PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) - Still reeling from sudden injuries to Oneil Cruz (hand fracture) and Spencer Horwitz (hamstring strain), the Pirates’ lineup was dealt another bad bite by the injury bug when it was announced earlier this month that shortstop Konnor Griffin would miss 8-10 weeks due to a significant finger injury. The soonest the Bucs’ young star could make his return is Sept. 4, but there’s no guarantee that will even happen.
With Griffin out, Pirates Manager Don Kelly has leaned heavily on fellow shortstop Jared Triolo in recent games to fill that hole in the lineup, which has come with mixed success.
The defensive side of Triolo’s game has never been much of an issue. After all, he is a former NL Gold Glove winner (2024).
However, his ability at the plate has been a notable concern for almost his entire MLB career.
After impressing with a .298 batting average in his first season (2023), Triolo has yet to get back to that level. He fell to a .216 average in 2024 and only showed slight improvement the following season with a .227 average.
Through 63 games this year, he’s currently sitting at .233 and has logged just 16 RBI and one homer.
While he’s continued to work on his own issues at the plate, Triolo has tried to learn as much as he can from his teammates' successes at the dish. He could take a lot from Ryan O'Hearn, who put together a historic three-homer, 10 RBI night against the Atlanta Braves back on July 7.
Surprisingly, he may also be able to learn from first-year phenom Esmerlyn Valdez, who recently helped his case for NL Rookie of the Year by becoming the first player in MLB history to record four go-ahead hits, three go-ahead home runs, and a go-ahead grand slam on the same day during a doubleheader against the Brewers on July 11.
“Valdez, he can swing a little bit,” Triolo joked when asked about the performance.
Perhaps inspired by his teammate’s historic outing, Triolo went on to enjoy his best offensive outing of the month the following afternoon in Pittsburgh’s dominant 14-5 win over the Brewers. In a contest that saw almost all of the Pirates’ batters record a hit, Triolo got in on the fun with three hits and two RBI of his own in five at-bats.“(Triolo’s) been hitting the ball hard. Honestly for the past month and specifically in the last week or so, there’s just not much to show for it. It was good to see him get some hits today,” Kelly said.
Postgame, Triolo even admitted that the outing provided a much-needed confidence boost for him.
“I feel good. Today definitely helped that. I’m going to take two days off and then come back and keep it rolling is kind of my plan,” Triolo said.
An unfortunate injury to one of Pittsburgh’s top players has now become a golden opportunity for Triolo to break out of his recent struggles at the plate. His latest against Milwaukee was a good start, but the Bucs will need to see more performances like that from him going forward if they want to finally end their postseason drought.
“There’s always the ups and downs of the first half of the season, injuries being one of those for us. We feel like we’re in a good spot and ready to go,” Triolo said.
