Ben Cherington’s tone-deaf comments at MLB Draft have Pirates fans seething

Stockpiling pitching has a signature of Ben Cherington's drafts since he took over as general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020. The top of this year's draft was no different.

Despite vowing to address the organization's desperate need for offense, Cherington took a pair of right-handed high school pitchers in Seth Hernandez (No. 6) and Angel Cervantes (No. 50) with Pittsburgh's first two picks in the 2025 MLB Draft. While both have undeniable talent, these picks represent the Pirates taking who they deemed to be the best player available at the time without regard for organizational need.

It wasn't until later in the first night of the draft that Pittsburgh finally collected a pair of college bats in third baseman Murf Gray (No. 73) and catcher Easton Carmichael (No. 82). Both have power potential, which the Pirates need – Gray batted .324/.398/.639 with 22 doubles, 18 homers and 70 RBI at Fresno State this past year, while Carmichael hit 10 doubles, four triples and 17 homers and stole 14 bases at Oklahoma – but the argument could certainly be made that the Pirates passed on better offensive potential earlier in the draft.

With three pitchers getting selected in the first five picks before the Pirates' selection at No. 6, there were plenty of high-end position players still available for the taking. One of those was Oregon State shortstop Aiva Arquette, who was ranked the No. 3 position player prospect in this year's draft class by MLB Pipeline, and ended up going to the Miami Marlins at No. 7 immediately after the Pirates took Hernandez with their first pick.

Ben Cherington’s tone-deaf comments at MLB Draft have Pirates fans seething

When asked about the Pirates' clear need for hitting on the first night of the draft, Cherington explained his decision to go with arms over bats in perhaps the most infuriating way possible.

"We love the potential that [Gray] and Carmichael bring us with the third and fourth picks tonight, and we'll have more opportunities tomorrow," Cherington told reporters Sunday evening, including Kevin Gorman of TribLive. "Obviously, as you referenced, we have to create more offense in Pittsburgh. We're just going to have to attack that in every way possible. It doesn't have to come through the top of the draft. We're thrilled to get these two young pitchers in the system and we'll just continue to attack the offense, solving that offensive issue in different ways."

Cherington isn't wrong; offense doesn't have to come from the top of the draft. But in the six years he's had to improve this organization's offense through those so-called "different ways," he has shown absolutely zero sense or urgency in doing so.

By now, any promises from the Pirates' front office to "attack the offense" simply fall on deaf ears. The fans know better than to expect anything to improve on that front as long as Cherington is in charge. For now, Pittsburgh fans can expect more of the same – plenty of talented young arms destined to be future trade chips because the Pirates can't (or won't) give them any run support.

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