Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa stood four at-bats short of a $250,000 bonus, and ahead of the team’s season finale on Sunday, the 29-year-old decided to turn down the chance at capturing the lump sum to allow others to take the field against the New York Yankees instead.
Kiner-Falefa explained the self-critical reasoning behind rejecting the opportunity to take the field one last time in 2024, which would’ve paid off handsomely for the 2020 Gold Glove Award winner.
“When I got to the field and they found out, they came up to me maybe an hour before the game and they gave me the option (to play),” Kiner-Falefa said Sunday, per Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “At that point, I kinda already checked out. At this point, I didn’t think it was fair to take a spot from (Liover Peguero), or one of the young guys, an opportunity to play at Yankee Stadium away from them. I got hurt this year. I missed a month. If that doesn’t happen, or if we’re actually in a real race, I crush those incentives by a long shot. So, at the end of the day, I feel like I didn’t deserve it from that aspect.”
Kiner-Falefa began the season playing for the Toronto Blue Jays before getting traded to Pittsburgh ahead of July’s deadline. He finished the year slashing .269/.306/.376 with eight home runs, 18 doubles and 43 RBIs, making defensive appearances at second base, shortstop and third base across 133 games. Yet, in sitting out Game 162, Kiner-Falefa opened the door for 23-year-old Peguero to play shortstop instead.
The organization commended Kiner-Falefa following the 6-4 loss to the Yankees to close out 2024.
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“He understood it and he thought it was best for the young kids to play,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said postgame, per Hiles. “So there was a dialogue back and forth once we found out and I ultimately let him make the decision on if he wanted to get in there today. If he wanted to get in there today, we would have gotten him in there.”
Kiner-Falefa’s current contract grants him at least one more year in Pittsburgh before hitting the market as an unrestricted free agent in 2026.
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