As of March 20th, the Pirates have 37 players in Spring Training camp. A mere week separates us from Opening Day in New York City, so the Pirates have to make another nine cuts from their roster before then. Below is my best guess based off performance and rumblings we have heard from the media on who the 26 lucky players will be on the flight north early next week. DiNardo, Jim and Tyler also gave their predictions for the Opening Day roster on NS9LIVE which you can watch here.
The Rotation:
Paul Skenes
Mitch Keller
Bubba Chandler
Braxton Ashcraft
Carmen Mlodzinski
The first four names on this list are fairly obvious. Skenes, Keller, Chandler, and Ashcraft were guaranteed locks for the Opening Day roster, especially after Mike Burrows got dealt to Houston in the Brandon Lowe deal. These four guys have also shown flashes of excellence throughout Spring Training, making this rotation look really good. With Jared Jones and Hunter Barco looking to knock on the door come May, the pitching staff seems to be in a really good spot. The real discussion about potential cuts is the 5th rotation spot. The battle was between Mlodzinski, Mike Clevinger, and Jose Urquidy. The latter two started off strong but have faltered as the month of March has gone on. Especially with Urquidy, it doesn’t seem like he can maintain velocity throughout a start. Carmen has introduced a fun new pitch mix that has people around the Pirates very excited. Alex Stumpf also predicted that he would win the job on his new podcast Off Beat.
Catcher: Henry Davis and Joey Bart
Lots of people are clamoring for Endy Rodriguez to make the Opening Day roster, but the team ended that debate when they optioned Endy to Triple-A on Thursday. Endy has been plagued by injury for two seasons and despite a solid spring, hasn’t shown much at the Major League the past couple seasons. Davis has a spot on this team as long as Paul Skenes and Bubba Chandler are here; a team built off of pitching will accommodate their top guys. Bart is interesting because of his lefty killing skills. The Pirates are very lefty-heavy in terms of hitting damage, and Bart will likely be a guy who comes off the bench to hit lefties well, playing twice a week.
Infield:
1B: Spencer Horwitz
2B: Brandon Lowe, Nick Gonzales
3B: Jared Triolo, Nick Yorke
SS: Alika Williams
DH: Marcell Ozuna
The infield is going to be the most controversial area of the Opening Day roster. Approximately 99.99% of Pirates fans will clamor for Konnor Griffin to be the teams’ shortstop when the Pirates kick off the season at Citi Field. However, comments from Ben Cherington, Don Kelly, and reporters around the Pirates like Jason Mackey point towards Griffin starting the season in AAA. It makes sense in a vacuum, especially when you consider how few games Griffin has played in professional baseball and has just 21 games under his belt above A ball. However, the hype and excitement around this kid breaking camp with the team would be awesome, and I believe he has earned a spot. Instead, I see Alika Williams making the roster with Nick Yorke as bench pieces. Williams is not going to hit at all but at the very least you feel comfortable with his glove at short. Gonzales and Yorke are hopefully sparks off the bench.
Outfield: Bryan Reynolds, Ryan O’Hearn, Oneil Cruz, Jake Mangum
There are no surprises in the outfield group that will roll into the regular season. The one question I have is just how much will Mangum end up playing. The Password Jhostynxon Garcia is the only one on the current roster who can reliably play all three positions, but I think the Pirates will prefer him to get everyday at-bats at Triple-A right now as there’s not an opening in the outfield as of now. None of Reynolds, O’Hearn, or Cruz have graded out as good defenders in the outfield recently, so Mangum should have a path to a lot of at bats for his defensive value anywhere in the outfield.
Bullpen:
Dennis Santana
Gregory Soto
Isaac Mattson
Justin Lawrence
Mason Montgomery
Yohan Ramirez
Mike Clevinger
Cam Sanders
The bullpen to me screams tons of potential without knowing if it will translate to success. The first five options from Santana to Montgomery have absolutely filthy stuff, and guys like Lawrence and Mattson were revelations for short periods of time in 2025. Soto is the lone free agent signing for the bullpen, and he has a long and storied career. I do worry about his walk rates. Looking at our last three arms, I cannot believe that Brandon Bidois got optioned to Triple-A earlier this week. He has closer level and stuff and it is hard to truly believe in any of Ramirez, Clevinger, or Sanders. Clevinger has shown enough during the Spring to feel comfortable giving him 1-2 inning stints. However Sanders and Ramirez are not high leverage arms and struggle to get outs at the major league level. This will look much better with Jones back in the rotation and Mlodzinski sliding into his best position—being a top tier bullpen arm.
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