3 Pittsburgh Pirates players who have the most to gain from a strong September

The Pittsburgh Pirates are, unfortunately, all but eliminated from contention this year. With the final month of the regular season kicking off, the Pirates need to use this time to see what they could have in stock for 2026.

Many of the players they are starting right now will be back next year, but there are three players in particularly they would love to see end the year on a high note. This trio has the most to gain from having a strong final month, as it could set them up for even bigger things in 2026.

3 Pittsburgh Pirates playing meaningful baseball in month of September

Oneil Cruz

Oneil Cruz came off a solid 2024 season and looked well on his way to a career year earlier in 2025. Through mid-June, Cruz was hitting .223/.345/.445 with a .342 wOBA and 117 wRC+. While he struck out 32.4% of the time, he was drawing walks a lot more frequently than he had in 2024, with a 14.9% BB%. His power was not in doubt either, with 13 home runs and a .223 isolated slugging percentage.

However, since then, it’s been a rough go of things for Cruz (outside of the Home Run Derby showcase). His last 205 trips to the plate have yielded a .180/.254/.328 triple-slash, .254 wOBA, and 57 wRC+. Cruz has cut down on the Ks, with a 30.7% K%, but his walks have also moved in the wrong direction down to 8.8%. The more upsetting part of this stretch is the lack of power. He has just a half-dozen home runs with a .148 ISO. At the very least, he has still been an efficient basestealer, going 11-for-12 in stolen base attempts.

While Cruz may be struggling, he is still one of baseball’s unluckiest batters. The 43-point difference between his wOBA (.304) and his xwOBA (.346) is the 12th largest in the sport. He also has a 65-point difference between his SLG% (.393) and xSLG% (.458), the 19th largest among qualified hitters.

He is also one of the most pitched-around batters in baseball this season, owing in large part to the relative weakness of the Pirates' lineup. Among hitters who have seen at least 1,000 pitches this season, his out-of-zone pitch rate of 55.4% is only surpassed by Bryce Harper at 56.3%. On a rate basis, he has seen more pitches outside the zone than the top four MVP candidates, Cal Raleigh (53.1%), Shohei Ohtani (52.7%), Kyle Schwarber (51.8%), and Aaron Judge (51.7%).

Defensively, Cruz hasn’t been perfect and has made some mistakes, but he hasn’t been awful, either. He has -10 defensive runs saved. On the positive side, he has +2 outs above average and has been worth +5 fielding runs. Despite showing off some impressive defensive skills late last season, he has only graded out as average in terms of his route to flyballs and slightly below average on his jump. For what it's worth, he has looked a lot better since struggling in April.

Cruz seems to be trying to force things at the plate. He is getting overly aggressive at times, with his course correction sometimes being too passive. It’s been a very frustrating summer for Cruz, but hopefully he can end the season on a high note. That sort of confidence boost for him could go a long way.

Jared Triolo

Jared Triolo entered this season with relatively low expectations, at least with the stick. He may have won a Gold Glove last season, but he did it while turning in just a .611 OPS, .275 wOBA, and 72 wRC+. He was also in the 20th percentile or lower of all expected stats. However, Triolo’s game has taken a step forward as the year has gone on. The surface and underlying numbers are better this season, and he is coming off one of the best months of his career in August.

Triolo owns a .226/.325/.357 triple-slash on the season. He has drawn walks at a healthy 11.9% rate, with a strikeout percentage of just 18.8%. Triolo hasn’t hit for much power, with a .131 isolated slugging percentage and five home runs across 274 plate appearances. While Triolo’s overall production is still below average, his .682 OPS, .304 wOBA, and 91 wRC+ represent a significant step forward from last season.

Triolo’s stats under the hood are also a lot better than last season. He has a .334 xwOBA, a career-best mark. His .415 xSLG% is another massive step forward from his .336 mark last season. Triolo is both making more contact and better overall contact. Last year, he had just a 27.4% whiff rate, and has cut that down to 23.1% this year. Meanwhile, his 88.8 MPH exit velocity and 7% barrel rate are career-high watermarks. This likely stems from him swinging the bat faster. In 2024, he had a 70.5 MPH average bat speed with just a 6.2% fast swing rate. This year, he has a 71.7 MPH average bat speed and a 15.8% fast swing rate.

Triolo does not have to be an elite hitter to be productive. A .335 wOBA and .410 slugging percentage will play with his defense and versatility. Triolo has seen most of his innings this year at shortstop, where he has graded out as about an average defender. He has also seen time at all other infield positions (minus catcher). He definitely isn’t struggling anywhere defensively, and there is a good reason why he won a Gold Glove for his utility.

Even if Triolo can maintain about league-average numbers down the stretch, he’ll set himself up as a utility infielder for the Pirates in 2026. We’ve seen Triolo go on these late-season runs, but now he’s doing it with fewer K’s, more walks and contact, better overall contact, and more hard swings, which seems to lend this performance an air of sustainability.

Spencer Horwitz

Some Pirates fans were ready to write Spencer Horwitz off as another bad trade for the club throughout the first half. At the time of the All-Star break, he was only hitting .232/.298/.329 with a .278 wOBA and 74 wRC+ over 181 plate appearances. His 8.3% walk rate and 22.7% K% were about league average, but he had just a pair of home runs, with an ISO below .100 at .098. But since that line in the sand, Horwitz has been on a tear.

His next 155 plate appearances have yielded a .288/.361/.460 clip. Horwitz is hitting for much more power, with a .173 isolated slugging percentage. His walk rate has increased to 10.3%, but more impressive is his 14.2% strikeout rate. Horwitz has a .358 wOBA with a .345 xwOBA, along with a 128 wRC+, since the break.

Horwitz’s recent performance shouldn’t come as a massive shock to anyone who knew what he did last season. In his 2024 rookie campaign, Horwitz put up a .790 OPS, .344 wOBA, and 126 wRC+ with the Toronto Blue Jays in a park that did not favor left-handed hitters. He had the highest OBP, the second-best wOBA and wRC+, and the third-best OPS among 2024 rookies with at least 350 plate appearances.

A slow start to Horwitz’s season shouldn’t have been entirely unexpected. He had wrist surgery in February and didn’t return until around the middle of May. As he has regained more strength in his wrist, he has improved his overall hitting. Horwitz continuing to hit at an above-average level would really inspire a ton of confidence at the first base position next year. The Pirates haven’t had a consistently solid player, when it comes to both fielding and hitting, at first base in ages. Horwitz finally has a chance to provide that for the Bucs.