3 Pittsburgh Pirates hitters who are dead weight on the current roster

If there’s one way the Pittsburgh Pirates can improve a lineup that has been struggling throughout the early parts of the season, it’s addition by subtraction. The Pirates are losing way too many games where the pitching does its job while the offense sits behind and watches. Some players, like Bryan Reynolds, Ke’Bryan Hayes, and Andrew McCutchen, are getting unlucky, and will eventually heat up, as logic dictates. But, amid the crossed fingers, there are some players who look more like lost causes. The Pirates can’t keep giving playing time to these three hitters.

3 completely lost hitters the Pittsburgh Pirates can't afford in their lineup

Alexander Canario

It has not been fun watching Alexander Canario. The Pirates picked up the former top prospect from the New York Mets in a trade involving just cash. To say Canario has been struggling would be an understatement. He’s been outright bad since the Pirates picked him up.

Let’s at least first start with the good. Canario is having no trouble hitting the ball hard. He has a 91.3 MPH exit velocity and an impressive 30% barrel rate in his small sample size of playing time in Pittsburgh. His xSLG% is a whopping .673. He also only has a 21.5% chase rate, which is above average. Canario also hit for a 135 wRC+ for the Chicago Cubs in 2023-2024, albeit in only 45 plate appearances.

Now, let’s get on with the bad. For starters, he has just three hits in 34 plate appearances. He is only one of eight batters in baseball right now with a batting average below .100 in 30+ PAs. Even though Canario has top-of-the-line raw power and posted a well above-average wRC+ with the Cubs, his power is severely limited due to his ability to make contact. He has a 36.5% whiff rate with the Pirates, and it sat well over 40% while with the Cubs. His contact rate with the Pirates sits at 68.3%. That’s a slight uptick from his days with the Cubs, but it still falls well short of the league-average 76.7% contact rate.

It’s not as if the Pirates can keep playing Canario because he brings good defense or elite speed either. He is only in the 71st percentile of sprint speed and has -1 defensive run saved and -1 out above average. If Canario was a plus runner with good defense, the Pirates might be able to sneak him by to see if he can figure things out. Nope.

I get the Pirates’ fascination with Canario. He’s a player with faster bat speed than Aaron Judge. But he’s a lot more like Jo Adell than Judge. Canario has no options remaining, but when players like Nick Gonzales and Spencer Horwitz begin returning, Canario is likely the first player the Pirates will decide to move on from.

Tommy Pham

Please, do not let this turn into a Rowdy Tellez situation, Pirates. I beg you. 

The Pirates signed Tommy Pham this offseason, and there were already red flags from the jump. For one, it’s not as if Pham lit the world on fire last year. In 478 plate appearances, the veteran outfielder owned a .248/.305/.368 triple-slash, .297 wOBA, and 91 wRC+. He only walked 7.3% of the time, a career-low mark. Pham’s 22.2% K% was one of the few numbers on his bottom line that wasn’t below average.

There was some hope Pham could improve in 2025, given his .319 xwOBA and 90.7 MPH exit velocity, but so far, Pirates fans would kill for his 2024 production. Pham is only batting .170/.248/.213 with a .214 wOBA and 28 wRC+. He is striking out 27.6% of the time, which is on pace for the second-highest mark of his career. Pham has yet to hit a home run, as he’s seen his exit velocity drop to just 88.3 MPH. His barrel rate is currently sitting at a poor 3% rate. The only things Pham isn’t doing terribly wrong at the plate are chasing outside the zone and drawing walks. He’s in the 86th percentile of chase rate and has an 8.9% walk rate.

Pham has been a complete momentum killer as well. He’s one of the worst batters with men on base, ranking bottom 20 in OPS (.573), wOBA (257), and wRC+ (57) (min. 50 plate appearances with men on). This is one thing Pham excelled in during 2024. Even with his poor season, he still owned an .853 OPS, .374 wOBA, and 145 wRC+ when he stepped to the plate with a runner on.

At the very least, Pham has been useful in the field. He already has +7 defensive runs saved and +1 out above-average out in left field. Pham’s jump on flyballs and route running have been about league average, but he surprisingly leads all players in DRS. He is tied with catcher Carlos Narvaez for the most across all positions in the league.

But if we’re setting the floor at a good defender, then the Pirates should just promote Billy Cook. Cook is young, much faster (was in the 93rd percentile of sprint speed at 29.3 feet/second, compared to Pham’s 27.6 feet/second sprint speed this season), and just as good, if not a better defender than Pham. While he’s struggling at Triple-A this season, he showed some promise last season. The offensive bar Pham is setting is just a 28 wRC+, which Cook would likely be able to surpass.

Jared Triolo

Jared Triolo is a defense-first utility man. While he showed some promise in his 2023 debut, 2024 was a rough year for Triolo with the bat. He slashed just .216/.296/.315 with a .275 wOBA and 72 wRC+. Triolo walked at a healthy 9.2% rate, but also struck out 26.5% of the time. He was also not bad down the line, with a playable 96 wRC+ throughout August and September of 2024. Fans hoped he could build upon that, and while he still can, Triolo is off to a bad start to 2025.

It’s only been 43 plate appearances, but Triolo has just seven hits and a singular walk. He hasn’t struck out much, with only six Ks and a strong 18.1% whiff rate, but that’s about the only positive. His exit velocity sits at a poor 87 MPH, and his barrel rate only comes in at 2.9%. Only two of his hits have gone for extra-base hits, both of which were doubles. The utility infielder’s wRC+ currently sits at a lowly 17.

Triolo’s glove has been playing as expected. After winning a Gold Glove last season, Triolo is once again showing off his strong defensive prowess. He already has +3 defensive runs saved and +2 outs above average in less than 50 innings at second base. He has also looked solid at both infield corners.

The Pirates don’t need this many utility men on the roster. Adam Frazier has been red hot recently. Enmanuel Valdez has hit well so far with better underlying Statcast metrics than Triolo. Triolo may bring a better glove, but even if he were to start hitting like he did in 2024, he would still be just slightly more valuable than a replacement-level player. Triolo still has options remaining and is a prime candidate to get sent to Triple-A once Gonzales and Horwitz start making their way back to the major leagues.