The Pirates are deep into an ugly August, and while the losses keep piling up, a few players are at least giving the club something to cling to. Rafael Flores Jr. has kept swinging the loudest, Jake Magnum has held down center field with a .760 OPS since Aug. 1, and Bubba Chandler and Mason Montgomery have helped steady the pitching staff.
Jared Triolo belongs in that group too, at least for now. The 2024 Gold Glover has been one of the better bright spots on a roster that badly needs them, posting a 100 wRC+ this month with matching strikeout and walk rates. For a player whose season hasn’t exactly been smooth, that counts for something.
But the warning signs are already flashing.
Triolo came out of the gate hot in August, putting up a 168 wRC+ across his first 22 plate appearances. Then the Boston Red Sox cooled him off in a hurry over the weekend, limiting him to a 1-for-12 line in the series. Even his lone homer this month came with a little help from Miami Marlins center fielder Jakob Marsee, which makes the surface numbers look a bit better than the underlying production.
Boston also attacked him in the way that tends to expose him when he’s going cold: by getting him to beat the ball into the ground. Half of Triolo’s contact against the Red Sox came on ground balls. During his Aug. 1-13 surge, that rate was much more favorable, with only 40% of his batted-ball events ending up as grounders and 60% turning into line drives or fly balls.
That matters because Triolo doesn’t need to hit like a middle-of-the-order bat to be useful, but he does need to give the Pirates something at the plate. His defense and versatility buy him a lot of leeway. They don’t buy him endless playing time if the offense disappears.
And the history here is hard to ignore. Triolo’s career month-by-month splits show a familiar pattern: he usually lags through the spring and summer, then catches fire in August before settling back down in September. His career OPS by month never climbs above .638 from March through July, then jumps to .810 in August before dipping to .762 in September.
So yes, this version of Triolo still matters. Even the September version would be valuable. The problem is that the Pirates may already be seeing the best stretch he’s going to give them at the plate this season.
If the bat slips much farther from here, the conversation around him gets a lot less comfortable.
In Other News...
Pirates Outfield Depth Just Got More Concerning Behind Current Starters
The Pirates outfield picture took another hit Wednesday when Jhostynxon Garcia landed on the 7-day injured list with Triple-A Indianapolis. Garcia is already on Pittsburghs 40-man roster, so even an issue at the minor-league level carries some weight for a team that has been trying to keep enough healthy options in the pipeline. It comes at a time when the organization is still sorting through its outfield mix and trying to avoid any more thin spots.
Pittsburgh only recently got center fielder Oneil Cruz back from the 60-day injured list, which helped stabilize the group at the big-league level. Even so, the depth behind him remains a talking point with Bryan Reynolds, Esmerlyn Valdez and Jake Mangum among the other outfielders on the roster. Garcias setback does not solve any of the questions hanging over the group, and it leaves the Pirates watching another layer of their depth chart a little more closely. [Read more 🡒]
Paul Skenes Recent Struggles May Come Down To One Fix
Paul Skenes has looked a little out of sync lately, and one former big leaguer thinks the explanation may be hiding in the delivery itself. Dan Plesac broke down Skenes mechanics on MLB Network and pointed to an issue that can snowball fast for a pitcher with elite stuff: Skenes is opening up too early, which leaves his arm playing catch-up and can sap both velocity and command.
For the Pirates, the encouraging part is that this does not sound like a major overhaul so much as a small adjustment with a clear target. Plesac framed it as a fix that is minor and achievable, which matters when a young arm is working through a rough patch and the margin for error is so thin. If Skenes can clean that up, the recent downturn might look less like a trend and more like a temporary mechanical hiccup. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Fans Have One Huge Reason To Watch Baseballs Next Showcase
PNC Park has long carried the look and feel of a showcase ballpark, and now there is another reason for Pirates fans to keep an eye on the sports biggest stage. With Oracle Park in San Francisco set to host the 2028 All-Star Game, the case is being made that Pittsburgh should be squarely in the conversation for the following year, giving the city a chance to put one of baseballs best settings on display.
The timing only adds to the appeal for Pittsburgh, with 2029 landing near the 50th anniversary of the 1979 Pirates championship team. An All-Star Game at PNC Park would not just be a marquee event for the franchise, it would also give fans across the city a chance to celebrate the ballpark and the clubs place in baseball history at a moment that already carries some meaning. [Read more 🡒]