We’re about a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Bradenton, FL on February 15th and whole squad on February 20th.
The Pirates have brought in a number of leaders and veteran players to both their line up and pitching staff so far this offseason.
Since there is still a month left of the offseason it’s still highly probable the Pirates are still going top add pieces before Spring Training is underway, whether that be major league deals or invites to spring training.
But, let’s take a look how the squad stacks up for now. Why? Because it’s fun to speculate! (especially with Cutch back)
Proj. 2023 lineup:
SS Oneil Cruz
CF Bryan Reynolds
3B Ke’Bryan Hayes
1B Ji-Man Choi
LF Andrew McCutchen
DH Carlos Santana
RF Jack Suwinski
2B Rodolfo Castro
C Austin Hedges
Proj. 2023 Rotation:
RHP Mitch Keller
RHP JT Brubaker
RHP Rosany Contreras
LHP Rich Hill
RHP Vince Velasquez
There are still a couple of position battles expected to be fought out between spring training and the season still.
We will definitely see Miguel Andujar get some time at DH and outfield with Santana also seeing reps at first.
Tucupita Marcano and Ji-Hwan Bae will also be in competition with Castro for second base coming into spring training as each of them are still young and have a lot to prove at the major league level.
As for the rotation, if either Johan Oviedo or Luis Ortiz come out hot to start the season, they could potentially bump Velasquez to the bullpen, where he spent a lot of time last year with the White Sox.
One thing I feel is certain, this team is going to sell a lot more tickets this year. With the return of Cutch and the budding young talent, this team has the potential to be a lot of fun to watch even if they aren’t competing for a playoff spot.