3 Pirates players whose 2026 jobs are in danger after prospect promotions

The Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t just end 2025 with a to-do list — they ended it with a conveyor belt. Prospects are rolling off the line, the big-league clubhouse is getting crowded, and job security is suddenly a rumor more than a guarantee. That’s the good kind of pressure needed if you’re trying to build something sustainable. It’s also the kind of pressure that forces hard choices on familiar names who’ve lived on the bubble for a while.

Promotions change the math. Arms with bigger stuff are knocking, infielders with cleaner profiles are coming, and the margin for “he can do a little bit of everything” has never been thinner in Pittsburgh. The fans want competition, and now the farm system is making sure they deliver it. With that backdrop, three Pirates head into the winter knowing spring training won’t just be a tune-up — it’ll be an audition.

Pirates competition heats up with three players on the 2026 hot seat

Johan Oviedo, RHP

The late-season return was a genuine bright spot. After losing all of 2024 to Tommy John surgery and spending most of 2025 battling a right lat strain, Oviedo came back in late September and stacked nine starts (40.1 IP) with a 3.57 ERA and 42 strikeouts.

That’s enough to keep him firmly in the 2026 conversation — but not enough to lock anything down, not with the system overflowing. Braxton Ashcraft flashed the kind of conviction that plays right away, and top lefty prospect Hunter Barco brings a nastier look than most depth starters can offer. In a straight stuff fight, Oviedo’s margin is slim. If he’s going to hold a rotation seat, the slider/fastball mix needs to continue drawing swing and miss, because the challengers behind him don’t need as much sequencing to win.

Ji Hwan Bae, UTIL

The writing’s on the wall, and this one hurts because versatility is supposed to be the lifeline. Bae can bounce around the diamond and handle the outfield in a pinch, but the bat just hasn’t traveled with him. Meanwhile, Jared Triolo has proven to be the steadier infield defender with the broader glove tool kit, and even if Triolo’s line (.227/.311/.356 with 7 homers in 107 games) wasn’t loud, it still brought more functional at-bats than Bae managed across another year that skewed heavily toward the minors.

With top infield prospects Termarr Johnson and Nick Yorke waiting in the wings — the latter likely to get a longer look — outfield reps are at an absolute premium. Bae needs either a real on-base surge or a loud contact jump to avoid getting squeezed again.

Nick Gonzales, 2B/SS

If we’re being honest, you could make a case that nearly the entire infield is in flux, and Ben Cherington has already said the group is a winter priority. The two who feel safest are Jared Triolo and Spencer Horwitz; beyond that, every job invites a challenge. Gonzales’ value is tied to playable contact and positional flexibility, but a .260/.299/.362 line with five homers and 30 RBI in 96 games won’t anchor a spot, especially when the walk rate refuses to budge.

On a contender, that profile works if the surrounding lineup has thunder. The Pirates don’t have the luxury of carrying multiple light bats. The calculus is simple: upgrade via free agency, or let a top prospect take the developmental lumps and potentially outgrow Gonzales’ ceiling by July.

Promotions are supposed to create headaches like this. Pittsburgh finally has the kind you welcome. The kind that forces a higher standard. If the Pirates want 2026 to look different, the spring battles can’t be ceremonial. Let the best stuff win on the mound, let the cleanest at-bats claim the dirt, and let the system do what it was built to do.