2025 Pittsburgh Pirates

2025 Pittsburgh Pirates / Franchise: Pittsburgh Pirates / BR Team Page

Record: , Finished in NL Central Division (2025 NL)

Managed by Derek Shelton

Coaches: Tarrik Brock, Radley Haddad, Matt Hague, Don Kelly, Mendy Lopez, Oscar Marin, Christian Marrero, Miguel Pérez, Mike Rabelo, Brent Strom and Jonny Tucker

Ballpark: PNC Park

History, Comments, Contributions

The '2025 Pirates came off back-to-back 76-win seasons and made few changes to improve the team. Their biggest move involved trading one of their top pitchers, Luis Ortiz plus two prospects, for an injured first baseman in Spencer Horwitz. They also signed 37-year-old Tommy Pham to allegedly their outfield gap, even though Pham had been below-average offensively and defensively in recent years (shades of Yasmani Grandal from 2024) as well as being a clubhouse cancer.

The biggest hope for the Bucs came from their starting rotation, anchored by 2024 Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes as well as another 2024 solid rookie, Jared Jones. Mitch Keller and Bailey Falter had also done a reasonable job in '24. Unfortunately, Jones began the year injured and Johan Oviedo had a setback in his return from Tommy John surgery so free agent Andrew Heaney and converted reliever Carmen Mlodzinski rounded out the rotation. The bullpen was a bigger concern as David Bednar had been terrible as the closer in '24 and Aroldis Chapman departed via free agency.

The offense had not been very good in 2024. Catcher Joey Bart, second baseman Nick Gonzales, outfielders Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds and designated hitter Andrew McCutchen had been reliable producers but there was a glaring hole in the third outfield slot which Pham seemed unlikely to fill, shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa was a question mark and third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes had struggled in '24 while battling health problems after being a solid hitter in 2023. There was no one to cover first until Horwitz got healthy; on Opening Day, they went to catcher Endy Rodríguez, who had played one spring training game there only. He promptly made a defensive gaffe (as did Cruz) while Colin Holderman and Bednar blew a lead Skenes had left them for 2024 deja vu.

Further Reading

2025 MLB season by team