Pittsburgh Pirates: What the Opening Day Roster Should Be

Let’s have some fun and take a look at what the Opening Day roster of the Pittsburgh Pirates should look like, not necessarily what it will look like

In less than two weeks the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals will clash at Busch Stadium for the first game of the 2022 season. Entering the day on Saturday the Pirates still have 53 players in their MLB camp which means there are still plenty of roster moves to be made before Opening Day.

MLB and the MLB Player’s Union have agreed to increase the active roster to 28 players for the first month of the season. This is due to the late start to spring training and teams not having pitchers completely stretched out for Opening Day.

With the roster set to be 28 players when the season begins the Pittsburgh Pirates will have to shave 25 players from their current spring roster. This will lead to plenty projections of what the Opening Day roster could look like.

Today, however, we are going to do something different. Instead of taking a look at what the Opening Day roster will likely be we will take a look at what it should be. Unfortunately, these are likely to be two different things.

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.

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.

Utility players – Hoy Park, Michael Chavis

Both Hoy Park and Michael Chavis were acquired by the Pittsburgh Pirates at the trade deadline last July. This led to each of them seeing playing time with the Pirates last August/September and both have done some good things this spring.

Park can play all three outfield spots, as well as every infield position other than first base. Chavis can play each infield position other than shortstop, as well as the corner outfield spots. So both bring plenty of positional flexibility to the Pirate roster.

Both players likely have some untapped potential left and both should make the actual Opening Day roster as well. In fact, it would not be a surprise to see them getting the lion’s share of the playing time at second base when the season begins.

Starting rotation – José Quintana, Mitch Keller, Zach Thompson, JT Brubaker, Roansy Contreras
Bullpen – David Bednar, Chris Stratton, Heath Hembree, Anthony Banda, Dillon Peters, Sam Howard, Bryse Wilson, Duane Underwood Jr., Adonis Medina, Wil Crowe

The pitching staff is another group that will likely look a good bit differently on Opening Day from what we will discuss here. Quintana, Keller and Thompson will all be in the starting rotation. Between the rotation and bullpen two of Brubaker, Wilson and Crowe will be there as well. Bednar, Stratton, Hembree, Banda, Peters, Howard, and Underwood Jr. should all end up in the bullpen as well.

With roster expanded to 28 players to start the season this will likely lead to the Pittsburgh Pirates expanding their bullpen from 8 arms to 10 to start the season. This opens the door for Medina, a recent waiver wire addition, as well as Wilson cracking the Opening Day roster.

This is also a group being impact by injury. Blake Cederlind is on the 60-day IL as he works his way back from Tommy John Surgery. Nick Mears also finds himself on the 60-day IL. Miguel Yajure, who would likely crack the Opening Day rotation otherwise, has not thrown at all this spring due to injury, the same goes for Max Kranick who may have been able to compete for a bullpen spot.

The actual Opening Day rotation will likely see Crowe replace Contreras, with Contreras starting the season in the rotation at Indy. Contreras, however, does not appear to be a pitcher in need of any more minor league time.

He dominated in the minors last season, pitched 3 scoreless innings in his lone MLB start last September, pitched well in the Arizona Fall League, and has looked impressive this spring. While Contreras could very well be the future ace for the Pirate starting rotation, service time works against him and will likely land him in the minors to start the season.

In all reality the final two bullpen spots are likely rather irrelevant. When roster go back to 26 players on May 1st those two players are the most likely to be sent to Indianapolis. This would likely lead to Medina and potentially Wilson being optioned to Indy, where both could join the Indian starting rotation.