Perrotto: Another Year of Handing out Awards to a Bad Pirates’ Team
The Pittsburgh Pirates’ season is mercifully over. And what a year it was.
Broken Bucco Bricks discarded. A Surfside advertisement that temporarily replaced a Roberto Clemente tribute. A security guard used his belt to hit a fan, who didn’t even flinch. A fan falling out of the right-field stands and, thankfully, living to tell about it.
There might be some other off-the-field stuff that I can’t remember. However, that was enough news alone for five seasons.
Then there was the product on the field. The Pirates finished with a 71-91 record and in last place in the National League Central for a second straight season.
It’s laughable looking back on it, but the Pirates entered spring training thinking they could contend for a postseason berth. Instead, the franchise had its seventh straight losing season and 29th in the last 33 years.
The Pirates lost five more games than they did in both 2023 and 2024. They couldn’t even reach my meager preseason prediction of 74-88.
Yet that doesn’t mean I’m stopping my annual postseason awards column. After all, that’s what brain-dead baseball writers do for an easy column at the end of a lousy season.
So, here are the Pirates’ awards for 2025:
Most Valuable Player: Paul Skenes. I hate giving this award to someone who played in just 32 of his team’s 162 games. However, Skenes was far and away the Pirates’ best player this season. Though his record was 10-10, his ERA was an MLB-best 1.98, and it would be shocking if he did not become the first Pirates’ pitcher to win the NL Cy Young Award since Doug Drabek in 1990. And that’ll give me an excuse to call Drabek, which will be fun.
Pitcher of the Year: Skenes. Even someone as dumb as I can’t mess this one up.
Position Player of the Year: Jared Triolo. I’ve never been a big believer in Triolo becoming an everyday player, but he changed my mind during the last two months of the season. He is a worthy successor at third base to defensive whiz Ke’Bryan Hayes, and I’d be comfortable with him as the starting shortstop in 2026.
Rookie of the Year: Braxton Ashcraft. After seemingly always being injured in the minor leagues, the 25-year-old right-hander was healthy and very effective in his first major league opportunity. Ashcraft deserves to be in the starting rotation at the start of next season. If that doesn’t work out, he could become a premier closer.
Manager of the Year: Don Kelly. The Pirates were 59-65 after Kelly was promoted from bench coach to manager on May 8. They were 12-26 before Derek Shelton’s firing. Plus, Kelly seemed to enjoy dealing with the media. That might mean much to you, but selfishly, it does to me.
Least Valuable Player: Jack Suwinski. The same guy who hit a team-high 26 home runs in 2023 had a .148/.282/.254 slash line in 58 games this season. It’s inconceivable that a 27-year-old could fall so quickly without sustaining a serious injury. Many Pirates need a change of scenery, but no one more than Suwinski.
Cy Yuck Award: Colin Holderman. I have a hard time doing this because Holderman is one of the best guys in the Pirates’ clubhouse. However, the numbers don’t lie as he had a 7.01 ERA and 1.948 WHIP in 24 relief appearances.
Sick of Looking at Him Award: Oneil Cruz. Not only does he squander his enormous talent, but his lack of effort at times is infuriating.
Infuriating. A good word to sum up the 2025 Pirates.