Pittsburgh Pirates: Second Base Options for Start of 2022

In the minors

Diego Castillo definitely will be given a shot early into the season. Simply put, he’s been a hitting machine this year. Through 419 total plate appearances with the Yankee Double-A affiliate and Pirate Double and Triple-A teams, Castillo is batting .280/.354/.488. He’s crushed 18 home runs while having a 12.2% strikeout rate, and a 9.5% walk rate. So far in 49 plate appearances at Triple-A, he has a 152 wRC+, more walks than strikeouts (9/8 ratio), and 2 home runs in just 12 games. Given that he’ll certainly be put on the 40-man roster before the Rule 5 draft, you can’t rule out Castillo as an opening day option for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Ji-Hwan Bae should start the year at Triple-A. Bae has had his second quality season as part of the Pirates, batting .278/.359/.413 with a .343 wOBA, and 114 wRC+. Bae walked at a 10.4% rate and with some of the best baserunning in the minors, an OBP of nearly .360 is a real weapon. Plus he hit 7 home runs in 365 plate appearances while having a .134 isolated slugging percentage. Not great, but for a guy that didn’t hit a home run in his first 532 plate appearances, it’s more than good enough.

Though I think Bae will be given a little bit of time at Triple-A before being called to the Major Leagues. Bae will be in his age-22 season next year, turning 23 on July 23rd. So I do believe that he will be called up at some point early into the season.

I’m sure the Pittsburgh Pirates will find an option to start at second base before the start of the 2022 season. Maybe they also bring in a veteran on a one-year deal such as Jed Lowrie, Marwin Gonzalez, Donovan Solano, or Jonathan Villar to not only provide depth at second base but also other positions around the diamond. But I feel they’ll find their answer to start 2022 within the organization. After all, they have plenty of young, MLB ready, or near MLB ready talents at the position and will need to at least try some of them out.