The Pittsburgh Pirates have endured seven consecutive losing seasons, finishing either in last place or tied for last in six of them, so it’s not often they are associated with consensus or unanimous in a positive way.
But the Pirates enter spring training with the unanimous winner of the National League Cy Young Award in right-hander Paul Skenes and the consensus top prospect in baseball in shortstop Konnor Griffin.
Where Skenes already has proven to be a generational talent as a two-time All-Star starting pitcher, Griffin is showing the same promise in being compared to Alex Rodriguez, Mike Trout and Bobby Witt Jr.
What impresses Pirates manager Don Kelly most is that Skenes and Griffin share a similar trait that has less to do with their talent than it does their desire to win.
“To have Paul, he’s a unicorn. The way he goes about it every single day, the thing that I can say about Paul is that above all else he wants to win,” Kelly told TribLive by phone from Bradenton, Fla., last week. “That is what drives him to be his best. It’s not for Paul Skenes, it’s for the Pittsburgh Pirates to win. He works for that every single day.”
Not only did Griffin win minor league player of the year honors — and a MiLB Gold Glove — but he helped both High-A Greensboro and Double-A Altoona clinch playoff berths in his first full professional season.”
“This guy works like Paul does,” Kelly said. “He doesn’t take anything for granted. He works his butt off every day to be the best version of himself to win baseball games. To have that nucleus, that the No. 1 goal is winning — it’s not individual accolades — is (the formula for) winning baseball.”
If only it were that simple.
The Pirates open spring training Wednesday when pitchers and catchers report to big league camp at Pirate City. Five storylines to watch:
1. KG watch: Aside from Skenes, who will be pitching for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, no one on the Pirates will draw more attention this spring than Griffin.
At 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, the teenager already looks like a major leaguer from a physical standpoint. He hit a towering home run against Baltimore and made spectacular diving catches in center field last spring but really rounded into form by dominating the competition at each level of the minors he played last summer.
Now, Griffin will be given a chance to prove he’s ready to make the Opening Day roster weeks before his 20th birthday. The Pirates are counting on Griffin to become a superstar so they don’t want to do anything to rush or delay his development.
If Griffin can win the starting shortstop job and provide a fraction of the production he had in the minors — 23 doubles, 21 home runs, 94 RBIs, 117 runs scored and 65 stolen bases — it would allow the Pirates to go defensive and play Jared Triolo at third base.
If not, Triolo could be the stopgap at shortstop until the Pirates believe Griffin is ready. But the feeling here is that the front office and coaching staff would love for Griffin to give them no choice.
2. Hot stove: The Pirates have reportedly shown interest in free agent Marcell Ozuna, a right-handed slugger one year removed from a 39-homer, 104-RBI season, to serve as their designated hitter.
That would likely eliminate their need to re-sign 39-year-old franchise icon Andrew McCutchen, who ranked among the Pirates’ top three in doubles, home runs and RBIs but had the worst power numbers of any qualified DH last season.
The Pirates also have been mentioned in trade talks with Houston for 26-year-old third baseman Isaac Paredes, who posted 20 home runs with an .809 OPS and 123 OPS last season and has three 20-homer seasons in his career.
But Paredes is slated to earn $9.35 million this season. An ESPN trade proposal had the Pirates giving up Triolo, a 2024 Gold Glove winner, and left-hander Hunter Barco for Paredes and cash. That should be a hard pass for the Pirates.
They also have been connected to New York Mets infielders Brett Baty and Mark Vientos. Baty, a left-handed hitter, was a 3.1 WAR player last season, when he had 18 homers, 50 RBIs and 111 OPS . Vientos, a righty, hit 27 homers with 71 RBIs in 2024 but had a .233/.289/.413 slash line and was negative WAR last season.
3. Hey now: The Pirates promised to be aggressive this offseason and, despite some swing-and-miss in free agency, added All-Stars in left-handed reliever Gregory Soto, second baseman Brandon Lowe and first baseman/designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn.
They are counting on Lowe and O’Hearn to add pop to an offense that ranked last in the majors in home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage and OPS.
As important, they also are expected to provide protection in the lineup for Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz, as both are coming off disappointing seasons.
