Analyst Names Pirates’ Biggest Building Blocks Moving Forward

The 2024 season has not been completely lost for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Although the Pirates will likely not make the playoffs, they developed multiple players who will lead them in the future. Pittsburgh called up Paul Skenes in May, and he has been dealing ever since. The fireballer has been electric for the Pirates at 10-3 with a 2.07 ERA, earning himself an All-Star selection in his rookie season.

The Pirates also have a former top prospect turned star in Oneil Cruz. Cruz has taken a step in his development offensively, slashing .267/.326/.458 with an OPS of .785 and 19 home runs, but he hit .389/.449/.537 in August. Defensively, he’s still making adjustments after transitioning to center field.

Paul Zeise of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette named Paul Skenes and Oneil Cruz the biggest building blocks for the Pirates moving forward.

“Forget about rookie of the year numbers, those are Cy Young award-worthy numbers, and I expect Skenes to only get better as he gets more experience pitching in the major leagues,” Zeise wrote.

“There was a long period where it looked like Cruz might not figure it out at the plate, but the reality is he has slowly but surely begun to figure it out. Cruz showed in August how important of a player he is and how good of a player he can be. He clearly has developed more consistency. He needs to stay healthy and he needs to continue to improve, but given his skill set and his relative inexperience, the room for growth is there and his ceiling is high.”

Pittsburgh has a real opportunity for years of sustained winning by building around its high-end talent. They need to be proactive in the offseason to fill in some of the holes in the roster, but are on the right track to rise into contention in the future.

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