Fantasy Baseball Year in Review – Pittsburgh Pirates

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  • By Nathan Baker

    Another last place finish from the perennially dreadful Pittsburgh Pirates has their fans running out of patience, especially with the organizational lack of ambition to build around the team control of Paul Skenes. More of the same from the offense; by far the fewest home runs in the league, fewest runs in the league, worst batting average, slugging percentage and OPS. However you want to put it, this is the worst offensive team in baseball, and the talent on the field was just as bereft as the numbers would indicate.

    The pitching side had some more positive developments, especially with a supporting cast in the starting rotation emerging for Skenes, as the team ranked in the top 10 in ERA, WHIP and home runs allowed.

    Unfortunately for fantasy purposes, much of this was not delivered in a way that was able to be capitalized on for fantasy baseball purposes, with the team’s greatest non- Skenes contribution to fantasy baseball being a free quality start for opposing pitching streamers.

    With Ben Cherington near the end of his rope as general manager of the Pirates, you’ll see the highest level of urgency that the organization is capable of delivering in the off-season, with the extreme limitations put upon them by a remarkably stingy ownership group. It’s 2025’s group that we’ll look at today though, for whatever little value exists on this roster.

    Catcher

    Joey Bart played slightly more games than Henry Davis, and former top prospect Endy Rodríguez yet again suffered a season ending injury, leaving the catcher position in a state of valueless flux. Davis has shown some incremental improvements but is still a long way off being rosterable, Bart has never tapped into his raw power, and Endy Rodríguez, while expected to be healthy for spring training, can’t be relied upon after struggles at the plate and two consecutive season ending elbow surgeries.

    First Base

    Spencer Horwitz was one of the few Pirates hitters worth watching at the end of the season, posting a 1.090 OPS in September, and ending with a respectable .787 OPS on the year with a solid strikeout to walk ratio. He is yet again a platoon player only with value in deep leagues as a rotational infield bat, but he unfortunately will lose his second base eligibility to start the year, severely limiting his draft appeal in all but the deepest of leagues.

    Second Base

    Nick Gonzales‘ bat went alarmingly backwards in 2025, especially as the season wore on, affording some speculation as to whether he may have played through some sort of injury. Injury or not, Gonzales is not a factor in fantasy baseball, with his lack of power and plate discipline offsetting his solid bat to ball skills. Nick Yorke also made his major league debut in September, but struggled over 72 plate appearances.

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    October 28, 2025, 8:00 am