In Wednesday’s newsletter, we took a look at the top performers at each level of the Pirates’ farm system. This time in our midseason review, we’re taking a look at the Major League club.
This season hasn’t gone as smoothly as the Pirates hoped. There have been coaching changes, shake-ups in the bullpen and, candidly, not enough offense. There has been great pitching, promising youngsters and a Cy Young favorite.
There was good and bad in the first half, which sets up some compelling storylines down the stretch. Here are five questions that need to be answered in the second half of the season:
1. Can Paul Skenes win the Cy Young?
Skenes finished third in Cy Young voting as a rookie and was a preseason favorite to win this year. He’s leading National League pitchers in bWAR (4.0), ERA (2.12) and WHIP (0.91), while also ranking second in innings pitched (106) and sixth in strikeouts (110).
There was so much buzz 16 months ago about how he was a generational pitching prospect. Well, he’s having a generational season.
The Pirates have had just two pitchers win a Cy Young: Vern Law in 1960 and Doug Drabek in 1990. Skenes could join that exclusive fraternity and cement himself in Pirates history. |
2. Is Don Kelly the man moving forward?
Kelly was dealt a tough hand for his first turn as a manager, but he has played his cards pretty well. There are still underlying problems with this team -- the offense being chief among them -- but Kelly has impressed in this role. He has shown he will stand up for his players if he feels they are being disrespected, but he’ll also stand up to them when he feels the effort isn’t there, like we saw this past week with Oneil Cruz.
Kelly was named the manager for the remainder of the season back in mid-May. A strong finish would go a long way toward proving Kelly is right for the job and that this team could be competitive in 2026. |
3. How much pitching gets dealt this Deadline?
The Pirates are going to sell at the Trade Deadline, and it makes sense to flip players on expiring contracts for controllable players. (Andrew Heaney, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Caleb Ferguson, Adam Frazier, Ryan Borucki and Tommy Pham are all logical candidates.) The Bucs’ biggest trade chips, however, are pitchers with team control.
The Pirates will listen on just about any pitcher besides Skenes, but a lot of the buzz is going to center around Mitch Keller, David Bednar and Dennis Santana. Bednar and Santana have one more year of salary arbitration eligibility, while Keller is under contract for three more years. The Pirates could potentially get an impact bat if they trade someone from that group, but they’re also good pitchers and leaders in the clubhouse. Is it worth making a deal or hanging onto them and trying to find hitting elsewhere? |
4. Can Henry Davis take the next step?
Endy Rodríguez is going to miss most of the second half of the season with right elbow inflammation, meaning Davis is going to have runway to establish himself as a big league catcher. His defense has improved greatly over the last two years, but the bat remains inconsistent.
The good news is there have been some bright spots this year. He’s hitting the ball to all fields and showing he can drive the ball to center. A 25% strikeout rate certainly isn’t helping, but his expected stats (.239 xBA, .441 xSLG) are a lot better than his actual numbers (.178 batting average, .318 slugging percentage). Is he going to be able to build on those better swings and have it translate to hits? This is an opportunity for him to lock down the catching gig moving forward. |
5. When will we see Bubba Chandler?
We’ve seen Thomas Harrington and Braxton Ashcraft debut this year, plus a look at Mike Burrows as a starter. But there’s still one more big right-hander still waiting in Indianapolis. Chandler has had a rough month. It happens to the best of them, but nobody wants their June swoon to come when the Majors are in sight. He will get the call at some point, and there’s plenty of reason to be excited about him. The Pirates can dangle starting pitching on the trade market because they have guys like Chandler, the top pitching prospect in the game, according to MLB Pipeline. There’s no date yet for when Chandler could come up, but he has the stuff to make the wait worth it. |
MLB MORNING LINEUP PODCAST |
|
|
Four players have accrued at least 4,000 total bases in their time with the Pirates. Three are Roberto Clemente, Honus Wagner and Willie Stargell. Who is the fourth? A) Paul Waner B) Bill Mazeroski C) Andrew McCutchen D) Pie Traynor |
|
|
We’re rewinding back to 1977 for this trip into the Pirates’ vault. In the fifth inning on June 29, Stargell took Cardinals right-hander Eric Rasmussen deep during the Pirates’ 9-1 victory in St. Louis. It was Pops’ 400th career home run; he’s the only Pirate to ever reach that mark. Stargell finished his career with 475 home runs. |
|
|
A) Waner Waner is fourth in franchise history in total bases with 4,127. |
|
|
FORWARDED FROM A FRIEND? SUBSCRIBE NOW |
To subscribe to Pirates Beat, visit this page and mark "Pirates Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the Pirates or that they're checked as your favorite team. |
|
|
|
