Perrotto: Pirates Very Deliberate in Hitting Coach Search

SAN ANTONIO — More than a month has passed since the Pittsburgh Pirates fired their hitting coach. However, they have yet to find a replacement for Andy Haines.

It isn’t for a lack of effort, though. General Manager Ben Cherington told Pittsburgh Baseball Now on Wednesday at the MLB GM Meetings that the organization wants to make sure they hire the right candidate.

Whoever is hired will have plenty of work to do. The Pirates finished 23rd in the major leagues in batting average this year, 24th in runs, 25th in home runs, 26 in on-base percentage and 27th in OPS.

“We’re right in the middle of it,” Cherington said of the hiring process. “We need to get it right and we’ve tried to be really thoughtful about it. We’ve got input from players, from staff, from baseball operations people. We’re just not there yet. It’s important. We’re very focused on it but haven’t made a choice yet.”

Regardless of who gets the job, Cherington looks forward to the new hitting coach working with Trey Cabbage. The Pirates claimed the 27-year-old first baseman/outfielder off waivers from the Houston Astros on Monday.

Cherington believes Cabbage could potentially fill the Pirates’ first base void left when Rowdy Tellez was released during the last week of the season.

“He’s got massive power, has been a massive performer in Triple-A but it hasn’t transferred to the big leagues and the strikeouts have been a little high,” Cherington said. “He’s a younger guy who still has (a minor-league) option left and it’s an opportunity to add to our first base mix with someone who hasn’t quite figured it out yet.”

Cabbage made his major-league debut in 2023, playing in 22 games with the Los Angeles Angels. He then appeared in 45 games for the Astros this year.

The left-handed hitter has batted just .209/.253/.337 with two home runs in 139 at-bats.

However, Cabbage had a big 2023 at Triple-A Salt Lake when he hit .306/.379/.596 with 30 home runs and 32 steals in 107 games. This year, Cabbage had a .243/.351/.474 slash line with 13 homers and 22 steals over 66 games with Triple-A Sugar Land.

The Minnesota Twins selected Cabbage in the fourth round of the 2015 amateur draft from Grainger High School in Rutledge, Tenn.

The Pirates also acquired infielder Tristan Gray on a waiver claim from the Oakland Athletics last Thursday. He was originally drafted by the Pirates in the 13th round in 2017 from Rice University then was dealt to the Tampa Bay Rays a year later in a trade for Corey Dickerson.

The left-handed hitting Gray, 28, has played briefly in the big leagues with the Rays (2023), Miami Marlins (2024) and Athletics (2024), hitting .152/.222/.273 with one home run in 17 games. Gray belted 19 home runs in 112 Triple-A games this year while hitting .251/.322/.467.

“We’re just very right-handed in the infield, so we were looking for a little more left-handed-hitting infield depth,” Cherington said. “He can play short, move around on the dirt, has power, been a good Triple-A performer and has options remaining. We feel that he could be a potential fit for us.”

Who winds up working with Cabbage and Gray remains to be seen. However, Cherington is taking his time and trying to get the hire right.