The Pittsburgh Pirates are on Year 7 of the exact same unsolved problem

The 2025 season has gotten off to a rough start for the Pirates, especially in the power department. Pirates standout Oneil Cruz has been dominant in that area, with a slugging percentage of .548 and eight home runs this year. Unfortunately, Cruz's dominance has mostly gone to waste, as their next best power hitter is Bryan Reynolds, sitting at 200 points under Cruz's slugging number.

Pittsburgh, sitting at 11-18, has hit just 23 total home runs while slugging just .341 on the season thus far, but this isn't new for the Pirates.

The Pirates' last decent power hitting team was 2018

In 2024, the Pirates had no power hitting and it hurt them all season. The team finished with a 76-86 record on the strength of their rotation, but the power hitting didn't support the outstanding pitching enough to produce more wins. They sat at 27th in slugging at .371 and 25th in home runs with 160.

In 2023, the Pirates had the exact same record of 76-86, with a very similar cast. Jack Suwinski had his best year in 2023, leading the team in home runs with 26. Outside of Suwinski and Reynolds, nobody on the roster hit more than 15 home runs. They sat at 24th in slugging at .392 and 28th in home runs with 159.

In 2022, the home runs were few and far between again, but the extra-base hits were even worse. The Pirates were ranked 29th in doubles with just 221, two doubles away from being dead last. Reynolds, Suwinski and Cruz launched a combined 63 home runs, while veterans like Daniel Vogelbach and Michael Chavis knocked 12 and 14 as well.

In a year where many teams struggled with the long ball, they ranked 18th with 158, but still had the 27th-ranked slugging percentage at .364.

In 2021, the Pirates were at an all-time low in the power-hitting department. They finished the year dead last in home runs, 20 home runs less than the Diamondbacks at 29th. They had a brutal record of 66-101 in the year when nothing went right.

They sat at 30th in slugging at .364 and 30th in home runs with 124.

In 2020, the Pirates were not able to take advantage of a shorter season, as they were down at the bottom of the slugging rankings. They went 19-41 in the shortened season, and finished second-to-last in doubles and third-to-last in home runs. Colin Moran and 24 games of Ke'Bryan Hayes were not able to get it done for the Bucs.

They sat at 30th in slugging at .357 and 27th in home runs with 59.

In 2019, the Pirates were just one year removed from their last decent slugging season, so their statistics are not as harsh as they would end up being in future seasons. Regardless, they were still at the bottom of the league in home runs, barely surviving on the backs of Josh Bell and Starling Marte. This season was the last glimpse of hope before five years of horrific slugging, as the Pirates finished fifth in doubles.

They sat at 22nd in slugging at .420 and 27th in home runs with 163.

2018 was the last time the Pirates had a formidable power-hitting team. This Pirates team had a record of 82-79 in what looked to be the first of many over .500 seasons for Pittsburgh. Of course, that was not the case.

This season ended with the Pirates ranking 16th in OPS at.407, eighth in doubles with 290, and fifth in triples with 38. Their home run tally still wasn't high in 2018, but they finished at 25th.

That 2018 season started seven years ago, and Pirates fans have seen nothing but bottom-five power hitting since. Whether it is the fault of Derek Shelton, who has been the manager since 2020, bad hitting coaches, or the lack of a multi-year free agent since 2016, there is no excuse for how bad they have been.

Hopefully, the addition of Spencer Horwitz, coupled with Cruz's monster season, can help 2025's Pirates avoid the same season-long trap as the years prior, but the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.