Pittsburgh Pirates Rebuild - 2025 End of Season Check-In

The end of the regular season has drawn upon us and year 1 under my guidance has seen a lot of change within the organization. With that change has come a 90 win season, the Pirates first non-losing season since 2018. The 90 wins earns the Pirates their first NL Central division championship since 1992!

Here's the Team Report for the regular season.

League Leaders

Offense

Kyle Schwarber had an MVP worthy season hitting 55 HR's and driving in 131. He also lead the league in SLG by over 40 points.

Oneil Cruz and Jack Suwinski were 1 and 2 in steals in the league, with 58 and 54 respectively. The 320 total team steals ranks 3rd most all time, just 28 off setting the all time record held by the 1911 New York Giants

Pitching

Paul Skenes was stellar this year, being in contention for the pitching triple crown in 2025, with a 17 win/2.65 ERA/and 245 K season.

Basics

Starting with the finalized league standings:

The AL East and NL Central both send 3 teams to the post season. The Twins secured the last wild card slot in the AL by virtue of winning the season series of the Rays, 5-1. The Rangers controlled the AL West, and the Dodgers ran away with the NL West, very easily being the best team in baseball.

In the NL Central, the Pirates were able to hold off the Cardinals to secure the division. The Cardinals spent most of the second half nipping at the Pirates heels, even taking the lead for a few days. But a late August series where the Pirates took 3 of 4 put distance between the two and the Pirates never looked back.

The Cubs played good ball in the second half and secured a wildcard spot, meaning the NL Central sends 3 teams to the playoffs. Speaking of playoffs, here's the tree:

The Cubs taking on the Cardinals in the wild card is a very interesting matchup, and the Red Sox have a chance to meet the Yankees yet again in the post season.

The final league stats rankings are in:

Offensively we struggled in a lot of areas, but our base running and stolen bases topped the league, which also bolstered our total runs scored. Playing at PNC doesn't help the power numbers, a notoriously pitcher friendly park. But if Kyle Manzardo can develop into a legitimate left handed power bat, we should see those numbers increase.

Pitching and defense were by far the strengths of the 2025 Pirates, while they lacked steady backend pitching, Paul Skenes and Jared Jones made a very good 1-2, and late June call up Mike Burrows posted a 3.91 FIP, while Bailey Falter won 7 decisions in a row without a loss between late April and mid June.

Transactions

With the September roster expansion, it gave us a chance to call up some bodies in Indianapolis, so let's take a look at some of those guys.

Catcher Endy Rodriguez

A second catcher has been a weak spot on the roster since the Joey Bart deal, Endy was called up on the 25th of August. He became the primary second catcher on the squad, and the Pirates will carry him on the roster into the post season.

Games	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	OPS
10	32	3	5	0	1	1	5	.156	.222	.535

Outfielder Matt Gorski

Gorski was called up on Sept. 9th, and made his debut the same day. Going 2/4 with 1HR, 1 R, and 4RBI's. A stellar debut for the rookie. He slashed .265//297/.441 in 12 games with 8 starts.

Games	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	OPS
12	37	5	9	3	0	1	6	.265	.297	.738

Shortstop Jack Brannigan

Like Gorski, Jack was called up on Sept. 9th and made his debut the same day. Going 1/4 with a 2B and a run scored. Both rookies did not make post season roster.

Games	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	OPS
10	33	36	5	3	0	0	1	.161	.182	.440

Stats

Batting Stats for the 2025 season

Overall I'm happy with the moves I made to better the lineup offensively.

• Eguy Rosario, despite playing the least amount of games from the everyday starters hit 20 homeruns and knocked in 78 men.

• Henry Davis as our every day catcher after moving on from Joey Bart was a great move. Davis hit 18 homeruns, drove in 51 and slashed .269/.333/.437 with .769 OPS.

• Kyle Manzardo had a hot start out of the gate for the Pirates but cooled down a bit. However his power numbers were good, hitting 8 home runs, 3 more than Horowitz in 20 less games, and despite a .219 BA he finished his Pirates season with a .724 OPS.

• Josh Palacios might be the best of my starting decisions, giving us a solid leadoff guy, hitting .276 with a OBP of .341 from the leadoff slot. He also hit a career high 17 HR's and knocked in a career high 48 while nearly doubling his BB% from 2023. (4.5 to 8.2)

• Oneil Cruz set career highs in Runs, Stolen Bases, Home Runs, RBI's, BB%, OPS, SLG, and WAR.

Pitching Stats for the 2025 season

Top end starting pitching was great for the Pirates and the bullpen was (mostly) a strength for the team.

• We've said a lot of Skenes but by far the ace of the staff and one of the best in the game was exactly that. Winning 17 games, with a 2.65 a K/BB ratio of nearly 4:1, and a WHIP under 1.00. He posted a 7.4 pitching WAR, best in the league by 1.3 points.

• Jared Jones joining the rotation around the all start break was big, posting a 3.50 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP.

• Mitch Keller struggled after his no-hitter. Post no hitter his ERA climbed from 3.54 to 5.14

• Johan Oviedo had a good end to his season, working some long relief and making so solid starts in June. Full on rotation consideration will be looked at for 2026.

• Bailey Falter had a rollercoaster season, after sporting a ERA north of 5 for the first two months of season he went on a tear, dropping his ERA all the way down to 2.93 at the end of June. However he lost all 5 starts he made in July, spiking his ERA to 4.25. a 9 run start against the Dodgers really hit him hard in early September, but allowed just 4 runs in the following 4 starts.

  
  

Odds and Ends

• We have the home field advantage against the Mets. Pitching matchups are as follows:

  • 9/30 Jared Jones vs Sean Manaea

  • 10/1 Paul Skenes vs Clay Holmes

  • (if necessary) 10/2 TBD vs. Kodai Senga

• The Pirates had 3 players in the 20/20/20 club. (20 2B/20 HR/ 20 SB)

  • Oneil Cruz (26/29/58)

  • Jack Suwinski (30/22/54)

  • Eguy Rosario (25/20/20)

• I don't expect a deep run in the post season, in fact I would be surprised getting past the Mets. But a 90 with season with this roster has been a pleasant surprise.

• Looking forward to trying out the Development Lab!

• Unsure where to go with Cutch, he's expressed interest in returning, but at a 7.2m 1 year deal. Sentimentally I want to, but I just feel like the price tag is too steep for a 39 year old with .691 OPS and 97 wRC+. We'll see if that price goes down in the offseason.