3 highest upside options to help Pirates solve second base logjam in 2025

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a myriad of middle infielders heading into next year. One of the positions that could be up for grabs is second base. The Pirates have multiple ways they could go at the keystone, with three options standing out as having the most upside.

Nick Gonzales looks like he’s penciled into the position for the time being. Gonzales has improved since his brief-but-poor sample last year, and is hitting .271/.306/.386 with a .299 wOBA and 89 wRC+ through 325 plate appearances. He is striking out just 19.7% of the time, but has a poor 4% walk rate and a .116 isolated slugging percentage. On the positive side, he has a respectable 7.8% barrel rate, and isn’t severely underperforming, either, with a .308 xwOBA.

Gonzales has also been about as good as you can get defensively. Gonzales has +4 outs above average, the tenth most of any second baseman this year. He has +1.0 fWAR through 79 games and 325 plate appearances. That puts him on pace for about +2.0 fWAR in a full season, which makes him a solid regular.

One of the few players who could see time at second base next year who rivals Gonzales’ defense is Jared Triolo. Triolo has +6 defensive runs saved and +1 out above average up the middle. Triolo also grades out as a plus defender at third base and first base, and has contributed limited innings both at shortstop and right field.

But his bat has been lackluster for the most part this season. Triolo is hitting .208/.296/.272 with a 70 wRC+ in 389 plate appearances. His isolated slugging percentage is below .100 at .097, and he has struck out about a quarter of the time with a 25.2% K%. One of the few positives has been his 10.3% walk rate. But, to Triolo’s credit, he has been piecing together a strong stretch as of recently. Over his last 82 plate appearances, Triolo has hit .236/.366/.435 with a .353 wOBA and 125 wRC+. He is striking out less frequently with a 23.2% K% and walking more far more often (14.6% BB%) with an isolated slugging percentage of .188.

Rookie could factor into Pirates' second base plans for 2025

Top prospect Nick Yorke could definitely factor into the second base job next season. Acquired from the Boston Red Sox at the trade deadline, Yorke has spent most of his season at the Triple-A level. He is batting .332/.417/.495 with a .407 wOBA and 140 wRC+ in 320 plate appearances between the Sox and Bucs’ Triple-A teams. While he may not be standing out in the power department, with a .162 isolated slugging percentage, he is walking at a healthy 11.9% rate with a sub-20% strikeout rate (18.1%).

Yorke also has some promising underlying metrics. Yorke’s 91.2 MPH exit velocity is the 15th-best among minor leaguers with at least 250 plate appearances. His 10-degree launch angle is also decent. Heliot Ramos, Brandon Nimmo, Teoscar Hernández and Carlos Correa possess similar exit velocity and launch angle numbers to Yorke. The utility man has a whiff rate of just 20.1% at Triple-A, along with a .367 xwOBA.

If the 2025 season were to start tomorrow, Gonzales would likely be the starter. He’s shown he’s taken a huge step forward this year and could potentially build upon that. Yorke, though, could definitely make things interesting. The Pirates will need to put Yorke on the 40-man roster this offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, assuming he isn’t called up before the end of the year. An alternative plan would be to move Gonzales to shortstop, a position he has experience at. This would push Isiah Kiner-Falefa back into a utility role, and would lead to a second base timeshare with one of Yorke and/or Triolo.