Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Goals For Shortstop In 2021

Next up in our series of looking at three goals for each of the Pittsburgh Pirates positional groups is shortstop.

The Pittsburgh Pirates current shortstop situation is one of the more interesting positions to look at. This is due there is still no clear cut starter for Opening Day, which, all of a sudden, is only nine days away.

The Pittsburgh Pirates currently have three players that are all competing to win the starting shortstop job. These players are  Cole Tucker, Kevin Newman and Erik Gonzalez. This position has been a carousel of starters since the 2018 season.

2018 was the fifth year in a row that Jordy Mercer held down the starting role, but that all changed when the Pittsburgh Pirates let him walk in free agency that offseason. Ever since then, there has not been a certain long term starter for this position.

In 2019, Gonzalez was the Opening Day starter, but that was not the case in 2020. In 2020, the starting role was handed over to Newman. While he was the primary starter for the most of last season, this may not be the case this year, which leads into the first goal for this season.