With All-Stars on the mound in Skenes, Soto and Mitch Keller, in the infield with O’Hearn and Lowe and the outfield with Reynolds, getting Cruz to tap into his potential with consistent play at the plate could make their playoffs-or-bust talk sound more plausible.
“You’re not kidding,” Kelly said. “When you start pluralizing All-Stars, that’s when you can start turning into a really good team.”
But Kelly is realistic that the Pirates aren’t going to change their offensive identity — if they even have one — overnight and become a team that wins with slugging.
“You don’t need all All-Stars to win,” Kelly said. “You can grind it out and find ways to play baseball and be in the details and get guys over and get guys in, play good defense and run the bases well. Those are the things we have to do. When we start to get that going, to have O’Hearn and Lowe in that lineup with Reynolds, Cruz and Spencer (Horwitz), to have that protection is a confidence. It’s a confidence in trusting in your teammate to get the job done, picking each other up when the guy in front of you doesn’t and how we have that mindset every day to show up to pick each other up and win a baseball game.”
4. Position battles: The Pirates have a number of decisions to make but expect plenty of competition at two positions in particular.
Left field could be interesting, with the additions of the speedy Jake Mangum (Tampa Bay) and powerful Jhostynxon Garcia (Boston) via trades, and the returning Jack Suwinski fighting for the starting job.
Where Mangum and Suwinski both project as fourth outfielders, Garcia was a top-100 prospect who is about 50 pounds heavier than his listed 163 pounds. He has only five games of major league experience, with one hit and two walks in nine plate appearances for the Red Sox last summer.
At catcher, Henry Davis developed into a strong defender and even better game-caller who earned Skenes’ trust to become his battery mate, but must show that he hit with consistency after batting .167 last season. After hitting 13 homers with 45 RBIs in 80 games in 2024, Joey Bart took a step backwards with four homers and 30 RBIs in 93 games last season.
Given his $2.53 million salary, Bart could be a trade chip, especially if the Pirates believe either Endy Rodriguez or Rafael Flores Jr. is ready to handle the backup duties. It helps that both are multi-positional.
Finally, don’t be surprised if the Pirates have a competition for closer. Dennis Santana is the unquestioned leader of the bullpen and earned that role with 16 saves in 19 opportunities last season, but was maybe even more effective as a setup man. Soto has 56 saves on his resume, including 48 over his All-Star seasons of 2021-22. Kelly could choose to base it on matchups, given that Santana is a righty and Soto a lefty.
5. Batter up: Kelly has a full slate of Grapefruit League games to determine his batting order but sounds like someone who is interested in developing continuity at the top of the lineup.
Cruz started 60 games as the leadoff hitter last season, followed by Horwitz (30) and Triolo (26). Horwitz had a .292/.351/.483 slash line with eight doubles, five home runs and 24 RBIs batting leadoff, but also shined in a smaller sample size in six games in the five-hole, batting .450 witha 1.44 OPS, three homers and six RBIs. Although he batted only .202 in the top spot of the order, Cruz had nine of his 18 doubles, 11 of his 20 home runs, 26 of his 61 RBIs and, perhaps most important, 18 of his NL-best 38 steals.
Having Lowe bat behind him could help Cruz and having O’Hearn hit behind Reynolds — who batted third in 106 games — could provide protection that would make the top of the order more formidable. They also have to weigh whether they can live with Cruz’s 94 strikeouts against 32 walks at leadoff last season.
“As we go, that’s going to be something we’re always talking about. We’re always looking to put the players in the best position possible to be successful,” Kelly said. “In saying that, there are times as a former player, when you have a stable lineup and guys know where they’re going to be, it’s nice to know coming to the ballpark. Now, we let the guys know the night before. But when you get a comfortability, the goal is to win and put the players in the best position.
“Hopefully, as we go, that becomes a stable lineup that guys know where they’re going be whether it’s a righty or a lefty. That’s not to say we’re not going to change it at times, depending on a matchup or who’s in the lineup. That can certainly change. But the hope is that we hit the ground running and everybody takes off and we can just run with it and be really stable.”