Baseball is back… almost. On February 20th, the entire Pirates squad will report to Bradenton, Florida for spring training. There are a lot of familiar faces heading down to Florida in February. 

The 2022 season was yet another disappointing one for the Bucs, who finished with just 62 wins and 100 losses — a dismal 38.3 win percentage. Only two teams finished with a worse record, the Washington Nationals and the Oakland Athletics. 

The Bucs’ stats definitely supported their losing record. They finished second to last in the league in batting, with an average of .222 at the plate. The only team with a worse batting average was the Athletics.

The Pirates were a little better in the pitching department, ranking 26th in the league, still not good. Their ERA was 4.66, whereas the best team in the league, the Dodgers, had an ERA of 2.80.

The Pirates’ fielding was especially poor, finishing dead last in the league. 

But that was last year, and the team is definitely looking to improve, especially with a familiar face, Andrew McCutchen, on the roster again. McCutchen was drafted by the Pirates in 2009, when he was just 23 years old. He was a five-time All-Star and helped lead the Pirates to three consecutive playoff appearances. He then bounced around for a few years, playing for the Giants, Yankees, Phillies, and Brewers, before signing a $5 million deal to play with the Pirates for the 2023 season. He’s definitely going to be a huge morale booster for his teammates and the fans.

Many of last year’s standouts are returning to the lineup as well, such as Bryan Reynolds, Oneil Cruz, Ke’Bryan Hayes, and Roansy Contreras. The team also added veterans to the lineup, such as first basemen Carlos Santana, Connor Joe, and Ji-Man Choi, left-handers Rich Hill and Jarlin Garcia, right-hander Vince Velasquez, and catcher Austin Hedges. Santana, Joe, and Choi are arguably the best additions. Choi registered a .341 on-base percentage, Joe had a .338, and Santana had a .316.

Attendance at PNC Park is also something that the Pirates are looking for improvement on. They had the fourth worst attendance in the league last season, averaging just 15,524 fans per game. The Pirates have had major struggles with attendance in the past two decades, being middle of the league at best. It’s clear that the stands will fill up only when the team improves.

At the end of this month, the Pirates play their first preseason game of the year against the Blue Jays. They then play 31 preseason games through March 28th. Following that, they then travel to Cincinnati for their opening series against the Reds on March 30th.  

There are a lot of question marks for the Bucs this year. Will the new players make the impact management was hoping for? Will their record improve from last season? Will poor attendance continue to be a problem?

We’ll have those answers soon.