Ben Cherington Stands Behind Pirates’ Player Development

It is always fun when the Pittsburgh Pirates honor their 1979 team, the last one to win a World Series for the franchise.

It is equally fun to hear those players’ thoughts on the current Pirates’ organization. A lot of those opinions are shared without prompting.

Thus, I found it eye-opening back in May when three pitchers from that 1979 team asked me the same question about Paul Skenes, the rookie pitcher who had been in the major leagues for just two weeks.

“When are they going to screw up that kid?” they said.

It turned out the Pirates didn’t mess up Skenes. He went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 starts and is the top contender along with San Diego Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill for National League Rookie of the Year.

Yet that three former big-league pitchers would all ask that question about their former organization was telling. These weren’t some anonymous crackpots on X or frustrated fans yelling at Dan Zangrilli on the post-game radio show following another Pirates’ loss.

All three had varying degrees of success in the big leagues. It shows the perception of how the Pirates develop players.

Yet the Pirates are not making changes to their player development while interviewing candidates to lead the professional scouting, Latin American scouting and research and development departments.

General manager Ben Cherington stands behind farm director John Baker despite the perception that the Pirates can’t develop cost-effective young players who can help them contend with a low payroll.

“First of all, we have a group that I think is incredibly talented, hardworking, smart,” Cherington said. “I think we’re doing some things really well. I think we’ve established a way of training that makes a lot of sense. I think in some parts of player development we’re doing well, and I think in some other parts, we’d admit, and they would admit, we have work to do, still, to get better.”

The Pirates have done a good job developing Skenes and rotation mate Jared Jones. It is easy to envision them being frontline starters for many years, with highly regarded prospect Bubba Chandler likely to join them sometime next season. Thomas Harrington is another intriguing starter who finished this past season at Triple-A Indianapolis with Chandler.

Reliever Carmen Mlodzinski has shown the potential of being a high-leverage reliever while spending parts of the last two seasons in the major leagues.

Many critics discount Skenes’ development because he was the first overall pick in last year’s amateur draft. While he is immensely talented, the Pirates put together an outstanding plan that assured Skenes was ready for the major leagues when he got called up and remained strong enough to pitch on the season’s penultimate day.

However, the Pirates’ ability to draft and develop hitters has been abysmal.

Second baseman Nick Gonzales was much improved in 2024 after looking overmatched as a rookie in 2003. Driving in 49 runs in 94 games for a feeble offense was notable but his slash line of .270/.311/.398 was ordinary.

Then there is the case of catcher Henry Davis, who was the first overall pick in the 2021 draft. He has hit .191/.283/.307 with eight homers through his first 99 big-league games.

Granted, Davis has just 377 plate appearances. However, I’ve seen nothing to suggest he will be a star.

So why can the Pirates develop pitchers but not hitters?

“Hitting is a harder thing to figure out. It’s a more complicated task,” Cherington said. “It is a reactionary skill with a lot more things going on. I love some of the progress we’re making in getting to better solutions with hitters. I believe in the tools that we’re developing. We have really strong examples of players we’ve been able to impact on the offensive side that have gotten stronger and better, proof that we can do that.”

That’s debatable.

What isn’t debatable? The Pirates need to do a better job if they hope to become contenders on a low budget.