Pirates' loaded catching pipeline could force an offseason trade for a righty masher

The primary reason that the Pittsburgh Pirates' offense was derailed in 2026 was the rash of injuries they suffered to key players in the second half of the season. However, that sort of hides a bigger issue, which is the fact that a lack of right-handed pop stopped the unit from reaching its full potential, regardless of injuries.

Pittsburgh's right-handed bats combined for a .689 OPS, which ranked 24th in MLB. While the club got some production out of Nick Gonzales, who hit .303/.367/.388, it wasn't nearly enough. On top of that, the one area where Gonzales lacks, power, was the biggest need, with Pirates righties producing an anemic .373 slugging percentage, which was the second-worst mark in the league.

The biggest part of the problem was that Pittsburgh tried, and failed miserably, to address the issue with Marcell Ozuna. The Pirates cannot afford to make the same mistake by trying to catch lightning in a bottle with an aging, right-handed slugger like the former Atlanta Braves star.

Fortunately, there's a way that the Pirates can use one key asset to find an impact player from the right side to truly round out the lineup and elevate the state of the batting order to new heights in 2027, and that would be dealing from the organizational strength that has become the team's catcher pipeline.

The Pirates are sitting on a gold mine with the catcher depth in their system, with a flavor for everyone

Looking at the market, it's clear that teams are valuing catching talent more than ever. Look at the haul that the Baltimore Orioles extracted from the Boston Red Sox for Adley Rutschman as an example. For a catcher who was injured at the time of the trade, has been on the decline for the last three years, and who, at the time of the trade, only had a year and a half of team control remaining, Baltimore received four prospects within Boston's top 15.

Now imagine reverse-engineering this, trading either a young big-league catcher with oodles of team control or a prospect in exchange for a right-handed masher. That's the opportunity that the Pirates have in front of them.

With Rafael Flores Jr., Axiel Plaz, Easton Carmichael, Edgleen Perez, and even Henry Davis, Pittsburgh has plenty of desirable assets that reside behind the plate. Flores Jr.'s stellar showing down the stretch probably lands him firmly within the Pirates' future plans, but the rest should be up for grabs.

Plaz's raw power will no doubt intrigue someone. Carmichael has a balanced skill set that almost guarantees he'll be at least an average big league starter. Perez has advanced patience at the plate and superb defense behind it, which will definitely catch eyes.

Even Davis isn't without value. Known for his superb defense, Davis has also produced encouraging exit velocity numbers, plus incredible pulled fly ball rates, coming in at an incredible 30.3% (league average is 16.9%) this year. It's not hard to draw parallels between him and Patrick Bailey, who has become a breakout star with the Cleveland Guardians in the postseason.

Bailey was dealt back in May for a left-handed pitching prospect in Matt Wilkinson and a Competitive Balance Round A draft pick that ended up being No. 29 in the 2026 draft. The nature of the compensation had more to do with San Francisco's desire to rebuild than anything. The point is, another team could view Davis as a guy who, with a couple of swing tweaks, could become a solid contributor and therefore would part with a solid contributor at a different position as a result.

The Pirates have plenty of flavors of catching talent, so all it should take is putting out a couple of feelers, and they can swap one of these guys in exchange for the big right-handed bat they desperately need.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow