2025 MLB Season Recap: Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pitching

The Good

One year after Paul Skenes won the NL Rookie of the Year, the 23-year-old ace added another accolade to his ledger: the NL Cy Young.

Skenes posted a league-best 1.97 ERA with 216 strikeouts over 187.2 IP. The Pirates ace only won 11 games, despite his dominance. That’s more of a byproduct of the team’s lineup. It’s certainly not an indictement on Skenes, who posted 30% Whiff% and Chase% rates, keeping hitters off balance with his power fastball, along with the rest of his arsenal.

The 23-year-old ace was part of a pitching staff that, overall, was very good in 2025. Mitch Keller pitched rather well across 176 innings, even though his 4.19 ERA wasn’t sexy. Mike Burrows and Bailey Falter, the latter of whom was dealt to the Royals at the deadline, both posted sub-4.00 ERA figures.

Johan Oviedo, who returned from TJ surgery recovery, struck out 42 over 40 innings in his return to the Majors.

The Pirates also saw the next wave of young pitching come to the Steel City. Braxton Ashcraft and Hunter Barco both made their MLB debuts, as did elite pitching prospect Bubba Chandler. Chandler was fantastic, as he struck out 31 and walked just four over 31 innings.

As for the bullpen, David Bednar regained his form after a brief trip to the Minors. Bednar struck out 51 over 38 innings and notched 17 saves before he was traded to the Yankees.

Dennis Santana and IVB darling Isaac Mattson also emerged as reliable relievers. Both posted ERA+ figures that were 175 or greater.

Now, the Pirates’ offense was nothing special in 2025. I’ll get more into that later in the recap. However, one positive for the Pirates last season — at least offensively — was that Spencer Horwitz fit in very nicely.

Horwitz was flipped to Pittsburgh in December 2024, hours after the Guardians acquired him in the Andres Gimenez salary dump move. Pittsburgh parted with prospect Josh Hartle and Luis Ortiz, the latter of whom was recently arrested in a gambling probe. As for Horwitz, he provided a punch in the lineup, particularly in the second half.

The 28-year-old finished the second half with a .916 OPS and a .395 wOBA that ranked among the top 15 hitters in the league (min. 155 PA). A line drive hitter, Horwitz hit nine home runs in the second half.

The Bad

The Pirates’ offense regressed significantly from 2024, as Pittsburgh scored nearly 100 fewer runs compared to last season. On top of that, the Pirates hit only 117 home runs on the year, easily the lowest in MLB. It’s the first time since 2022 (Tigers) that a Major League team has had fewer than 120 home runs in a year.

Horwitz was the only regular to have an OPS+ north of 100. Aside from him, it was very tough for the Pirates to manufacture runs.

Bryan Reynolds set a career-high in doubles (38) but tied a career-low in home runs (16) and set a low in SLG (.402) over 154 games.

Oneil Cruz, the Pirates’ most productive hitter on paper, hit 20 home runs and stole a NL-high 38 bases. However, his second half was brutal. Cruz finished with the fifth-lowest wOBA (.252) in the post-All-Star break portion of the schedule. His 31.5% K% ranked in the bottom 15 of the league.

The Pirates also had three regular infielders — Nick Gonzales, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Ke’Bryan Hayes — who played in 90+ games and hit five or fewer home runs. Two of those three weren’t with the team by year’s end. IKF went to the Blue Jays in August, while Hayes was traded to the Reds in July.

Moving back to the pitching for a second, the one blemish — one could argue — was that Andrew Heaney had a dramatic fall from grace.

Heaney, signed last winter, was very reliable early on in the year. Heaney posted a 2.61 ERA and struck out 29 oveer 31 innings for the Bucs. Then, things fell apart for the 34-year-old left-hander.

The veteran lefty gave up 18 home runs from May 1 to August 1, tied for third-most in Major League Baseball. Among pitchers with 50+ IP in that stretch, Heaney’s .378 opponents’ wOBA was sixth-worst among the 135 pitchers who qualified under that criteria.

Heaney was released in late September and signed with the Dodgers.

Early Projected Lineup for 2026

• C: Joey Bart/Henry Dsvis
• 1B: Spencer Horwitz
• 2B: Nick Gonzales
• 3B: Jared Triolo
• SS: Cam Devanney
• OF: Alexander Canario (LF), Oneil Cruz (CF), Bryan Reynolds (RF)
• DH: Rafael Flores
• SP: Paul Skenes, Bubba Chandler, Mitch Keller, Mike Burrows, Johan Oviedo
• RP: Dennis Santana, Isaac Mattson, Carmen Mlodzinski, Braxton Ashcraft, Chase Shugart, Justin Lawrence, Evan Sisk, Kyle Nicholas

Starting with the offense, it’ll be interesting to see what exactly the Pirates can do to upgrade their offense.

Andrew McCutchen, who’s maintained he wants to retire a Pirate and is a free agent, is an obvious option. His .333 OBP from 2025 showed that he can still provide value, even though he’s not the MVP-caliber player he was a decade ago.

The Pirates need power badly. But on top of that, a stopgap shortstop — unless the Pirates want Konnor Griffin to get the starting shortstop job next season — would also make sense.

As for the pitching staff, Paul Skenes has already been the subject of trade rumors. Pittsburgh has him under team control for four more seasons, though, and has becomed a revered figure in western Pennsylvania.

It’s next to near impossible to envision him in a uniform other than a Pirates one in 2026.