World Series Rosters Feature 3 Former Pirates
One of the biggest World Series in recent memory will feature a trio of former Pittsburgh Pirates pitchers when the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers square off.
For the Yankees, they boast former Pirates ace Gerrit Cole and reliever Clay Holmes, while relief pitcher Brent Honeywell Jr. is on the Dodgers. Game 1 between the Yankees and Dodgers takes place on Friday night at Dodger Stadium, with first pitch set for 8:08 p.m. ET.
Cole was the No. 1 overall pick for the Pirates in the 2011 MLB Draft out of UCLA. Cole went on to make his big-league debut in 2013 and spent five seasons in Pittsburgh, going 59-42 with a 3.50 ERA while striking out 734 batters over 782 1/3 innings. The former Pirates ace was then traded to the Houston Astros, where he budded into one of the best pitchers in baseball.
There, the six-time All-Star and two-time ERA champion went 15-5 with a 2.88 ERA in 2018 and had a season for the ages in 2019, going 20-5 with a 2.50 ERA to go with 326 strikeouts over 212 1/3 innings.
On the heels of one of the best seasons for a pitcher in recent years, the hard-throwing right-hander signed a nine-year, $324 million deal with the Yankees in free agency. Across his five seasons in New York, Cole has gone 59-28 with a 3.12 ERA and has struck out 915 batters over 759 innings. He won his first Cy Young Award in 2023.
Cole will get the start for the Yankees in Game 1.
Holmes began his career with the Pirates but struggled mightily over his three-plus seasons with the team, going 5-7 with a 5.57 ERA. The Pirates traded him to the Yankees at the 2021 deadline and he has since turned it around, becoming a two-time All-Star and going 19-15 with a 2.69 ERA over 217 2/3 innings pitched with 74 saves.
Honeywell Jr. pitched for the Tampa Bay Rays (2021), San Diego Padres (2023) and Chicago White Sox (2023) before ending up in Pittsburgh. He began this season with Triple-A Indianapolis and only appeared in two games for the Pirates, recording a 2.70 ERA over 3 1/3 innings, before he was designated for assignment on July 12.
The right-handed reliever was claimed by the Dodgers on July 13 and was called up on Aug. 31. He pitched 34 1/3 innings and went 1-1 with a 2.62 ERA over 18 appearances, including one start.
