Pittsburgh Pirates: First Opening Day Roster Prediction of 2024

Now that the calendar has flipped to 2024, let's make our first stab at predicting the Opening Day roster for the 2024 edition of the Pittsburgh Pirates

Happy 2024 everyone! 2024 will be a very important one for the current front office and coaching staff of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Without at least a winning season in 2024, there will likely be sweeping changes throughout the organization.

With a losing season in 2024, Ben Cherington will have 5 losing seasons in as many as general manager of the Pirates, and the same would go for Derek Shelton as manager. Overall, it would give Cherington 8 losing seasons out of 9 as a MLB general manager.

With that said, it will be important for the Pirates to win games early and often in 2024. As fans saw last season, a fast start is far from everything in baseball. However, that fast start still helped the Pirates put together their best season since their last winning season in 2018. Outside of their 20-8 start, the Pirates were a woeful 56-78 the rest of the way.

Imagine how bad their record would have been without that hot start?

So, with all of that said, what the Opening Day roster looks like for the Pirates will be key. Now that the calendar has officially flipped to 2024, let's take a stab at our first prediction for the team's 2024 Opening Day roster.

Catcher - Henry Davis, Jason Delay

With Endy Rodriguez set to miss the entire season due to Tommy John surgery, Henry Davis will be the primary catcher for the Pirates when the regular season begins. This is a huge opportunity for Davis who the Pirates selected no. 1 overall in 2021 to be the team's catcher of the future.

Davis made his MLB debut last season and was primarily a right fielder. Despite becoming to first, and still to this day only, player in MLB history to hit two home runs off of Shohei Ohtani in the same game, Davis struggled with just a .213/.302/.351 slash line and a 76 wRC+ last season. 2024 will be a massive season for Davis.

Jason Delay will be the likely backup for Davis. Delay was not great for the Pirates last season, but his .251/.319/.347 slash line and 82 wRC+ was good enough for a backup catcher. Delay also works well with his pitching staff and is a good defender. He should open up the season as the backup to Davis.

Infielders - Ke'Bryan Hayes, Oneil Cruz, Liover Peguero, Connor Joe, Rowdy Tellez

Despite missing essentially the entire month of July, Ke'Bryan Hayes had a career year in 2023. The best defensive third baseman, and maybe the best defensive player in all of baseball, hit for a .271/.309/.453 slash line with a 101 wRC+ and 105 OPS+. All of these were career bests for Hayes if you exclude his one month season in 2020. His 4.0 WAR was also a career best as he wont his frist of likely many career Gold Glove Awards.

Getting Oneil Cruz back will be a massive boost for the Pirates. He was limited to just 40 plate appearances in 9 games last season before a catastrophic ankle injury stopped his season dead in its tracks. Getting that big breakout season from Cruz would go a long, long way for a roster that currently appears to be on its way to 85+ losses once again.

Second base is certainly a question mark entering the spring, but Liover Peguero has shown the most in the majors of the internal options. He likely has the highest ceiling at the position as well, and was the centerpiece of the Starling Marte trade back in February 2020. Trying to salvage that poor trade and prove he was "right" is something Cherington will be drive by. Right now, lena Peguero to open the season at second base. Although, like last season, you could see mutliple players at second base throughout the season.

Even though he can also play the outfield, Connor Joe is getting lumped in with the infielder. This is because the most likely outcome at first base is for Joe to platoon with free agent addition Rowdy Tellez at the position. To be honest, even against right-handed pitching Joe is likely a better option than Tellez.

Outfielders/designated hitter - Bryan Reynolds, Jack Suwinski, Edward Olivares, Andrew McCutchen

We're going to call this section outfield/designated hitter. That is because, with how the roster is currently constructed, odds are one of Andrew McCutchen and Edward Olivares will be in right field most days with the other serving as the team's DH.

As for the other two, Bryan Reynolds will have left field locked down in Pittsburgh for the next 7 seasons. Jack Suwinsk certainly left things to be desired last season. His 32.2% strikeout rate was far too high, he was very poor in clutch situations, and he slashed just .200/.295/.313 with a 68 wRC+ and a 41.7% strikeout rate against left-handed pitching. All of that said, if the season started tomorrow Suwinski would be the guy in center field.

Starting rotation - Mitch Keller, Marco Gonzales, Martín Pérez, Roansy Contreras, Luis Ortiz

Hoo boy. No offense to anyone, but this group is the worst in the National League Central. Hell, if we're being honest, it is one of the worst in the entire National League. The Pirates BADLY need to add more starting pitching help before Opening Day.

Mitch Keller will once again anchor the group. Problem is, things go off a massive cliff after Keller. Plus, while Keller is undoubtedly a good MLB starting pitcher, he is not a true no. 1 starting pitcher, either.

Not having a true no. 1 is not a death sentence for a MLB starting rotation. However, when the rest of your rotation is a bunch of no. 5 guys at best, then, well, it quickly becomes a much bigger issue for said team.

If he is healthy, Marco Gonzales is a solid middle-to-back of the rotation arm, but after be limited to 10 starts due to a nerve issue in his forearm last season it is far form a given that Gonzales is healthy. Outside of 2022, Martín Pérez has not had a good season since 2013 and lost his spot in the Ranger starting rotation last season.

As for Roansy Contreras and Luis Ortiz, their jobs are far from locked in. Contreras is a safe bet to be on the roster in some fashion. He is out of minor league options and deserves one last shot before the Pirates give up on the former top 100 prospect.

We went Ortiz due to the ceiling he flashed in 2022. However, that pitched was nowhere to be seen in 2023. So if his spot went to another pitcher, perhaps Quinn Priester, it would not be a surprise.

Bullpen - David Bednar, Carmen Mlodzinski, Dauri Moreta, Colin Holderman, Ryan Borucki, Jose Hernandez, Colin Selby, Bailey Falter

Once again, David Bednar will anchor the Pirate bullpen. Carmen Mldozinski, Dauri Moreta, and Colin Holderman should join him as late-inning high-leverage relievers. After breaking out last season Ryan Borucki will make the bullpen as a lefty, and Jose Hernandez will likely join him.

Seeing Colin Selby on the list may come as a surprise to some. After all, he had a 9.00 ERA and a 4.80 FIP in 24.0 innings pitched in his first MLB action last season. That said, Selby struck out a healthy 26.3% of batters faced and has absolutely nasty stuff. Selby's stuff is too good to not find success in a MLB bullpen moving forward.

Bailey Falter is likely a surprise as well. However, Falter is out of minor league options. Due to this, the Pirates would have to designate him for assignment if he does not make the team's Opening Day roster. The bullpen also needs a pitcher for a long/swing man role, a role that Falter could find himself in to start the season.