5 players that should be on the Pirates’ major league roster by the end of May

Nick Yorke

Nick Yorke is a consensus top-10 prospect in the Pirates’ system. Those rankings came after he was one of the best batters at Triple-A in 2024, slashing .333/.420/.498 with a .409 wOBA and 143 wRC+ in 344 combined plate appearances between the Pirates and Red Sox’s Triple-A teams. This also included an outstanding 12.2% walk rate and a K% of just 18.9%.

But 2025 hasn’t been nearly as kind, at least through the first few weeks of the season, Yorke only has seven hits in 45 plate appearances. Granted, five of those hits have gone for extra bases (four doubles and a home run), and he’s still drawn six walks. However, he’s also struck out 16 times. On top of that, Yorke had a short Injured List stint with right shoulder soreness.

On the plus side, Yorke has already made his Major League debut, appearing in parts of 11 games at the tail end of the 2024 season. He showed some potential, posting a promising 15.4% barrel rate and 24.4% chase rate. The only negative was that he had a whiff rate just above 30%, but that did not seem to be an issue last year at Triple-A.

Between Yorke and Peguero, the Pirates have plenty of options to replace Frazier with and add a better player on the bench. Both middle infielders could be on the roster before the end of June, depending on how Nick Gonzales progresses over the next few weeks. 

Matt Gorski

Matt Gorski has stuck around the Pirates’ minor-league system for quite some time now. The outfield slugger turned in a .257/.319/.533 triple-slash, .359 wOBA, and 112 wRC+ throughout 433 plate appearances in 2024. Gorski showed off his trademark power/speed combo, going yard 23 times with a .265 isolated slugging percentage while swiping 15 bases. However, his strikeouts have always been an issue for him, as he K’d in 28.6% of his plate appearances while only drawing ball four 8.8% of the time.

Gorski’s strikeouts have always prevented him from making the step from Triple-A to the majors, but right now, for the time being, Gorski’s K% is down. Overall, he is slashing .308/.333/.554 in his first 72 plate appearances of the season, leading to a 129 wRC+. Gorski has continued to hit for good pop, with a trio of home runs and an ISO approaching .250. However, he has only struck out 23.6% of the time. On the downside, his walk rate is also at a career-low mark of 5.6%.

But, like Peguero, Gorski also has some outstanding improvements in Statcast metrics, including whiff rate, exit velocity, and, most notably, barrel percentage. His 23.5% barrel rate is the fourth highest among all minor-league hitters with at least 50 plate appearances. Even if his whiff rate still isn’t great, it represents a major step in the right direction.

Gorski doesn’t need to continue to hit .300+ with a .550+ slugging percentage to be productive at the MLB level. If the Pirates chose to replace Suwinski with Gorski, even batting .200 with some dingers here and there would be productive enough. On top of that, he can play an above-average center field and move to first base when needed.