The Pittsburgh Pirates’ 2026 offense didn’t just stumble because of injuries in the second half. The deeper problem was staring them in the face all season: the lineup never got enough right-handed thump.
That shortcoming showed up in the numbers. Pirates right-handed hitters finished with a .689 OPS, good for 24th in MLB.
Nick Gonzales did his part with a .303/.367/.388 line, but the lack of power around him was impossible to ignore. Pittsburgh’s righties posted just a .373 slugging percentage, second worst in the league, and that left the offense without the kind of impact bat it needed.
The Pirates already tried to patch that hole once and came up empty with Marcell Ozuna. They can’t afford to repeat that mistake by betting on an aging right-handed slugger to save the day.
The cleaner path may be sitting in their own system.
Pittsburgh’s catching depth gives it something a lot of clubs want: trade currency. In a market that values catching more than ever, that matters.
The return Baltimore got from Boston for Adley Rutschman is the kind of example that shows just how much teams will pay for the position. Rutschman, injured at the time and in decline for the previous three years with only a year and a half of team control left, still brought back four prospects from Boston’s top 15.
That kind of market creates an opening for the Pirates to flip catching depth for the bat they need from the right side.
Rafael Flores Jr., Axiel Plaz, Easton Carmichael, Edgleen Perez and even Henry Davis give Pittsburgh a range of options behind the plate. Flores Jr.’s strong finish likely keeps him in the Pirates’ long-term plans, but the others are the kind of pieces a club can realistically move.
Plaz brings raw power that will draw interest. Carmichael offers a well-rounded game and looks like a player who can at least settle in as an average big league starter.
Perez stands out for his advanced plate discipline and strong defense. And Davis still has value, too.
Davis is known for his defense, but he also showed encouraging exit velocity numbers and eye-opening pulled fly ball rates, finishing at 30.3% with the league average at 16.9%. The comparison that comes to mind is Patrick Bailey, who has turned into a postseason breakout star with the Cleveland Guardians.
Bailey was dealt back in May for left-handed pitching prospect Matt Wilkinson and a Competitive Balance Round A draft pick that became No. 29 in the 2026 draft. That deal had plenty to do with San Francisco’s rebuild, but it still shows how teams can view a catcher with upside. Another club could look at Davis and see a player who needs only a few swing tweaks to become a useful contributor, then pay accordingly.
For Pittsburgh, the formula is straightforward: use the catcher surplus, make a few calls, and turn one of those assets into the big right-handed bat the lineup has been missing.
In Other News...
Esmerlyn Valdez Is Raising A Familiar Pirates Concern
Esmerlyn Valdez gave the Pirates exactly the kind of early jolt they hope a young bat can provide, reaching the majors in May 2026 and quickly looking like a rare developmental win. By July, he had been named National League Rookie of the Month, and for a while it seemed as if Pittsburgh might have found a young hitter whose approach and power would translate right away.
But the second half has brought a more familiar concern for a club that has seen this movie before. Valdezs swing decisions and contact issues have started to look a lot like the path Jack Suwinski once took, which puts the Pirates back at a familiar crossroads: keep trusting the same developmental formula, or rethink how they handle a prospect whose early success has already started to bend the wrong way. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Prospect Pipeline Suddenly Has A Problem Fans Can't Ignore
The Pirates still have plenty to point to in the lower minors, with Seth Hernandez, Edward Florentino and Murf Gray all giving the system some needed optimism. But the organizations pipeline has taken on a more uneasy feel in 2026, because some of the names that were supposed to bridge the gap to Pittsburgh did not take the expected step forward. Termarr Johnson endured a rough season in Triple-A, and Thomas Harrington also had trouble finding traction at that level.
Zander Mueths path has become even harder to chart. Injuries have interrupted his development and limited the innings he has been able to stack, which matters in a system that needs help from more than just its headliners. When a prospect group starts losing momentum in both performance and availability, it changes the conversation quickly, and for the Pirates, that leaves one of the more important questions in the organization still hanging over the rest of the season. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates May Have Found The Buy-Low Bullpen Arm They Need
The Pirates have spent plenty of time looking for bullpen help, and the search keeps circling back to the same need: a reliever they can trust when the game tightens late. Lucas Erceg fits the kind of buy-low conversation that can make sense for a club trying to add a high-leverage arm without paying full price, especially after Kansas Citys usage and evaluation of him have made him a name worth watching.
Erceg still offers traits Pittsburgh would value, even with some recent rough patches clouding the picture. The real question is whether the Royals would even entertain moving him, because if they do, the Pirates could see a reliever with upside and team control as a fit for a bullpen that needs more reliable late-inning answers. [Read more 🡒]