Pirates may have found a new nightmare matchup for opposing pitchers

The Pittsburgh Pirates overhauled their offense this winter, adding three established veteran bats — Ryan O'Hearn and Marcell Ozuna in free agency and Brandon Lowe via trade — plus a top-100 prospect with MLB experience in Jhostynxon Garcia. Perhaps lost in the shuffle, though, is another new addition who might be overlooked, but shouldn't be: outfielder Jake Mangum.

Mangum came to Pittsburgh from Tampa Bay alongside Lowe and left-handed reliever Mason Montgomery in the three-team trade that sent starting pitcher Mike Burrows to Houston. He was a 29-year-old rookie in 2025, which usually doesn't bode well for long-term success. But he had a solid rookie campaign, batting .296 in 428 plate appearances, stealing 27 bases, and playing above-average defense at all three outfield spots.

Mangum is already turning heads at Pirates spring training, establishing a reputation as a really pesky hitter and a tough out. Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called Mangum a "nuisance at-bat and noted that pitchers "can't get anything by the guy."

Now that's just one reporter's statement, but looking at some numbers from last season proves that exact point.

Pirates' Jake Mangum looks like a real challenge for opposing pitchers

Mangum swings at almost everything. He swung at 62.1% of all pitches he saw last year, comfortably the highest rate in MLB (for reference, the next highest is Ezequiel Tovar's 60.6% and the league average is 47.6%). There have been 1,573 individual player seasons with at least 1,000 pitches seen in the last five seasons, and Mangum's swing rate is the fourth-highest. He always steps into the batter's box ready to swing.

This can be interpreted in a negative light. Mangum had a third-percentile walk rate (obviously, on account of all of the swings) and a first-percentile chase rate (meaning he swings at pitches outside the strike zone more than anyone else). But none of that factors in the results of those swings, and that tells a different story.

Mangum also sported a whiff rate of just 18.9%, so he made contact at a very high rate on those swings. So he's not a strikeout risk despite his extremely aggressive approach at the plate. This makes him very difficult for opposing pitchers and coaches to game-plan against.

Mangum's approach comes with two other significant advantages. For one, he's a pretty split-neutral switch-hitter (he hit .304 against right-handers and .279 against left-handers last season), so he's capable of grinding out a lengthy at-bat regardless of who's staring him down from the mound.

Additionally, Mangum's speed is a huge factor once he puts the ball in play. His 91st-percentile sprint speed enables him to leg out infield singles (.345 batting average on balls in play) and makes him a menace on the basepaths (27 stolen bases in 33 attempts).

The Pirates entered the offseason in desperate need of all kinds of offensive upgrades. The need for power was obvious, and was filled by the club's biggest moves. But Mangum's extreme swing and speed approach is a very welcome addition as well.

It's not difficult to envision Mangum winning games for the Pirates thanks to his plate approach and baserunning acumen. While Lowe and Montgomery might be expected to be the more impactful pieces of that trade, Pirates fans should be excited to watch Mangum in 2026.