Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Players Who Can Elevate the Lineup if Healthy in 2024

These three Pittsburgh Pirates players missed time in 2023 because of injuries that caused them not to produce like themselves. If healthy, they can elevate the lineup in 2024.

The Pittsburgh Pirates had a handful of players miss time because of injury last season. Some, like Oneil Cruz, Mike Burrows, and JT Brubaker, will return next season after suffering a major injury. However, there were other players who may not have had injuries as severe as those of that trio, but their performance was brought down because of it.

But if these players are 100% ready to go and stay healthy all season, they could be massive contributors to the Pirates' 2024 line-up. The times when they were 100% healthy in 2023, they were extremely productive contributors at the dish.

Andrew McCutchen

The Pirates recently resigned Andrew McCutchen to a one-year deal worth $5 million. Cutch was brought back into the Pirates' plans last off-season, and for the first half of the 2023 season, it looked like he may have his best year since 2015. He still finished the season with decent numbers, but multiple injuries held back what he could have done.

The first was an elbow injury. Through the 81st game of the year, McCutchen was batting .287/.399/.455. Had Cutch kept this kind of performance up the whole year, it would have been the first time he put up an OPS above .850 since '15. He was walking at an astounding 15.9% rate with a quality 19.6% strikeout rate. On top of that, he hit ten homers with a .168 isolated slugging percentage. With a .372 wOBA and 133 wRC+, Cutch looked like he could represent the National League in the All-Star game.

But Cutch would suffer a slump in early July. The nail in the proverbial coffin would happen on July 5th. McCutchen fell down while trying to avoid an up-and-in pitch. However, he fell awkwardly on his elbow, which led to an injury list stint. Although it only took one 10-day IL stint for him to return, McCutchen was not the same batter.

Through his final 157 plate appearances, the former MVP hit just .233/.369/.341. After hitting for slightly above-average power in the first half of the year, Cutch had an isolated slugging percentage of just .109. McCutchen still walked at a hefty 16.6% rate, but his strikeout rate was upped to 22.9%. While his 102 wRC+ still made him a slightly above-average hitter, it was a 31% dropoff.

While the elbow injury didn't significantly hinder McCutchen's ability to hit the ball hard, as he maintained a similar exit velo and hard hit rate from April to June, he did struggle from lifting the baseball. His launch angle went from 13.1 degrees to just 10.9 degrees. After having a ground ball and flyball rate right around 40% in the first half, Cutch would post a GB% of 47.1% and FB% of 30.8% in the second half.

Of course, McCutchen did suffer a season-ending partial Achilles tear in early September. While it is his second major leg injury in five years, his elbow injury sapped a lot of his power. But if McCutchen's elbow is fully healed, he could provide a potential 20-home run bat.

Bryan Reynolds

Bryan Reynolds had another productive season at the plate, but it was an up-and-down campaign. He ended the year batting .263/.330/.460, going yard 24 times, which marks the third year in a row he's swatted at least 20 home runs. He also had an 8.3% walk rate and 21.6% strikeout rate. All told, Reynolds owned a .338 wOBA and 110 wRC+ through 640 plate appearances.

However, Reynolds missed some time in late June with back issues, which didn't seem to subside until after the all-star break. There was a brief 95 plate appearance stretch from July 2nd through July 29th after he was activated from the IL, where Reynolds batted just .187/.222/.297 with a wRC+ of just 36.

That might not seem like a lot of time to severely impact his numbers, but if this short slump didn't happen, Reynolds would have finished the 2023 season with a .277/.349/.491 triple-slash. That is a 14-point uptick in batting average, 19 19-point increase in OBP, and 31 point upgrade in slugging percentage.

After that rough stretch, Reynolds would finish the year on a high note, batting .276/.347/.511 with a .363 wOBA and 127 wRC+ through his final 251 plate appearances. Reynolds still owned an 8.4% walk rate but struck out a little more frequently with a 23.5% strikeout rate. However, he did have a strong .235 isolated slugging percentage.

There are plenty of more positives for the all-star switch-hitter as well. Reynolds' 90.9 MPH exit velocity, 47.1% hard-hit rate, and 11.1% barrel rate were all career bests and well above average. His xBA (.280), xSLG% (.490), and xwOBA (.360) were also in the 85th percentile or better. These expected numbers are also similar to what he put up after he fully recovered from his injury.