PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – As the Pirates look to find more offense throughout the organization they are also re-evaluating how they evaluate hitters.
“We really have, and continue to work to improve and refine our process of assessing hitters,” said Pirates general manager Ben Cherington at the end of the MLB Draft on Monday. “Whether those are amateur hitters or external professional hitters. Wherever hitters come from?”
“As we develop and improve in that process and understand more clearly what attributes and what kinds of performance and what hitting traits we want to make the best bets on. I think it just helps give confidence in those selections.”
While not diving into the specifics, as much to not give away trade secrets, the Bucs first chance to implement their new strategies was the last two days. Power and power potential was something we saw in over a handful of the 21 draft choices. The next chance to show and develop their process is evaluating other teams talent as they look to make changes at the trade deadline at the end of the month.
“We feel more and more confident about the specific traits we are looking for in hitters,” Cherington said to a group of Pittsburgh reporters.
Pirates went after catcher Adonys Guzman, who showed an increase in power last season at Arizona. Josh Tate did as well, jumping from four to 12 home runs at Georgia Southern, but it was the seventh round where the Pirates went after power. Infielder Brent Iredale, who has the nickname of Ironman, hit some of the hardest balls in college baseball last year including a 446-foot homer with Arkansas in 2025. The native of Australia is 6’4” and built like a traditional power hitter with what they believe to be some untapped power still there after only one season in the SEC.
Then in the ninth round, the LSU national champion with 22 home runs after 28 the year before, Jared Jones (no relation to the Pirates pitcher). The First Team All-American was also third in the SEC in hits and second in total bases with a nickname of ‘Bear’. He’s 6’3”, 246 pounds.
On day one, the Pirates selected 6’4”, 230-pound Fresno State 3B Murf Gray in the second round after 18 home runs and a .639 slugging percentage in 2025.
Size appears to be a main factor in finding that different type of hitter. We’ve seen them do that with pitchers for a decade and now with offensive players. They did it in the first round last year with 6’4”, 225-pound Konnor Griffin and they hope to continue with that type of success.
“There is still a risk involved, obviously, the pro game is going to test all of these guys,” Cherington said. “There is going to be adversity and not everyone is going to have a straight line to the big leagues, but we are really excited about the collection of hitter performance, traits and different style that potentially came into the organization today.”