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Pittsburgh Pirates: What the Opening Day Roster Should Be
By Marty Leap
C – Roberto Pérez, Michael Pérez
INF – Ke’Bryan Hayes, Oneil Cruz, Rodolfo Castro, Yoshi Tsutsugo, Kevin Newman, Daniel Vogelbach
When it comes to catcher things are likely pretty cut and dry. This past offseason the Pittsburgh Pirates signed former two-time Gold Glove Award winner Roberto Pérez to a one-year deal worth $5 million. He will be the primary catcher in 2022.
Joining him will likely be Michael Pérez who spent the entirety of the 2021 season with the Pirates. However, he was designated for assignment early in the offseason. This means a roster move will have to be made to add him to the 40-man roster, which is currently full, before the regular season begins.
With the infield there is certainly some chalk. Obviously, Ke’Bryan Hayes will be at third base. Yoshi Tsutsugo and Daniel Vogelbach will split the at-bats at first base and as the team’s designated hitter. After this, however, things start to change.
Odds are Kevin Newman will be at shortstop on Opening Day, but this nod should go to Oneil Cruz. One of the top prospects in all of baseball Cruz has put on a show this spring with one destroyed baseball after another. This includes two balls that have been hit 113 MPH or harder, the insanity of which can be seen below.
In the Statcast era, Pirate hitters with multiple batted balls of 113.4+ mph exit velos in a season:
— Alex Stumpf (@AlexJStumpf) March 25, 2022
2015 Pedro Alvarez
2015, 2021 Gregory Polanco
2018, 2019 Josh Bell
Oneil Cruz in his last two games played
Cruz has elite potential at shortstop. It should be his job when the season begins. Period.
Moving to second base the Pittsburgh Pirates should give Rodolfo Castro a look. Last season he made his MLB debut and flashed his plus power potential posting a .199 isolated slugging (ISO) while slugging 5 home runs in less than 100 plate appearances. He was also hurt by a .222 batting average on balls in play (BAbip) which indicates he was victimized by some bad luck last season.
The Opening Day second baseman will likely be one of Cole Tucker, who should start at Triple-A Indy, Michael Chavis, or Hoy Park, both of whom we will get to later. Newman can start the season serving as a backup middle infielder if the Pirates are unable to find a trade for him.