Pittsburgh Sports Today

Pittsburgh Sports News Continuously Updated

Pirates Enter Spring Training with No Clear Answer at Shortstop

by

Isiah Kiner-Falefa is among the contenders to serve as the primary shortstop for the Pirates in 2025.

Although spring training is near, the Pittsburgh Pirates remain unsettled at several positions, including shortstop. Who’s at shortstop may depend on how the second base competition shakes out. One thing is certain. The shortstop won’t be Oneil Cruz, who’s moving permanently to center field. He likes it there. The Pirates brain trust likes him away from shortstop, where he hurt the team with errors and bad plays.

Shortstop is Unsettled for the Pirates Going Into 2025

The (Sort of) Incumbent

Versatile Isiah Kiner-Falefa was an “irregular regular” for the Pirates after they acquired him from the Toronto Blue Jays at last year’s trade deadline. He was in the lineup almost every day while bouncing all over the infield. When Cruz vacated the shortstop position on August 28, Kiner-Falefa saw most of the action there. It’s unknown whether that meant the Pirates saw him as the favorite to play shortstop in 2025 or simply because somebody had to play there.

The guess here is that Kiner-Falefa is the favorite to seize the shortstop position or at the very least will receive strong consideration. There are strong economic realities here. His $7.5 million salary isn’t one the Pirates would be willing to pay a bench player. This is true even with Toronto footing some of the bill.

Of course, “IKF” is not a bad ballplayer either. Once he got to Pittsburgh, he cooled off, hitting .240/.265/.322 and fielding at around major league average. His overall 2024 numbers are better. He hit .269/.306/.376, 8 HR, and 43 RBI last season. Had he been with Pittsburgh all season, his batting average would have been third-best on the team and his 3.6 WAR would have been tied for first with the Pirates’ best player, Bryan Reynolds.

As he will be just age 30 by the time the season starts, Kiner-Falefa’s career numbers should be a good measure of his expected production. In seven major league seasons, he’s hit .262/.313/.351, 34 HR, 246 RBI, and 83 OPS+. More importantly, as a shortstop, he’s been worth nine Fielding Runs Above Average and 28 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) in 355 games, while committing 36 errors.

The People’s Choice

No, I’m not talking about Dixie Walker. Real baseball fans know he was “The People’s Cherce” while a Brooklyn Dodger. I mean 24-year-old Liover Peguero, who, as a prospect yet to be given much of a look in the majors, is the fans’ favorite. The young shortstop is the answer to a Pirates trivia question. Peguero was acquired in the first trade engineered by Ben Cherington after he became the Pirates’ general manager. That was the trade that sent Starling Marte to the Arizona Diamondbacks. At the time, Peguero was ranked Arizona’s No. 7 prospect. He immediately became the Pirates’ No. 5 prospect.

In ranking him as such, MLB.com said Peguero could become a “plus hitter” who “can really impact the baseball,” with “every chance to be a shortstop long-term thanks to his actions, hands, and arm strength” and “plus speed that aids him on both sides of the ball” (an expression I hate; just as there’s no crying in baseball, there’s no line of scrimmage, either). With such a glowing scouting report, it’s no wonder Pirates fans have clamored for “Peggy” to take over as their favorite team’s shortstop.

In 63 major league games over three seasons, Peguero has hit .237/.280/.370, 7 HR, and 28 RBI. All of his homers came during a surprising power surge in 2023. However, in six minor league seasons, he’s been better, hitting .268/.327/.422, 56 HR, and 280 RBI. He’s stolen 109 bases while being caught 23 times. If he lives up to the hype defensively, that level of offense will be plenty good enough. It was good enough for the Double-A Altoona Curve to name him the team’s Most Valuable Player in 2023.

Other Fits

Alika Williams, a 2020 first-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Rays, will get a look this spring. During his brief time in the majors, he’s been worth 2 DRS in 61 games at shortstop. He may be the best defensive shortstop on the club. But his major league batting line is a paltry .202/.257/.271. He has minor league options remaining, which makes him a long shot to go north. Williams is best suited as a utility infielder, but the Pirates have Gold Glove Award winner Jared Triolo in that role. It seems the Pirates view Williams as nothing more than organizational depth.

At the end of last season, regular second baseman Nick Gonzales slid over to shortstop so that the Pirates could look at trade acquisition Nick Yorke. Might we see that double play combo to start 2025? Yorke, 22, was 8-for-37 last year after the Pirates called him up. In the minors, however, he hit .303/.385/.449, 12 HR, and 72 RBI. If he flashes that type of offense in spring training, he’ll be hard to keep off the big club. A factor working against him is that he, too, has minor league options. Gonzales as a shortstop isn’t that far-fetched. He was a shortstop at New Mexico State. So far in the majors, however, his defense at shortstop has been a tick below average in a small sample size.

The Last Word

Thus, it seems the ultimate choice will come down to Kiner-Falefa or Peguero. That decision might depend on whether the Pirates see 2025 as a contending year or a rebuilding year. Before last season, Cherington and owner Bob Nutting declared that they expected the Pirates to contend for a postseason berth. No such expectations have been publicly stated for 2025. One wonders whether the Pirates brain trust even knows what they’re aiming for, given the lack of urgency with which Cherington is moving to improve this year’s edition. If the Pirates are serious about winning in 2025, Kiner-Falefa is the likely choice at shortstop. If it’s another rebuilding year (for the 10th year in a row), Peguero should get his long-awaited chance.

 

Photo Credit: © Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

The post Pirates Enter Spring Training with No Clear Answer at Shortstop appeared first on Last Word On Baseball.