The Pirates have made shortstop one of the deepest spots in their system, and they haven’t done it by accident.
It starts with Konnor Griffin, the bright young star they grabbed in the first round of the 2024 draft and then locked up with a nine-year extension. That alone would have been enough to make shortstop feel like a strength. Pittsburgh kept going anyway, taking Wyatt Sanford in round two that same year and adding another high-end shortstop prospect in Aiden Ruiz in the second round of the 2026 draft.
Sanford hasn’t rocketed through the minors the way Griffin has, but he put together a strong 2026 season, hitting .282/.417/.546 with 19 homers and 33 steals, with most of that production coming in Greensboro. He’s also turning heads in the Arizona Fall League, where he’s been posting huge exit velocities and launching 454-foot home runs, setting the stage for a big jump in 2027.
Ruiz gives Pittsburgh another premium name to dream on. The 19-year-old prep shortstop is viewed as an extremely slick defender with the tools to stay at the position and thrive there. MLB Pipeline ranks him No. 6 in the Pirates’ system, and the club showed how much it wanted him by handing him a $3.5 million signing bonus, $1.2 million over slot, to pull him away from a Vanderbilt commitment.
There’s more behind them, too. Johan De Los Santos, the Pirates’ No. 11 prospect and Rookie-Level Player of the Year, paired 45 steals with 19 home runs in 2026 while splitting time between shortstop, second and third. Darrell Morel also came stateside after an interesting debut in the Dominican Summer League in 2025, though he had a rough showing in the Florida Complex League.
And then there’s Samy Stafura, another shortstop talent who had been flashing at the position before Pittsburgh moved him in the Luke Weaver deal.
That’s a lot of shortstops, and it’s exactly why the Pirates’ approach makes sense. The easy reaction is to point to Griffin’s nine-year extension and assume the rest of these players are simply blocked.
But shortstop is where many of the best athletes start out, and plenty of them end up shifting elsewhere. Oneil Cruz began as a shortstop.
Alex Bregman was drafted there before moving to third base. Alex Rodriguez made the same kind of change when the Yankees paired him with Derek Jeter.
That’s why stockpiling shortstops isn’t wasteful. It’s practical.
Some of these players will stay at short, some will slide to second or third, and some could end up somewhere else entirely. Even if they don’t all fit in Pittsburgh’s long-term lineup, they still carry real value because shortstops are hard to find and easy to move in the market.
With a loaded catching pipeline and a system full of young shortstops, the Pirates have given themselves options. They don’t have to rush to trade anyone, but if a need pops up later, having a bat or glove at shortstop could be the piece that tips a deal in their favor.
For a club working under budget constraints, that kind of depth is more than luxury. It’s leverage.
In Other News...
Pirates Could Regret Tying Up Bullpen Money In Familiar Name
As the Pirates look ahead to the next offseason, the bullpen figures to be one of the more delicate places to spend. MLB insider Jim Bowden has already floated Gregory Soto as a possible fit, noting the left-handers name recognition and the kind of role he could fill late in games, but any pursuit would come with the usual Pittsburgh question: is this the best place to commit meaningful money when the roster still needs help in several spots?
Sotos 2026 season offered both sides of the argument. He finished with a 3.63 ERA and 16 saves, enough to suggest he can still help anchor a relief mix, but his performance also reflected the kind of inconsistency that can make a bullpen plan feel shaky in a hurry. For a Pirates team that has to be careful with every dollar, the challenge will be deciding whether a familiar arm is worth the price or whether those resources are better spent elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Fans Should Be Worried This Problem Goes Far Beyond Ben Cherington
The Pirates had a chance to go in a different direction when they were searching for a general manager in 2019, and Matt Arnold was among the names in the mix before Ben Cherington got the job. That decision has taken on a different light now, because Arnold has become part of the Brewers front office success story while Pittsburgh is still looking for the kind of sustained progress fans expected when Cherington arrived.
Arnolds rise in Milwaukee is a reminder that personnel choices are only part of the equation. The Brewers have built with continuity, structure and organizational support, while the Pirates have too often looked like a club still trying to establish the same foundation. Even with Cherington in place, the bigger concern for Pittsburgh is how much of the gap between these franchises comes from the man at the top, and how much comes from everything around him. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Face A Costly Spencer Horwitz Question For 2027
Spencer Horwitz is in line to become an arbitration case for the Pirates this winter, and it is a little earlier than the usual timetable. Because of his Super Two status, he is eligible for arbitration despite not yet reaching three years of service time, putting Pittsburgh in position to make a financial decision on a player who looked like part of the long-term picture after a productive first half of 2026.
The issue gets trickier because Horwitz did not finish the season anywhere near that level. After returning from a left hamstring injury and a concussion on his rehab assignment, he struggled badly down the stretch, leaving the Pirates with a projected salary around $2.5 million and a real question about how much they want to commit to a bounce-back bet for 2027. [Read more 🡒]