Pirates’ Spencer Horwitz Sidelined; Possible Replacements at First Base

Day one of spring training and the Pittsburgh Pirates already have significant injury news.

First baseman Spencer Horwitz, who was acquired from the Cleveland Guardians this offseason, is expected to be sidelined six to eight weeks following right wrist surgery to address chronic symptoms. The procedure was performed by Dr. Thomas Graham last week.

Ben Cherington addressed Horwitz’s injury with members of the media, including our John Perrotto, at Pirate City in Bradenton.

“He had had symptoms in the wrist previously that we knew about at the time of the trade and felt good about the trade at the time,” said Cherington. “Then the new information from Dr. Graham is that something new had happened at the time of the trade that led to him having surgery. So that’s where we are today.”

Horwitz played in 97 games for the Toronto Blue Jays last year and hit .265/.357/.433 with 19 doubles, 12 home runs and 40 RBIs. The Blue Jays dealt Horwitz to the Guardians in the offseason before he was quickly rerouted to Pittsburgh.

Cherington said both Horwitz and the surgeon of record are optimistic following the surgery.

“Gonna lean on what Dr. Graham has told us,” he explained. “He’s really optimistic and confident coming out of the surgery that it feels like it went really well and that Spencer should be back doing baseball stuff at some point during spring training and certainly with a chance to contribute in 2025.”

Given the six-to-eight week timeline, Horwitz will miss at least the start of the regular season, creating a void at first base.

Based off of Cherington’s comments, it sounds like Horwitz’s replacement is already in-house.

“We’ll stay open minded to the external part of the question. I think right now we’re focused on the guys who are here. We’ve got some guys that we want to certainly learn more about.”

Here are a handful of potential options.

Players On 40-Man Roster

Jared Triolo won a Gold Glove as a utility player last season including nine games at first base. Though he doesn’t have extensive experience at the position in his career, Triolo has proved to be a reliable defender pretty much anywhere he’s played. However, his bat lags well behind.

Billy Cook played in 17 games at the end of last season for the Pirates with five of those coming at first base. In his minor-league career, Cook has totaled 67 games as a first baseman. One of the better Pirates’ prospects, Cook has plenty of experience in the outfield but could break camp as a first baseman.

Enmanuel Valdez, who was acquired from the Boston Red Sox this winter, has played sparingly at first base in his minor-league career. Though he’s probably a longshot, he provides plenty of thump as evident by 100 home runs and a .467 slug across 594 minor-league games. The Pirates could certainly use some of that.

Non-Roster Invitees

If any of the NRI’s fill in for Horwitz, Hall might have the best chance. Between his big-league experience with the Phillies and an established track record at first base (mostly in the minor leagues), the 29-year-old will be one to watch this spring. He hit nine homers in 41 games with the Phillies in 2022.

Another NRI with big-league experience is DJ Stewart, who has a .729 OPS across parts of seven big-league seasons. However, he does not have nearly the same experience at first base as Hall.

Matt Gorski spent the season in Triple-A Indianapolis last season and hit .257 with an .841 OPS and 23 home runs in 113 games. Fellow prospect Malcom Nuñez also spent the year at Indianapolis.

Wild Cards

There has been a lot of speculation that Bryan Reynolds could transition from left field to first base. However, Reynolds will actually be moving to right field, as Derek Shelton told members of the media including Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It’s still possible Reynolds sees time at first base eventually.

The Pirates have a bit of a log jam at catcher, so Endy Rodríguez or Henry Davis could get some reps at first base. Rodríguez has in the past. Davis has not.

A potential position change for Jack Suwisnki, perhaps? He’s a poor defender in the outfield and has the power potential that’s usually synonymous with first base.