Who's on second? An early look at the Pirates' second base situation

Photo Credit: Ryan Palencer

After looking at the rotation and bullpen, today we will shift to the other side of the ball, namely the second base position.

When scanning through the 40-man roster, there isn’t much drama regarding position battles. The bench will need to be worked out, but outside of that, the biggest position that will be up for grabs will be second.

Right field is up in the air, but some options aren’t currently on the 40-man roster, so we have time to let that play out.

Ji-Hwan Bae

Of the group involved, he has the most experience; he just hasn’t been able to translate his minor-league success at the highest level.

Bae’s game revolves around speed, as he finished in the 97th percentile when it comes to spring speed and stole 24 bases in 2023; he also legged out 17 doubles, the sixth most on the team.

The power boost he saw in the upper levels the last couple of years hasn’t translated to the majors. He had an above-average arm (69th percentile) and graded out better in the outfield.

In an ideal scenario, Bae factors more into the outfield picture, but he’d still be an option.

Nick Gonzales

The first draft pick of the Ben Cherington era came nearly as advertised from what some were seeing from the finals - he feasted on fastballs and struggled against everything else.

Gonzales slugged .505 when facing fastballs but hit just three extra-base hits (six overall) in 54 (.111) overall at-bats against everything else. There lies the biggest question for him, as it’s been throughout his minor league career.

There is always hope that he will make progress regarding more consistent contact against non-fastballs, but there isn’t much of a sample size in the minors of him making those adjustments.

Jared Triolo

The last of this group to reach the majors, Triolo is an exciting player to watch how they utilize.

He’s a gold glove defender in the minors at third, but that’s not an option with Ke’Bryan Hayes. Triolo fills in perfectly as the backup, and with Hayes’ injury, you can give him an added day off here and there.

That points to his role being more suited as a super-utility type since Triolo had a favorable rating for Outs Above Average at both second and third.

He had an incredibly high average of balls put in play (.440), but he’s always done that throughout his minor league career. Pure hitter-wise, he’s always been one of the best in the system, but the lack of power always limited his upside (.398 slugging in the majors).

Liover Peguero

With the most diverse skill set in the group, Peguero had a 20/20 season when you combine his numbers in the minors.

After a disappointing 2022 season in Altoona, Peguero rebounded after working on walking more (was up 5% from 2022 to 2023) and was right around 20% when it comes to strikeouts, but became a little too much of a free swinger in the majors.

His sprint speed was in the 95th percentile, and he has all the tools to handle both middle infield positions, even if the results aren’t always there.

He had nearly a 50% whiff rate against breaking pitches but also hit four of his seven home runs against them.

If he can show a little more control at the plate, he has the skill set to make the Pirates’ middle infield - teamed up with Oneil Cruz - a very exciting tandem to watch.

Final look

There’s a lot of speed here, as Triolo had the ‘worst’ sprint speed among the group, finishing in the 77th percentile. Every player has something to offer but also has some questions heading into 2024; the one who ‘answers’ them the most will likely get the nod to start.