The silver lining of Spencer Horwitz's injury for Pittsburgh Pirates

Pirates' 1B Spencer Horwitz will miss the next few weeks due to wrist surgery. But there is a silver lining to the incident.

Noah Wright

Sep 7, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Spencer Horwitz (48) celebrates after a home run against the Atlanta Braves in the second inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Spencer Horwitz will reportedly miss the next 6-8 weeks after undergoing right wrist surgery. The surgery was to clear up an issue in his wrist that appeared around the time of Pirates Fest. While this is a blow to the Pirates’ lineup, as Horwitz was expected to play a big role in the team's new look, there is one major silver lining in this incident.

Horwitz reportedly played through chronic symptoms in 2024, but despite that, the infielder still batted .265/.357/.433 with a .344 wOBA and 127 wRC+ across 381 plate appearances. Horwitz only struck out 18.4% of the time, but drew a walk in 11% of his trips to the plate. His wrist injury did not stop him from providing a decent amount of power. He went yard a dozen times with a .168 isolated slugging percentage and an above-average 8% barrel percentage.

Horwitz was one of the best rookies in 2024. There were 26 newcomers with at least 350 plate appearances last season. Only Lawrence Butler and Jackson Merrill had a higher wRC+ by a slim margin of three percentage points (130 each). Butler and Merrill were the only rookies with a better wRC+, but their success came by a margin of fewer than ten points.

He had the fourth-highest walk rate, with Austin Wells leading the pack at 11.4, and the second-highest BB: K ratio at 0.60. His xwOBA was in the 74th percentile of all batters in 2024 and was tied for the fourth highest among rookies, alongside Heliot Ramos.

Pirates' Spencer Horwitz dominated while battling chronic wrist issue in 2024

The wrist issue did not seem to hurt Horwitz on the defensive side of the ball too much, either. He had -1 defensive run saved and +1 out above average at first base. His glove at second base received mixed reviews. OAA still put him as an average defender at (right at zero), but DRS pinned him at -5 runs. At the very least, he wasn’t completely unplayable.

Sure, it stings to lose Horwitz for the weeks of the season, but in the long run, this may be a huge positive. If Horwitz is a 125-130 wRC+/.340-.350 wOBA hitter while playing through some form of a wrist injury, he could be even better after it gets cleared up.

Horwitz should not miss a large portion of the season. The Pirates stated he should be fully recovered in the next 6-to-8 weeks, which puts him on pace to return sometime right after the start of the regular season.

Noah Wright

Noah is a life-long Pirates fan who started his baseball writing journey on a blog he started with his friends in 2018 before his senior year of high school. He has since been writing for Rum Bunter starting in 2019, and Rising Apple since 2024. He grew with his favorite Pirates players being Francisco Liriano, Mark Melancon, A.J. Burnett and Andrew McCutchen, watching them bring the Pirates back to October baseball in 2013 through 2015. Noah graduated with a bachelor's degree in sport management in 2022 from Pennwest University, and also has expereince in baseball operations and as a college baseball video scout. In his free time, Noah enjoys playing video games and reading Marvel comics on his favorite characters like Spider-Man and The Punisher.