Four Bold Pirates Predictions For Second Half Of 2025 Season

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ playoff hopes are likely dead as they sit in last place in the National League Central and 13 1/2 games out of the final NL Wild Card spot. With the team focusing on the future, here are four predictions for the rest of the season.

Paul Skenes Sets New Personal Best For Strikeouts In A Single Game

Paul Skenes is one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball. His 30.6% strikeout rate since debuting ranks fifth among all pitchers with at least 200 innings pitched over that span. Despite striking out hitters at such a high rate, his career high in a game is only 11. Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal owns a 31.5% strikeout rate over the past two seasons, but has multiple games with 13 strikeouts in that span. It’s about time we see Skenes mow down 13 or 14 hitters in a game.

Bubba Chandler Strikes Out Seven Over Five Innings In Debut

Pirates fans are clamoring for starting pitcher Bubba Chandler to debut. Chandler had a rough month of June, struggling with command. When the calendar flipped to July, he went back to his dominating ways. He’s thrown six shutout innings in each of his last two appearances. He’s proved all he needs to in Triple-A Indianapolis and will likely debut before the end of the summer. When he does, look for him to put on a show, in a short outing.

Oneil Cruz Reaches 65 Stolen Bases

Oneil Cruz currently sits at 28 stolen bases, a career high. Extrapolating that out to a full season puts him on pace for 55 stolen bases. His plate discipline has improved as he’s taking more walks than ever, but a .212 batting average is hindering his on-base percentage. At the same time, his batting average on balls in play is just .275, so positive regression may lead to more opportunities to run. Cruz will get on base more frequently and put himself in the top ten in single-season stolen bases in Pirates history.

Bryan Reynolds Hits For The Cycle

Bryan Reynolds is having a down year by his standards. He’s hitting just .225 with ten home runs. His strikeout rate is near a career high, while his walk rate is down half a percentage point. The underlying numbers point towards a rebound, though. While hitting for the cycle is nearly impossible to predict, Reynolds is the type of player to do it. He’s not as fast as he once was, but he has the speed to leg out a triple and the power to go yard. The Pirates play both at San Francisco and Boston, parks with weird dimensions. Pittsburgh hasn’t had someone hit for the cycle since John Jaso in 2016. Reynolds will be the next.

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