{"id":57864,"date":"2023-03-30T15:30:08","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T19:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=57864"},"modified":"2023-03-30T10:48:53","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T14:48:53","slug":"pittsburgh-pirates-predictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/03\/30\/pittsburgh-pirates-predictions\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Pirates Predictions Ahead of Opening Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/03\/23\/bucco-blasts-pirates\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Pittsburgh Pirates<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0will kick off their season against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/03\/27\/reds-opening-day-starters\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Cincinnati Reds<\/a> on Thursday at 4:10 p.m. There is a sense of excitement for what&#8217;s to come in Pittsburgh this summer. Their fans are yearning for meaningful summer baseball. Even if they don&#8217;t make the playoffs, a step toward contention and staying within the thick of the NL Wild Card picture would be a welcomed start.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A lot has to go right for the Pirates to do that this season. However, their cavalcade of heralded prospects will begin arriving at PNC Park this summer. The tides may be turning for the ol&#8217; pirate ship very soon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A new season brings renewed excitement and people making predictions about the upcoming season. So why not take a stab at doing that myself?<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Pirates Predictions for 2023<\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Rodolfo Castro has a breakout season<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The first Pirates prediction of 2023 starts with open competition for their second base opening. Rodolfo Castro was penciled in as the starting second baseman on Opening Day. Ji-Hwan Bae, Tucupita Marcano, and a handful of others were in the running. It took a lot of work to predict who would emerge from the pack for the Pirates.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In the end, Castro will get most of the playing time early. Bae will be a super utility guy for the Pirates and can play outfield and middle infield.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">You may remember Castro at the forefront of some headlines last season when he dove into a base, and his phone slid out of his pocket.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Rodolfo Castro&#8217;s phone fell out of his pocket in the middle of the game \ud83d\ude02<\/p>\n<p>(via <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BALLYSPORTSAZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@BALLYSPORTSAZ<\/a>)<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/I6JQZ4GnSf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/I6JQZ4GnSf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SportsCenter\/status\/1557208964064067584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 10, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Dominican-born Castro will soon be 24 years old. He entered the MLB in 2021 straight from Double-A. Last season, he hit eleven home runs and had sixteen bombs across 102 MLB games.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The young second baseman finished fourth on the team amongst position players with 1.4 WAR.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">He slashed .233\/.299\/.427 in 71 games last season. Castro plays with a bit of a chip on his shoulder and is fun to watch at the plate. If he wants to break out, his 26.6% strikeout percentage has to shrink.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I am predicting a .251\/.311\/.473 slash line with 21 home runs. There&#8217;s much to be excited about the breakout for Castro, who could become Oneil Cruz&#8217;s long-term double play partner with a solid season.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Endy Rodrigues receives NL ROY votes<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Pirates enjoyed a breakout season from Rodrigues in the minors last season. He started the season in Single-A but rose to Triple-A for the season&#8217;s final two weeks. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Regression to the mean is likely after batting .323 across all three levels. His 25 home runs and 95 RBIs translating to success in the majors would be huge for the Pirates.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Rodrigues<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> was acquired in the three-team trade sending Joe Musgrove to the Padres. Success from Rodrigues would help lessen the sting of Musgrove&#8217;s success with San Diego.\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Rodrigues is going to provide positional flexibility for Pittsburgh. He&#8217;s being developed as a catcher but can play the outfield and occasionally sees time at second base.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Henry Davis, one of Pittsburgh&#8217;s other top prospects, is a catcher. He was drafted first overall, so they certainly would like him to reach the MLB and make an impact sooner rather than later. Having two top prospects in such an advantageous position is huge. One of those guys being able to play around the diamond is great for getting them both in the lineup.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">While Rodrigues regresses a bit, he puts together a very solid first few months. Starving for offense at the catcher position, the Pirates call up Rodrigues in late-May\/early June. For this Pirates prediction, he hits 13 home runs at the major league level and has an OBP north of .800 in Pittsburgh.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">He won&#8217;t win NL Rookie of the Year, but he&#8217;ll finish top five in voting.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Pirates Win 75 games<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The final Pirates prediction comes down to wins. Pittsburgh has been &#8220;taking their lumps&#8221; for far too long. It&#8217;s time to turn a corner. This roster is capable of doing that. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Pirates have legitimate MLB talent at most of their positions, finally. Instead of relying completely on bargain-bin and Triple-A level players, they&#8217;ve acquired solid free agents throughout the offseason.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Their pitching staff has two young breakout options in Mitch Keller and Roansy Contreras. Rich Hill can eat innings until prospects such as Luis Ortiz and Quinn Priester change their MLB status to full-time. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Andrew McCutchen is back in Pittsburgh to help lead a charge to respectability again for a franchise far removed from it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">After winning just 60 games last season with many young players finding their footing at the big league level, those guys don&#8217;t have to carry the load anymore. The legit MLB talent on their roster will wait to make them a threat in the NL Central. That means they can still take a large leap towards becoming good again and set up the new generation of Pirates on the horizon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Ben Cherington has faced much criticism for his strip-it-all-the-way-down approach, but it was much needed. He now has to hope the players he&#8217;s acquired through the draft and trades come to fruition at the major league level. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">And my bonus prediction? Ke&#8217;Bryan Hayes finally dethrones Nolan Arenado as the National League&#8217;s Gold Glove winner.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n<p>Players mentioned:<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/marcatu01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-03-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tucupita Marcano<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/castrro01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-03-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rodolfo Castro<\/a><\/strong><\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kellemi03.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-03-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mitch Keller<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/contrro01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-03-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Roansy Contreras<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hillri01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-03-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rich Hill<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hayeske01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-03-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ke&#8217;Bryan Hayes<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/arenano01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-03-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nolan Arenado<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0Pittsburgh Pirates\u00a0will kick off their season against the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday at 4:10 p.m. There is a sense of excitement for what&#8217;s to come in Pittsburgh this summer. Their fans are yearning for meaningful summer baseball. Even if they don&#8217;t make the playoffs, a step toward contention and staying within the thick of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4471,"featured_media":57866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,2,1071],"tags":[610,3215,6224,4875,3070,645,231,6245],"class_list":["post-57864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pirates","category-featured","category-mlb","tag-andrew-mccutchen","tag-ben-cherington","tag-endy-rodrigues","tag-henry-davis","tag-kebryan-hayes","tag-nl-central","tag-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-rodolfo-castro"],"modified_by":"Matt Graves","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4471"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}