2023 Pittsburgh Pirates Wrap Up

S. Samek

Another Pirates season is in the books. At 76-86 they finished fourth in their division 16 games back of Milwaukee, who won the Central. They missed the playoffs as well to keep that streak going. Yet the season did have quite a few highlights.

Mitch Keller achieved career highs in innings pitched and strikeouts and was an All-Star. This is a strong step forward for the former top prospect.

Ke ‘Bryan Hayes was named the teams MVP. Hayes had many career highs statistically on his way to the honor. Bryan Reynolds fresh off that big extension led the team in runs scored and runs batted in. Ji Hwan Bae stole 24 bases during his first look at extended action in the Major Leagues to lead the team.

David Bednar finished with a career best 39 saves to go with his All-Star game nod. He was also the Pirates Clemente Award nomination.

Andre McCutcheon had a successful return to Pittsburgh, even if he didn’t quite reach 300 career home runs.

Many top prospects also made their way to Pittsburgh. Plus, with the drafting of Paul Skenes with the number one overall pick Pirates fans saw a glimpse of the near future of this team.

I guess overall the season could have been worse. Though with the strong start it could have been better. I feel pretty optimistic about the Pirates moving forward though.