September is doing double duty for the Pirates. Yes, the club still has postseason hopes to chase down, and every win matters. But the final month is also about something bigger for Pittsburgh: figuring out which pieces can be trusted when the calendar flips to 2027.
The Pirates have spent much of this season acting like a team whose contention window has already opened, so this isn’t supposed to be one long audition. Even so, there are several players with a real chance to change how the organization views them before the offseason arrives. For a roster that should not be handing out jobs, these five have the most at stake.
Henry Davis sits near the top of that list because the defense is finally giving Pittsburgh something real to build on. He entered the second half of August with 10 defensive runs saved, tied for second among MLB players, which is a striking reversal for a catcher whose future behind the plate once felt uncertain.
The bat, though, remains the issue. Davis is hitting .166/.263/.293 with eight home runs, and no one should be expecting a sudden offensive breakout that transforms him into the kind of middle-of-the-order force the Pirates hoped for when they took him first overall in 2021. What matters now is simpler: can he hit enough for that defense to matter?
Endy Rodríguez’s hip surgery raises the stakes even more. Rodríguez is expected to be out of baseball activities for seven to nine months, which leaves his availability early next season very much up in the air.
That opens the door for Davis in a major way. A respectable September could leave him positioned to enter 2027 as Pittsburgh’s clear starting catcher instead of sending the Pirates back into the market for another answer.
Nick Yorke is in a different spot, but the pressure is just as real. At some point, prospect status has to become production, and this month may be his best shot yet. The Pirates brought him back from Indianapolis on Aug. 16, and he flashed immediately with a two-run single against the Boston Red Sox and a bases-clearing double against the Detroit Tigers.
That kind of burst gets attention, but it doesn’t settle anything. Yorke has gone back and forth between Triple-A and Pittsburgh without locking down a permanent major league role.
With Brandon Lowe headed toward free agency, second base could become one of the Pirates’ biggest offseason questions. Yorke has a chance to make himself part of the solution.
If he hits through September, Pittsburgh could head into the winter believing it already has a real internal option for regular playing time. If not, the club should not just hand him the job because of his prospect reputation.
Jared Jones has more to prove than anyone else on the roster. His place in the rotation isn’t in immediate danger, but the hierarchy around him has changed, and that matters. Jones is 2-6 with a 4.83 ERA and 83 strikeouts over 72.2 innings this season after missing all of 2025 following elbow surgery.
August was rough enough to sharpen the concern. Over five starts, he went 0-4 with a 7.40 ERA, giving up 28 hits and 12 walks in just 20.2 innings.
The stuff is still there, and that’s why he remains one of the more intriguing arms in Pittsburgh. But with Paul Skenes, Braxton Ashcraft and Bubba Chandler all factoring into the future rotation, Jones no longer gets to assume he’s the No. 2 starter.
He has to earn that again. A strong September would give him momentum and help reinforce the idea that the Pirates could have four potentially dominant rotation pieces in 2027.
Mason Montgomery may have the cleanest path to changing an offseason decision. The Pirates have increasingly leaned on him in the biggest spots, including saves against the Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres and a steady stream of late-inning work through August. That usage says plenty.
Pittsburgh added veteran relievers at the trade deadline, but Montgomery has looked more and more like something beyond a setup arm. September gives him the chance to settle the issue.
If he keeps handling high-leverage situations, there should be little reason for the Pirates to spend major resources hunting for a closer this winter. They may already have one.
Esmerlyn Valdez burst onto the scene in a way few Pirates did this year. He was named National League Rookie of the Month for July and quickly became one of the most dangerous power threats in the lineup.
Then the adjustments came. Opponents began challenging him more aggressively, especially with elevated fastballs, and the swing-and-miss has started to show up. Even so, Valdez still enters September hitting .244/.357/.526 with 15 home runs in just 213 at-bats.
He doesn’t need to spend the month chasing another wild home run total. What he does need is a response.
Pitchers always make their move against young hitters; the good ones answer back. If Valdez shows that kind of adjustment over the final month, the Pirates can start looking at him as a fixture in the middle of the lineup they’ll need in 2027.
In Other News...
Pirates Just Got A New Opening In The NL Central Race
The Cardinals took a hit in their push to hold position in the NL Central, placing rookie infielder JJ Wetherholt on the 10-day injured list because of right wrist tendinitis. Wetherholt had been one of St. Louis most important young players and a legit NL Rookie of the Year candidate, so his absence leaves a noticeable gap for a club that has been trying to stay ahead of the pack.
For Pittsburgh, the timing creates a fresh opening in a race that has been tight enough to matter. The Pirates are close behind St. Louis in the standings, and they may not be far from getting Konnor Griffin back from injury, which would give them a potential boost at just the right moment. In a division where small advantages can swing the final weeks, every injury update matters a little more than it would in April. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Drew A Hard Line With Carmen Mlodzinski For A Reason
A similar kind of absence has already tested the Pirates this season, even if the circumstances were different. Carmen Mlodzinski was moved to the restricted list after he declined to pitch in relief following his demotion from the starting rotation, a move that came with clear communication to the club but still left Pittsburgh with a firm decision to make about availability and roles.
So when a player on another team suddenly failed to report without informing anyone, it only underscored why the Pirates drew a hard line with Mlodzinski in the first place. The organization was willing to acknowledge frustration, but not the idea that a pitcher could choose whether he was available to the team, and that stance now looks like a useful marker for how Pittsburgh wants to handle similar situations going forward. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates September Push Rests On Three Slumping Contributors
With 24 games left to try to keep their season alive, the Pirates head into September needing more from several of the players who were supposed to help carry the load. Bryan Reynolds and Spencer Horwitz have both gone through rough stretches at the plate in recent months, while Mitch Jones has had a tougher road on the mound after surgery slowed his progress.
For Pittsburgh, the concern is less about any one bad week than whether those three can turn things around in time to matter. September tends to expose a clubs depth and resilience, and the Pirates are counting on Reynolds, Horwitz and Jones to give them something closer to their best version if the standings are going to tighten in their favor. [Read more 🡒]