Pittsburgh Pirates: Final 2023 Opening Day Roster Projection

Mar 2, 2023; Dunedin, Florida, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates left fielder Canaan Smith-Njigba (28)
Mar 2, 2023; Dunedin, Florida, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates left fielder Canaan Smith-Njigba (28) / Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports
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Outfielder - Bryan Reynolds, Jack Suwinski, Andrew McCutchen, Canaan Smith-Njigba

Bryan Reynolds, obviously, will be the stalwart. Left field or center field, he will be in the lineup every day for the Pittsburgh Pirates this season. Hopefully, his season will start similar to Hayes last year with a new long-term contract extension.

Despite his struggles with the swing-and-miss in the spring Jack Suwinski will be a starter when the season begins. Likely playing a lot of center field. If Suwinski's struggles with the swing-and-miss continue into the season and he fails to take a step forward from last season it will be interesting to see how long his leash is.

Andrew McCutchen is ready to embark on his 14th MLB season and 10th in Pittsburgh. The plan is for the Pirate legend to play on a near daily basis in right field. However, some elbow inflammation could push Cutch to a DH role to start the season.

The first change we see from our last Opening Day roster projection is the addition of Canaan Smith-Njigba. Shortly after he made his MLB debut last season his season was cut short due to a wrist injury. Smith-Njigba responded with a phenomenal spring and was arguably the team's best hitter in Grapefruit League play. With McCutchen potentially set for a lot of DH at-bats early in the season, it would not be a surprise to see Smith-Njigba potentially even crack the Opening Day lineup.