Part of a series of articles previewing the defensive performance of all 30 MLB teams by asking the question … are they good? We give an overview of team strengths, weaknesses, and other things to know, using Defensive Runs Saved and other stats as the basis for our evaluation. To see the full series, click here.

2025 Team Defensive Runs Saved Rank: 10th

Team Strengths

Utility Gold Glove winner Jared Triolo should get a crack at third base this season. In 128 career games there he has 13 Runs Saved, so the drop-off from Ke’Bryan Hayes may not be that steep.

Jared Triolo – Runs Saved at 3rd Base

Konnor Griffin  is currently in will he/won’t he status for Opening Day. Barring injury, he’s going to be a significant contributor this season and he’ll probably be their best defensive player immediately. He tied for the minor league lead with 9 Defensive Runs Saved at shortstop in 2025.

Henry Davis was Paul Skenes’ primary catcher last season and shepherded Skenes to a 1.81 ERA and a 5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Defensive Runs Saved takes catcher ERA into account so this was part of Davis posting 8 Runs Saved last season. He rates as an average to slightly-below pitch framer and average blocker but earned 4 Runs Saved for throwing out 14 of 52 potential basestealers (27%).

Team Weaknesses

For now, Oneil Cruz’s best position is hitter. He had -9 Runs Saved as a shortstop in 2024 and -14 as a center fielder in 2025. Simply put, he catches fewer balls than expected and that’s costly.

The Pirates were willing to sacrifice defense for offense, which was understandable given that they had only one hitter on the roster with a 100 or better OPS+. They added Brandon Lowe to play second base. Lowe had -14 Runs Saved there last season, which ranked third-worst. They also added Ryan O’Hearn who will probably spend most of his time in right field. He’s played 101 games in five seasons there and the results haven’t been good: -11 Runs Saved.

With Lowe at second base, Nick Gonzales doesn’t have a starting spot unless Griffin is sent down He’s played 30 career games at shortstop. His three-year track record at second base isn’t good, -16 Runs Saved.

We listed Davis as a strength at catcher but the likely starter, Joey Bart, isn’t as good defensively. He’s had issues with pitch framing and has totaled -17 Runs Saved over the last four seasons.

Other Things To Know

Bryan Reynolds shifts back from right field to left field where he’s usually been fine. But two years ago, the last time he played there, he totaled -5 Runs Saved in 118 games.

New backup outfielder Jake Mangum played at least 30 games at each of the three outfield positions last season and racked up an impressive 17 Good Fielding Plays (on a per-inning basis he ranks in the top 25% of outfielders). He makes impressive-looking catches and will probably be a useful late-inning replacement.

Are the Pirates A Good Defensive Team?

I don’t think they’re a Top 10 team and I don’t necessarily think they’re a Top 15 team, though if Griffin is the real deal defensively, they could be.  Maybe I’m too skeptical. They were willing to make sacrifices to their defensive because they needed more punch. The projection systems are bullish on the Pirates. We’ll see if those moves were worth the defensive drop-off.