Three Pirates Players With Extremely Promising Underlying Metrics

The 2026 season is in full swing. We’re now well into April, but it’s still very early in the campaign. The Pittsburgh Pirates are off to a strong 7-5 start to the year. Much of their promising start in the first dozen games can be attributed to major improvements made to the team. However, a handful of players had already improved themselves. While bottom-line numbers may not tell you much this early on in the season, you can tell these Pirates players upgraded their game based on the under-the-hood numbers.

Henry Davis

Henry Davis was the first overall pick in the 2021 draft by the Pirates. His bat has yet to come around as many hoped it would. Last year, Davis hit .167/.234/.278 with a 41 wRC+. He only walked 6.4% of the time, struck out at a 26.9% rate, and only hit seven home runs over 283 plate appearances. Davis is off to a better start in 2026. He already has six hits in 31 trips to the plate. Half of those hits have gone for two bags. Davis has only struck out four times with three free passes. Still, his wRC+ currently sits at 91.

Although the bottom line may not show it, Davis’ process at the plate is significantly better compared to last year. In 2025, Davis chased outside the zone at a 34.3% rate. So far into 2026, he has cut that down to only 30%. Davis also took his 28.9% whiff rate from last year and trimmed it to 20.8% in 2026. The backstop also has an impressive 91.7 MPH exit velocity, with a respectable 8.7% barrel percentage. Davis can thank a tremendous increase in bat speed for his increased raw power. Last year, he came in at 73.9 MPH, and now he is clocking an average of 75.5 MPH.

Davis is doing a lot of things right at the plate. Making more contact, swinging less frequently outside the zone, and making quality contact are usually a recipe for success. Davis’ defense has already leaped forward last year. Now, he’s making strides when it comes to his procedure. He may be a larger sample size away from having a true breakout at the dish.

Nick Yorke

The Pirates acquired Nick Yorke at the 2024 trade deadline. He has had sporadic showings with the Bucs in the Major Leagues over the last two seasons, with 114 plate appearances between 2024 and 2025. Yorke spent most of 2025 at Triple-A, where he batted .287/.348/.406 with a 104 wRC+. The former first-round pick opened the 2026 season in the Major Leagues with the Pirates and has done everything he can to get an extended look. Yorke has racked up eight hits in 28 plate appearances. Two of his hits have been doubles, including a walk-off against the Baltimore Orioles. Yorke has walked (five) more times than he has struck out (four) thus far.

With more free passes than K’s, it’s no surprise Yorke’s plate discipline has looked very good. His chase rate sits at just 23%, which is in the top 83rd percentile of batters right now. On top of rarely chasing outside the zone, Yorke swings and misses at a very low rate. His whiff rate of 14.3% is in the top 93rd percentile. On top of all that, Yorke’s raw power is showing up in games. His exit velocity sits at 90 MPH, and his hard hit rate clocks in at a whopping 55.6%. His expected wOBA on contact (or xwOBACON) of .374 is better than the league average mark.

Yorke entered the year in a timeshare at third base with Nick Gonzales. While Gonzales has also gotten off to a solid start, Yorke’s first handful of games have been even more promising. He has a strong chance of running away with the starting third base job, rather than being relegated to a part-time or utility man role. His bat looks too good not to give a longer look.

Bryan Reynolds

2025 was a down year for veteran outfielder Bryan Reynolds. For the first time in his Major League career, he was a below-average bat. He slashed just .245/.318/.402 with a .315 wOBA, and 99 wRC+. He still slugged 16 home runs in 654 plate appearances, with an isolated slugging percentage of .157; however, he struck out in 26.5% of his plate appearances and walked only 8.7% of the time. Reynolds has stepped to the plate a total of 54 times in 2026. In that time, he has 11 hits, including two home runs, and eight walks. However, he has also struck out 15 times.

While Reynolds’ performance has been all over the place since the start of the season, what is good is that his underlying numbers are trending in the right direction, and he currently holds career-bests in many important metrics. Reynolds added bat speed, going from 72.2 MPH last year to 73.1 MPH this season. That has led to some impressive raw power stats. Reynolds has a 92.4 MPH exit velocity, which trumps his previous career-high mark of 91.2 MPH set last season. His squared-up rate also rose from 24.1% to 25% between 2025 and 2026. Unsurprisingly, given the increase in exit velocity and squared-up rate, Reynolds’ barrel rate of 12.9% is a career-best mark.

Reynolds’ plate discipline was poor last season. He chased outside the zone at a 26% rate (which was still above-average), and had a whiff rate approaching 30% at 29.4%. So far, he hasn’t had the same issues that plagued him last year. This year, Reynolds has only swung outside the zone 20.7% of the time and has put up a solid whiff percentage of 26.1%. His xwOBACON sits at an astounding .452 throughout his first handful of games.

Reynolds looks like he is putting things back on track. He is hitting the ball harder than ever before, and his plate discipline is the best it has ever been. If he keeps up his current whiff and chase percentages, he’ll set career lows in both stats. While the results haven’t fully come around yet, give it a larger sample size, and they surely will with how well Reynolds has looked at the plate thus far.