Pittsburgh Pirates 2022 Outlook: Second Base

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a ton of middle infield options for 2022. But what is the outlook at the position for next season?

The Pittsburgh Pirates currently have one of the best second base prospects in all of baseball. That’s Nick Gonzales. Gonzales had a phenomenal 2021 season at High-A Greensboro, posting a 150 wRC+, .450 wOBA, and .950 OPS. Now, he’s demolishing the ball at the Arizona Fall League. In 73 plate appearances, Gonzales already has 21 hits, 11 walks, and a third of his hits have gone for extra bases (3 doubles, a triple, and 2 home runs).

As talented as Gonzales is he’s not going to appear in the Major Leagues early into 2022. He may get an Oneil Cruz/Ronasy Contreras-like appearance nearing the end of the year if he stays healthy and keeps hitting lasers, playing just 1-5 games in the final month, but he’ll likely spend the year at Double-A and eventually Triple-A. While he could take over regular second base duties as soon as 2023, someone else will likely man the position until then. So who should that be? Who will open the 2022 season as their keystone defender?

In my opinion, Diego Castillo should be the second base until Gonzales is ready. The Pirates acquired Castillo for Clay Holmes at the deadline. Castillo showed off some much-improved power, blasting 19 home runs, racking up 24 doubles, and having a .209 isolated slugging percentage in just 440 plate appearances with the Yankee and Pirate Double-A and Triple-A affiliates. That kind of power was unprecedented for Castillo who, in the 4 minor league seasons prior to this, never had an ISO above .100. This didn’t come at the cost of his plate discipline either. He struck out just 12.7% of the time and drew a walk at a solid 10% rate.

Castillo just locked down a 40-man roster spot. He just turned 24-years-old and had a 144 wRC+ in his first taste of action at Triple-A. He’ll certainly get a shot at the major leagues sometime in 2022. Though if service time remains the same as it is now (which is still a possibility even with CBA negotiations quickly approaching), he wouldn’t open the season with the Pittsburgh Pirates at second base.

Michael Chavis could have ab upper hand. The Pittsburgh Pirates flipped Austin Davis for Chavis at the deadline, marking two trades involving middling relievers for a player with some upside. Chavis was a former top prospect with the Boston Red Sox and had a respectable rookie campaign back in 2019. However, after greatly struggling in 2020 and 2021, the Red Sox seemed to want to move on from the former infield prospect.

Chavis showed some promise in his first few games with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 42 plate appearances, he had 15 hits including 3 doubles and a home run.  There was one big, glaring red flag. He struck out 10 times and did not walk once. Even if he can just repeat his rookie season, he’d be good enough to hold over second base for the first month or so of the season. If he keeps it up, he could be a solid utility man with power for the long haul.

One of the lesser talked about options is Hoy Park. Park came along with Castillo in the Holmes swap. He was producing phenomenal numbers down at Triple-A for the Yankees before the trade. He had an incredible 180 wRC+, .452 wOBA, and 1.042 OPS with the Yanks’ Triple-A affiliate. Now like Castillo, he was producing power at an unprecedented level for him. He had a .240 ISO, which was much higher than any of his previous bests. He’s always been regarded as a solid hitter in the minor leagues and a good on-base/speed kind of player.

Park didn’t get off to the best of starts with the Pirates but seemed to start to turn things around as the season came to a close. His last 46 plate appearances saw him rack up 10 hits, 7 walks, and 4 extra-base hits. He’s a bit older for a prospect as 2022 will be his age-26 season.  If he can be at least a solid .250/.350/.400 hitter, he’d make a fine leadoff hitter considering his speed.

There were a couple of other names I considered to start the year out with the Pirates. First is Rodolfo Castro. Castro got a glance in the majors earlier this year and blasted 5 home runs in less than 100 plate appearances. Plus he did phenomenal in his first sample size of plate appearances at Triple-A. The problem is his extremely poor second half at Double-A is a bit worrisome and he’s still just 22-years-old (2022 will be his age-23 season) so he’ll likely start the year at Triple-A and be one of the players that comes up if other options struggle or get hurt.

Another name I didn’t mention is Ji-Hwan Bae. Bae had a solid season down at Double-A Altoona. He’s also looked good so far at the Arizona Fall League. The thing is, the Pirates seem pretty set on having him get more and more time played in centerfield. He already has 54 innings logged in the outfield position with Peoria to go with the 79.2 he earned with Altoona. Bae is in the running to be a long-term option in centerfield, even more so than second base given the number of options up the middle.

Lastly, there’s Tucupita Marcano. Marcano was acquired in the Adam Frazier trade. He’s extremely talented and has elite bat-to-ball skills, as well as plus plate discipline. But he’s probably going to spend most of 2022 at Triple-A. He skipped High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A before making his major league debut, Given that he’ll also be 22 for most of next season, there’s almost no reason as of right now to bring him up before August.

So who will open up 2022 as the team’s starting second baseman? Right now, my expectation would be Michael Chavis. Chavis doesn’t come with any service time concerns to put on the major league roster. He’s a former consensus top 100 prospect, looked solid back in his rookie season, showed some promise in his first few games as a Pirate, and could give the line-up a little bit of pop.

To me, that’s a different question as to who will end up playing most of the season at second for the Pirates. I still think that ends up being Diego Castillo. Castillo looked phenomenal in the minors this year. He was hitting for power, hitting for average, walking at a fair rate, and did it all without having to sacrifice his ability to strike out at a very low rate. Even if he hits just .260/.350/.450 with decent defense at second base, he’d likely keep the position down until Gonzales is ready.

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