Perrotto: Five Pirates to Watch in Spring Training

Spring training is almost here for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Pitchers and catchers report to the Pirate City complex in Bradenton, Fla., on Wednesday. The rest of the squad is scheduled to arrive next Monday, and the first Grapefruit League game will be played on Feb. 22 against the Baltimore Orioles in nearby Sarasota.

So, with the offseason down to its final hours, here are the five Pirates players I am most interested in following this spring:

Jack Suwinski

The Pirates have signed veteran outfielder Tommy Pham. He is expected to be their regular right fielder. However, at 36, Pham’s upside is limited, and the Pirates need a home run threat in their lineup.

Suwinski has seemingly been forgotten since being optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis late last July and never being called back up. He had a bad season, hitting .182/.264/.324 in 88 games with nine home runs, nine stolen bases and minus-1.7 WAR.

However, Suwinski is just 26 and two years removed from leading the Pirates with 26 home runs in 2023. He also hit three homers in a game as a rookie a year earlier.

Perhaps new hitting coach Matt Hague can get Suwinski on track. It’s worth a shot.

Henry Davis

Davis had a worse season than Suwinski in 2024. The first overall pick in the 2021 draft batted .144/.244/.212 with one homer in 37 games. His bWAR was minus-0.6.

Davis’ slash line is .191/.283/.307 in 99 career games over two seasons. Yet he did two home runs off megastar two-way player Shohei Ohtani in a game in 2023.
Davis is still just 25. Yet he needs to prove he belongs in the big leagues and maybe Hague will also help him.

Nobody has a stronger work ethic than Davis, but the time has come to translate that effort into production.

Johan Oviedo

The right-hander missed all last season while recovering from Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery. The Pirates cleared a path to a spot in the starting rotation for Oviedo by trading Luis Ortiz to the Cleveland Guardians in December to land first baseman Spencer Horwitz.

Oviedo was a workhorse in 2023 when he logged 177.2 innings in his first major-league season as a starter. Maybe it was too many innings for a 25-year-old with limited starting experience.

Regardless, Oviedo says he is healthy and won’t have restrictions in spring training. His ’23 statistics weren’t overly impressive with a 9-14 record and a 4.31 ERA in 32 starts but he provided 2.1 b WAR and showed plenty of promise.

Endy Rodriguez

Rodriguez also spent most of last season rehabbing from TJ surgery before appearing in 10 games in the minor leagues.

Joey Bart deserves to be the No. 1 catcher to start the season after hitting 14 home runs in just 80 games last year. That will leave Rodriguez to compete with Davis and Jason Delay for the No. 2 spot.

Rodriguez was considered the Pirates’ top prospect coming into the 2023 season and was a two-time league MVP at the Class A level. Though he did not impress during his time in the major leagues in ’23 – he slashed .220/.284/.328 with three homers and 0.2 bWAR in 57 games – he is 25 and has undeniable talent.

David Bednar

Bednar followed three excellent seasons – a 2.25 combined ERA – with a real clunker last year. He had a 3-8 record, seven blown saves in 30 opportunities, a 5.77 and minus-0.9 bWAR in 62 games.

The Pirates mishandled Bednar after he strained a lat muscle in spring training and pitched just twice in Grapefruit League play. Yet he began the season on the injured list and seemed to spend the entire season trying to catch up.

Bednar lost weight in the offseason and says he is ready for a bounce-back year. The Pirates need it badly after finishing 27th in the major leagues in relief ERA in 2024.