3 best surprises of the 2024 Pittsburgh Pirates' season

The 2024 season was a letdown for many Pittsburgh Pirates fans. The team finished below .500 after they won 76 games last year, headed into the campaign with a healthy Oneil Cruz and Paul Skenes on the horizon, and were within striking distance of both a Wild Card spot and division title as late as the start of August. 

There are plenty of negatives to come from the 2024 season, but, somehow, plenty of positives as well. The aforementioned Cruz and Skenes were two of them, but the Pirates also had a handful of unlikely heroes step up during the season. Some of these players headed into the year with no expectations whatsoever, but have put themselves into a position to be key parts of the 2025 roster.

3 biggest Pirates surprises of 2024

Bailey Falter

When the Pittsburgh Pirates broke camp with Bailey Falter as their fifth starter, fans were not too pleased with the decision. After an unimpressive showing in the second half of 2023 and a horrible spring training, many hoped the Pirates would acquire another arm before the end of camp or put Quinn Priester in the rotation. Falter did not help his case by allowing six earned runs on two home runs (one of which was a grand slam) in his first outing of the season.

But after that, Falter proved to be a solid starter. Throughout his final 138.1 innings of the year, Falter had a 4.16 ERA, 4.11 FIP, and 1.27 WHIP. All three marks were around league average. Falter did not strike out many batters, with a 16.7% strikeout rate, but he limited walks well with a 7.4% BB% and only allowed home runs at an 0.98-per-9 rate.

Granted, some of the numbers under the hood do not like Falter’s work. He’s allowed a decent amount of hard contact, with a 90.3 MPH average exit velocity, and has a mediocre 8.8% barrel rate. His 4.84 SIERA and 4.63 xFIP are both well below average. Falter’s starts have been a mixed bag, as he posted a dozen outings where he allowed two or fewer earned runs, but nine more where he allowed four or more.

But Falter has proven to be a quality back-of-the-rotation-type arm. Heading into this season, Falter was only expected to help bridge the gap and keep the seat warm for Skenes until his eventual call-up. But now, he could have the inside track to the fifth spot of the rotation next year. That's progress.

Dennis Santana

The Pirates claimed Dennis Santana off waivers from the New York Yankees in June. At the time, he had an ERA over 6.00. Santana had yet to have any prolonged success in the Major Leagues. Heading into 2024, he owned a 5.17 ERA, 4.26 FIP, and 1.30 WHIP from 2018 through 2023. He had only ever posted both an above-average ERA and FIP in any season once -- that was in 2021 when he had a 4.28 ERA and 4.36 FIP with the LA Dodgers and Texas Rangers.

When Santana first arrived in Pittsburgh, it didn’t look like he’d be around for much longer. In just his second game, the righty reliever allowed six earned runs while recording a single inning pitched. Santana walked two and allowed four hits, one of which was a home run. Luckily, Santana proved that first impressions aren’t everything.

Since then, Santana has pitched 42.2 innings, recording a 1.27 ERA, 1.97 FIP, and 0.82 WHIP. He has walked just 5.6% of opponents with a 31.1% strikeout rate. The right-hander has induced a whiff rate of 33.7%. When opponents can put the bat on the ball, they’ve averaged an exit velocity of just 84.5 MPH and a barrel rate of 1.9%. Santana allowed an earned run in his last game of the season, ending what was a 24.1-inning scoreless streak.

Santana started to see much more time in high leverage down the stretch of this lost campaign, and it really helped him progress. His average leverage index in the month of September was 1.25 (1.00 is average), and he recorded eight holds, as well as a save. Santana has more than put his name into the cards for the closer role next season. He’s been a great, albeit extremely unexpected bright spot of the Pirates’ bullpen.