Tuesday’s game marked the 2025 season’s halfway point, and thus, the time for the Pittsburgh Pirates midseason report cards. Last Friday was the first day of summer, and thus the longest day of the year. For Pirates fans who expected more from the team than they’ve received thus far, every game day must have felt like the longest day of the year.
Pirates Midseason Report Cards are Out!
I still have nightmares about Report Card Day at Immaculate Conception School in sixth grade, where the principal Sister Doloreta entered our classroom and struck fear into the hearts of the kids who got bad grades, while the teacher, sweet Miss DiBucci, looked on and tried to tell her in so many words that the kids were trying, they just weren’t very smart. These Pirates will suffer no such severe consequences as a result of these report cards. Hey, they’re trying (with one notable exception – we’ll get to that), they’re just not very good.
Starting Pitchers
We begin with an area where they are very good. Next time you’re at your favorite watering hole debating that pitchers’ win-loss records are meaningless, use the Pirates’ starters as your example. After 81 games, they’re 16-33 with a 3.78 ERA. However, their collective 2.3 WAR is 11th in all Major League Baseball.
Most of that comes from second-year sensation Paul Skenes. His 4.3 WAR leads MLB, as does his 1.85 ERA and 229 ERA+. He also leads the National League with a 0.882 WHIP and one complete game. He’s been touched up in just two of his 16 starts. That he’s just 4-6, thanks to bad support from his offense and his bullpen, is a crime. No bigger crime, however, than Mitch Keller’s 1-10 record that leads the majors in losses. Bailey Falter and Andrew Heaney have been solid left-handers who have put together strings of good pitching. The Carmen Mlodzinski experiment didn’t work. Rookie Mike Burrows has settled in after two rough starts in his place. The Pirates’ fifth starters will drag this grade down, but it’s still the highest of all these report cards. Grade: A-
Relief Pitchers
This is the toughest group to evaluate. Pirates’ relief pitchers have suffered 16 losses and 15 blown saves. They’ve also taken the mound night after night with little margin for error due to a weak offense, and their combined 0.2 WAR is tied for ninth-best in MLB. The bullpen, particularly David Bednar and Colin Holderman, struggled early as former manager Derek Shelton cast them in roles that didn’t suit them. A stint at Triple-A Indianapolis fixed what ailed closer Bednar. He’s back to his old All-Star form, with 11 saves, a 2.93 ERA, and a 1.120 WHIP. Holderman remains on the injured list.
Dennis Santana and left-hander Caleb Ferguson have been reliable late-inning options. So was Justin Lawrence until he, too, landed on the IL. Chase Shugart and rookies Isaac Mattson and Braxton Ashcraft have stepped up to provide solid work. Santana and Mattson have lower WHIPs than Skenes but are non-qualifiers. Grade: B-
Catchers
Pirates’ catchers collectively have hit .217/.307/.306, while being “worth” -0.7 WAR, seventh worst in MLB. None has stood out. Joey Bart and Henry Davis have seen the bulk of the action behind the dish. Bart was hitting .297/.416/.405 at the end of April and was one of the Pirates’ better hitters. Since then, however, he’s hit .196/.282/.217. He still sports a solid .344 OBP, but he’s batted at RBI positions in the order and come up short in that department, with just one home run and 13 RBI.
Davis is the better defender of the two and showed flashes of the hitter the Pirates thought he might be, but not nearly enough. He’s hitting just .183/.254/.327, 4 HR, and 11 RBI. Endy Rodríguez made the squad out of spring training and was expected to see significant duty behind the plate. However, a greater need at first base, combined with injuries, has limited his time at catcher. Grade: D
The Infield
The Pirates have had to play much of the season without the projected right side of their infield. First baseman Spencer Horwitz missed the beginning of the season due to wrist surgery and didn’t make his Pirates debut until May 17. Second baseman Nick Gonzales suffered an ankle injury on Opening Day and was out until June 3. Veteran Adam Frazier was an adequate replacement for Gonzales. On the other hand, Rodríguez, Jared Triolo, and Enmanuel Valdéz shared first base and didn’t approach the kind of production needed there.
Shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa has been the most consistent player in the infield. He was hitting .310/.356/.393 on June 3. Unfortunately, he’s begun a regression to the mean, hitting .183/.231/.233 since then. At third base, Ke’Bryan Hayes has provided the usual Gold Glove-caliber defense, responsible for six Fielding Runs Above Average (FRAA) and 10 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS). But like many of his teammates, he’s struggled with the bat, hitting just .232/.284/.283, 2 HR, and 22 RBI.
