After Oneil Cruz, who is available at shortstop for the Pirates?

How is the shortstop depth looking at the upper levels and in the majors for the Pirates?

Photo Credit: WTM

If the 2023 taught the Pirates anything, it’s that you have to always prepare for the worst.

Injuries not only decimated their starting rotation, but they were also without their starting shortstop for most of the season.

Losing out on one of your best players like Oneil Cruz is rough enough; not having a backup in place makes it much worse.

Here’s how the innings broke down regarding the shortstop position for the Pirates in 2023.

Tucupita Marcano - 390

Alika Williams - 301.2

Liover Peguero - 284.1

Rodolfo Castro - 234

Oneil Cruz - 73

Chris Owings - 64

Nick Gonzales - 59

Ji-Hwan Bae - 24

Having two players (Marcano and Castro) that aren’t natural shortstops play there among the most last year certainly shows how rough things got for the Pirates at the position.

When it comes to both FanGraphs and Baseball Savant defensive metrics, they were both the worst on the team and among all of baseball at the position.

The good news is that neither is with the organization anymore so that they won’t factor into the position.

The hope is that Cruz will be able to handle the position for the entire season. He has among the most upside in baseball with his skill set, which could easily produce a 30/30 season if everything clicks for him.

But he has also never played an entire season in the majors and is coming off a fractured ankle that could potentially impact his range (there has been no indication he’s having any issues with that, but it is something that could happen).

Even if Cruz stays healthy the entire season, giving him an added day off (or just having him DH) wouldn’t be the worst thing long-term. So, what are the Pirates’ plans currently behind Cruz? Here are a few names on the 40-man roster, as well as in the upper levels of the minors.

Alika Williams

Defensively, Alika makes a very strong case to make the Opening Day roster, especially if he can sprinkle in a little bit of second base during camp.

Of players still on the roster, no one spent more time at shortstop in 2023 than Williams, and he finished with a +2 DRS on FanGraphs.

The issues start and end on the offensive side of things, as in 112 plate appearances last year, he posted a wRC+ of 43. The offensive shortcomings will be hard to overlook, even if he is the best defensive shortstop on the 40-man right now.

He did have some success in Triple-A, which could earn him another look, but he may end up a depth piece if he makes it through camp on the 40-man.

Liover Peguero

He played the third most innings at shortstop but finished as a negative defender on both FG and Savant. Those who watched him in the minors won’t be overly surprised by that, as Peguero has the tools to do it all; he’s just been haunted by slip-ups in some of the more routine plays and has struggled with consistency defensively.

Peguero may have the inside track to be the starting second baseman, but if the defense trends in the right direction, he could also be the backup behind Cruz and fill in if something happens.

Nick Gonzales

Only two players finished with a positive rating defensively at shortstop for the Pirates in 2023 - Williams and Nick Gonzales.

He has a below-average arm, according to statcast, so his fit is still better at second base. Gonzales played 59 innings at shortstop but also third and second in the minors.

The hitting has to improve, contact especially, but when it comes to defense, statistically, the Pirates had a lot more options worse than what Gonzales put together in 2023.

Ji-Hwan Bae

He only played 24 innings at shortstop and graded out a lot better in the outfield than in the infield. If there is a route for him to make the Opening Day roster, it’s probably as an outfielder.

Tsung-Che Cheng

One of the team’s top prospects, seeing Cheng play more than a handful of games at shortstop probably means something similar to 2023 happened again. He’s more than capable at shortstop, he’s just a little further away from being major league ready.

Non-Roster player: Sergio Alcantara

If there is someone in the Pirates organization who could challenge Cruz in a ‘hardest throw’ contest, it would be Alcantara, who was signed to a minor league deal this off-season and will get an invite to major league camp.

Going back to 2022, Alcantara was less than one mile per hour behindme Cruz when it ca to arm strength. Cruz (93.9 mph) checked in the 97th percentile in the category, while Alcantara (92.7 mph) finished in the 94th.

Defensively, Alcantara can handle 2B/3B/SS but falls into the Alika 2.0 category, he has never been a strong hitter. According to FanGraphs, he was worth a win in 2021 but has an overall 72 wRC+ in his career.