, 2 Sv, 3.86, 115 ERA+) all faring well. Hernández struggled late but did okay for a Rule 5 pick (1-3, 4.97, 90 ERA+, 60 K in 50 2/3 IP, 50 GP).

Awards and Honors[edit]

All-Stars: David Bednar and Mitch Keller
NL Gold Glove: Ke'Bryan Hayes (3B)

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2023 Pittsburgh Pirates

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