The Pirates have a clear hole at third base, and if they want to solve it for the long haul, they may need to look beyond the usual free-agent pool.
One name worth watching is Si-Hwan Roh, the Korean slugger who is expected to pursue an MLB opportunity for 2027 and beyond. Roh has spent the last eight seasons with the Hanwha Eagles in the KBO League, and the production has been steady and loud. In 957 games, he has hit .267/.353/.457 with an .810 OPS, piling up 913 hits, 167 doubles, 153 home runs, 586 RBI and 420 walks against 909 strikeouts.
The power is the selling point. Roh has launched at least 18 home runs in each of his past seven seasons and has topped 20 in each of the last five.
Over the past five years, he has also carried a plus-.800 OPS, highlighted by a 2023 season in which he hit .298/.388/.541 with a career-best .929 OPS, 30 doubles, 31 home runs and 101 RBI. Last season was strong too: .283/.360/.505, .865 OPS, 21 doubles, 29 home runs and 96 RBI.
That kind of right-handed pop would fit a Pirates lineup that got very little from third base. In 2026, Pittsburgh’s third basemen combined for just 15 home runs, the fifth-fewest in baseball, and posted a .677 OPS, which ranked 10th-lowest. The club’s offense as a whole took a major step forward, though, setting a franchise record with 186 home runs and finishing 13th in baseball after hitting only 117 in 2025, the lowest total by 31 that season.
Roh has played 791 games at third base in his career, so that would be the most natural place for him in Pittsburgh in 2027. The Pirates don’t have a clean long-term answer there right now.
Nick Gonzales hit for average, finishing with the sixth-best batting average in baseball at .303, but he was a major defensive liability. Jared Triolo brings value with the glove at third, but his bat lagged behind with a .600 OPS and just three home runs.
Other internal options include Jacob Gonzales, Nick Yorke and Jack Brannigan, though none has hit enough to lock down a major league job. Roh isn’t considered an elite defender either, but he could also slide to first base or designated hitter later on. That matters because top third base prospect Murf Gray is also on the way, and if he reaches his ceiling, Roh could still help by moving to the other side of the infield or by focusing strictly on hitting.
Hanwha posted Roh on Nov. 1, giving him a 30-day window to reach a deal with an MLB club. If he doesn’t, he’ll go back to Hanwha and continue playing under the 11-year contract extension he signed in February, which begins with the 2027 season.
There’s also the cost of doing business. If Roh signs, Hanwha gets a posting fee of 20% of the first $25MM of his contract, 17.5% of the next $25MM and 15% of anything above $50MM, per MLB Trade Rumors.
The timing is tight, too. Roh isn’t affected by the looming lockout because the current CBA expires on Dec. 1, which is the same day his posting period ends. If the Pirates want him, they would need to move this month and pay the posting fee on top of the contract.
Pittsburgh has not often dipped into the Asian market, though it was linked to Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto last offseason. Both made noise in 2026, with Murakami doing so for the Chicago White Sox and Okamoto for the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Pirates’ biggest international splash from Korea came in 2014, when they signed Jung Ho Kang to a four-year, $11 million deal on Jan. 16, 2025. Roh would be a different kind of swing, but one that could give Pittsburgh a needed answer at third base and, maybe, a piece that helps push the club back to the postseason for the first time since 2015.
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