In total, Pirates infielders have produced a .232/.299/.327 slash line. Recently, the bats of Horwitz and Gonzales have come alive. Horwitz is hitting .286/.348/.381 in June after a rocky start. Gonzales is 13-for-26 in his last six games. It’s not enough to boost this grade. Grade: D
Nick Gonzales’ first career five-hit game
Play of the Day presented by @STIHLUSA pic.twitter.com/8eLmuDvtfJ
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 24, 2025
The Outfield
A team’s offense should come mostly from the corner positions, particularly in the outfield. It’s telling that the position that’s produced the highest batting average on the Pirates is second base at .254. Meanwhile, Pirates outfielders are hitting a collective .219/.306/.319 and have produced -3.4 WAR, fifth-worst in the majors. Frazier has been seeing action in the outfield since Gonzales returned to the lineup.
Left fielder Tommy Pham, the Pirates’ biggest offseason signing, has been a major disappointment, hitting .216/.293/.272, 1 HR, and 14 RBI. He’s ranked as one of the better defensive left fielders in baseball, with four FRAA and four DRS. He’s also gotten high marks as a teammate for his hard work. Unfortunately, none of this has translated to results once the game starts. Alexander Canario was given a legitimate shot to take the job away from Pham, but didn’t do much with it.
Right fielder Bryan Reynolds is having an off year, registering .233/.304/.373, 8 HR, and 39 RBI. He usually heats up in June, but after an initial burst, Pirates fans are still waiting. Center fielder Oneil Cruz remains an enigma. He leads the NL with 26 steals but also leads MLB with 102 strikeouts. More recently, his play has been frustratingly indifferent. Manager Don Kelly reprimanded him for failing to chase a single that got under his glove on Friday night. Then Kelly removed him from Tuesday’s game after Cruz jogged to first base while hitting into a double play. The Pirates should be glad they don’t have to show these report cards to Sister Doloreta. Grade: F
Designated Hitter
When Andrew McCutchen returned to Pittsburgh, it was thought it would be an honorary position as he made his farewell tour throughout MLB. Well, the “farewell” tour is now in its third year, and a fourth year seems likely. He’s been one of the Pirates’ most reliable hitters. He ends the first half hitting .259/.338/.406, 8 HR, and 28 RBI. Grade: B
Managers and Coaches
Of all the Pirates report cards, this is the most difficult to quantify, as one manager was ineffective and the other seems to be having a positive effect. Shelton was 12-26 when he was fired. It seemed his message had become stale and that he’d been beaten down by all the losing.
Kelly is 20-23 since he took over the reins. Like Shelton, he doesn’t have a great roster to work with. But at least the Pirates have looked more like a team under Kelly, even when the results weren’t there. Kiner-Falefa, the most outspoken Pirate, may have hit the nail on the head when he told Danny Demillo of Pittsburgh Baseball Now, “You got a clubhouse of young guys and veterans who are now not afraid to make mistakes.”
The Pirates have 14 coaches, and we won’t evaluate all of them, not knowing what many of them even do. New hitting coach Matt Hague hasn’t produced the desired improvement in the Pirates’ weak offense. They’re the fourth-worst hitting team in MLB at .229/.303/.339. Conversely, although he’s been much maligned in the past, one can’t find much fault with pitching coach Oscar Marin. Game planning coach Radley Haddad was fired along with Shelton.
Third base coach Mike Rabelo has been overly aggressive at times. Two coaches simply have the title of “coach.” They were wise not to take a title that indicates responsibility for any one of the areas where the Pirates have failed. It was wise to bring in former manager Gene Lamont, 78, to serve as a de facto bench coach for Kelly. For all the good Kelly, Marin, and Lamont may be doing, the team is still in last place at 32-49. Grade: F+
General Manager
The Pirates are in Year 6 of GM Ben Cherington’s five-year plan. He’s on record that he still believes the Bucs can play winning baseball in 2025, but it would take a major miracle just to equal last year’s 76 wins. He needed to help the Pirates’ offense in the offseason. Instead, he watched the hitters’ market dwindle and signed Pham after it was picked over.
Kiner-Falefa recently stated that PNC Park wasn’t suited to the Pirates’ offense. “IKF” was criticized for what came off as an excuse. But it’s true Cherington has built the Pirates without the left-handed-hitting power that could take advantage of the ballpark’s short right field.
At the beginning of the season, owner Bob Nutting told reporters that he thought he’d given Cherington all the resources he needed. He, too, was criticized for that, but let’s think about it. His baseball man, Cherington, requested a large analytics department and was given that. If Nutting was told this was necessary, how would he know differently? Cherington’s emphasis on analytics and processes over players simply hasn’t worked. It’s hard to imagine he’ll have this job after the season. Grade: F
Main Photo Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images
The post Pirates Midseason Report Cards: Failure’s No Success at All appeared first on Last Word On Baseball.