Pirates should regret giving up on this potentially potent bat way too soon

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ offense was abysmal in 2025. Despite having the fourth-most games in baseball - and the third-most games in the NL - where the team's hurlers allowed three or fewer earned runs, Pittsburgh still racked up 25 losses in those games. That mark was the NL's worst, and second in all of baseball to the 102-loss Chicago White Sox. While hindsight is 20/20, it sure would have been nice if the Pirates hadn’t thrown in the towel on Miguel Andújar as quickly as they did after uncovering him initially.

Andújar once looked like a building block for the New York Yankees after he finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2018. However, constant injuries led to the third baseman missing a significant amount of time and being moved down the depth chart for other players, such as Gio Urshela and Josh Donaldson. In late 2022, the Yankees put Andújar on waivers after several valueless years, and the Bucs claimed him. He appeared in nine games, but struggled in the limited playing time before the season came to an end.

Andújar did not open the following year in the Major Leagues, but was called up at the end of April. After struggling badly for 13 games, he was sent back to Indianapolis, where he excelled. With no reason to avoid him any longer, the Pirates recalled Andújar as a September promotion, and he hit well. It was only 57 plate appearances, but Andujar had 16 hits, including six doubles, and a pair of home runs. While he only drew four free passes, he also struck out a total of eight times.

Despite that strong September showing, the Pirates opted to put Andújar on waivers at the end of the season, and he was claimed by the Oakland Athletics. 2024 marked Andújar’s best season since 2018; he batted .285/.320/.377 with a .306 wOBA and 103 wRC+ over 319 plate appearances. He only drew walks at a 4.1% rate and went yard just four times with a sub-.100 isolated slugging percentage, but he also went down on strike three in just 13.2% of his plate appearances.

Sure, his performance wasn’t much better than league average, but his .697 OPS would have been better than five Pirates hitters in 2024 who had at least 300 plate appearances. Andújar's season came to an end in August after undergoing core surgery, but he'd made a nice mark before that moment came.

Pirates throwing in the towel so quickly on Miguel Andújar looks foolish two years later.

But Andújar didn’t just continue to produce respectable numbers at the dish in 2025; he improved upon his 2024 stats. In 341 plate appearances with the Athletics and Cincinnati Reds, Andújar owned a .318/.352/.470 line, .354 wOBA, and 125 wRC+. Andújar hit for far more power this season, with a .153 ISO, and also walked slightly more than normal, with a 5% BB%. His K% also remained about the same as last season, coming in at 14.4%. He was especially good after he was traded to the Reds this season, slashing .359/.400/.544 in his final 110 plate appearances of 2025.

The salt in the wound was Andújar playing in two playoff games for the Reds. The Reds lost both NL Wild Card series games to the LA Dodgers, and Andujar only went 1-for-4 with a walk and strikeout over the two contests. Still, Andújar making the playoffs with a division rival who also went through a rebuild makes his 2025 performance sting just a little more.

Andújar still missed playing time this season, as he sat out most of June and the first week of July with an oblique injury, but his 151 total bases still would have been fifth-best on the 2025 Pirates. He also would have been the only Pirates hitter with an OPS of at least .800. The only thing you can say he wouldn’t have helped the Pirates with is defense. He had -6 defensive runs saved and -4 outs above average in less than 250 innings at third base. His glove in the outfield was better, but -1 DRS and -3 OAA in 239 frames is still poor.

The only critique you could make of his bat is that he is getting unlucky. Despite a .331 wOBA the last two seasons, his xwOBA comes in at .295. He’s done that with just an 87.1 MPH exit velocity and 3.7% barrel rate. He also played in some extremely hitter-friendly parks in 2025. The Athletics’ Sacramento park was the most hitter-friendly environment in the AL in 2025, and Great American Ballpark has always been known to be a hitter’s paradise.

Sure, the 2025 and 2024 Pirates were not a Miguel Andújar away from being winners, nor was it as if the Pirates let some hot commodity go to waste when they lost Andújar on waivers. However, the Pirates have been starved for offense for the last two seasons. They opted to let go of a batter who had shown some promise, even if it was in a small sample size and with a lengthy injury history attached. They could have kept him around as a part-time corner infield/outfield player and helped deepen the lineup. Just chalk it up to yet another Ben Cherington blunder.