The 4 Bucs with the most at stake in ’25

This story was excerpted from Alex Stumpf’s Pirates Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

In less than a month, the fields of Pirate City will be filled with dozens of players of different ages and experience with the same goal: to excel in 2025.

For some, though, 2025 is going to be a pivotal year. Perhaps they’re in competition for a spot. They might be trying to prove that 2024 was a fluke. Maybe that same opportunity won’t be there in 2026. Today, we’re going to look at each position group to find out which four players have the most at stake in 2025.

Pitcher: Mike Burrows
There’s never a good time for Tommy John surgery, but Burrows’ procedure in 2023 came at a very inopportune time. Had he been healthy, he would have had the chance to establish himself as a starter. Now, not only are there two new studs at the top of the Pirates’ rotation (Jared Jones and Paul Skenes), there are three Top 100 Prospects waiting in Triple-A (Bubba Chandler, Braxton Ashcraft and Thomas Harrington).

? Pirates Top 30 Prospects

If Burrows is going to start for the Pirates, he’s going to have to make a case this year. He has a full repertoire -- a mid-90s fastball, a high-spin curve, a changeup in which he has a lot of confidence and a developing slider -- and could work out of the rotation or bullpen.

The question becomes what’s a better way to show he can be a starter: starting games in the Minors or breaking camp as a long reliever and try to work back into the rotation, like Luis Ortiz did last season.

Infielder: Liover Peguero
Peguero entered Spring Training last year in competition for the second-base job, but he ultimately lost the gig to Jared Triolo. Nick Gonzales came up later in the year and played well. At the Trade Deadline, the Pirates picked up Nick Yorke and Billy Cook, two young players who could play second. Termarr Johnson, the team’s 2022 first-round pick, finished the season in Double-A Altoona.

Second base is a very crowded position now. The good news for Peguero is that shortstop is less crowded. Oneil Cruz is now in center field, and veteran Isiah Kiner-Falefa only has one year remaining on his contract. Peguero grew defensively last year and showed he could handle both sides of second base defensively. He also slashed a disappointing .257/.319/.410 in Triple-A and was only invited back to the Majors for a cup of coffee (2-for-10 in late September).

The position is up for grabs long term, and a fourth option year buys Peguero and the Pirates some flexibility for 2025, but they can’t keep kicking the can down the road.

Outfielder: Jack Suwinski
The Pirates are in the market for a corner outfielder. Cruz is their new center fielder. Bryan Reynolds is still in left (even if he might moonlight at first base). Depending on how the free-agent search winds up, Suwinski could go to Spring Training on the outside looking in.

It’s hard to argue that he should have a guaranteed job after a dreadful 2024 when he hit .182 with a .588 OPS, resulting in minus-1.7 bWAR. He’s also just a year removed from a 26-homer, .793 OPS campaign.

Suwinski has been prone to extended hot and cold stretches in his three-year career. There’s reason to hope that he can bounce back, especially since the bat speed is still there. Can he translate that speed to more barrels (a team-best 15.7% barrel rate in 2023, 8.8% in 2024)?

Catcher: Henry Davis
Davis had a golden opportunity to lock up the catcher job for years to come last season, but he struggled so much offensively that he was optioned back to the Minors in early May. Injuries would interrupt his next couple of chances in the Majors, resulting in him finishing with a .144 batting average and a .453 OPS.

Davis has shown that he can handle the defensive aspects of the game and that he can absolutely crush Triple-A pitching (.307 batting average, .956 OPS for Indianapolis last year). It’s now a question of can he handle Major League pitching.

Catcher is going to be one of the most interesting positional battles this spring, with Joey Bart having an inside track after a strong season last year and Endy Rodríguez back from elbow surgery. Both catchers have years of team control remaining, so Davis can’t wait them out. He has to prove that he can hit Major League pitching and that he belongs in the Pirates’ catching plans.