Pirates Rise In 2025 Power Rankings
It's never too early to see where the Pittsburgh Pirates stack up heading into the 2025 season.
With the World Series concluding on Wednesday with the Los Angeles Dodgers beating the New York Yankees in five games, ESPN's David Schoenfield ranked the 30 MLB teams heading into the 2025 season and had the Pirates at No. 20, citing the potential their starting rotation has and the impending arrival of top prospect Bubba Chandler. Pittsburgh was No. 24 in ESPN's end-of-season power rankings.
"Paul Skenes will enter 2025 as the likely Cy Young favorite in the National League following his absurdly good rookie season," Schoenfield wrote. "Jared Jones also flashed top-of-the-rotation potential, especially in the first half. Top prospect Bubba Chandler could make a similar impact in the rotation for 2025."
A full season of Skenes will go a long way toward helping the Pirates improve after going 76-86 in back-to-back seasons. Jones staying healthy will also be imperative to Pittsburgh one of the best young starting rotations in baseball.
But for as good as the Pirates' starting pitching can be, it won't mean much if they don't address their other needs.
Pittsburgh needs to improve its offense after it ranked in the bottom 10 in nearly every major category. That could come from the growth of some of its young players like Nick Yorke and third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes returning to form, but the Pirates' best bet would be adding through free agency or a trade, though, the ability to improve isn't easy with one of the smallest budgets in baseball.
The Pirates also need to add a could of arms to a bullpen that ranked 27th in ERA and was second in blown leads in the ninth inning.
"The late-season decision to move Oneil Cruz from shortstop to center field makes sense, although it solves one hole while opening another," Schoenfield writes. "The Pirates need to figure out what happened to Ke'Bryan Hayes at the plate (.573 OPS) and how to upgrade the bullpen after David Bednar's collapse. As always, tightfisted ownership will make it difficult for the Pirates to improve."
