A 13-21 record since the All-Star break has dropped the Pirates’ record to 63-68, and the Bucs are now facing a 7.5-game deficit for the last NL wild card slot. With their playoff hopes fading away, getting to 82 wins (and breaking a streak of seven straight losing seasons) might be the Pirates’ most realistic goal for the remainder of 2026, yet even getting to .500 will be challenging given how many key bats are still on the injured list.
Endy Rodriguez‘s availability for the rest of the year looks to be in particular question. GM Ben Cherington said during his weekly radio appearance (hat tip to Colin Beazley of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) that surgery is a consideration for the catcher, who has been on the 10-day IL since August 10 due to inflammation in his left hip. More is expected to be known later this week about Rodriguez’s status, but it isn’t a good sign that yet another surgical procedure is even a consideration given the backstop’s checkered health history.
The former top prospect has already seen his career put on hold by a UCL/flexor tendon surgery that shelved him for almost all of the 2024 season, save for 10 minor league games that September. It was a little over a year ago that Rodriguez underwent ulnar nerve transposition surgery, which shut him down for the remainder of the 2025 campaign. Between these major procedures and more minor IL stints last year (for a hand laceration) and this season (glute strain), Rodriguez has played in only 63 big league games since appearing in 57 games for Pittsburgh during his 2023 rookie season.
The most frustrating aspect of this hip issue for Rodriguez is that he was finally figuring things out at the MLB level this year. Rodriguez has hit .267/.373/.467 with seven homers over 159 plate appearances in 2026, with strong hard-contact metrics and an impressive 14.5% walk rate. Rodriguez did benefit from a .333 BABIP, yet it certainly looked like the 26-year-old was starting to live up to his top-100 prospect promise.
In better injury news, Cherington said Ryan O’Hearn is “tracking positively” in his recovery from a left quad strain, and has started running drills. It appears as though O’Hearn won’t be back until mid-September, which fits with the 6-to-8 week timeframe initially given when O’Hearn went on the 10-day IL on August 1. This still doesn’t leave O’Hearn with much time remaining in the 2026 season, but it at least appears that he will indeed be back before season’s end, which was up in the air at the time of his injury.
Even though O’Hearn has missed over five weeks due to two different IL stints, he is still second on the Pirates in home runs (17) and RBI (69). The veteran signed a two-year, $29MM free agent contract last winter and has been a big contributor both in the clubhouse and on the field, hitting .270/.334/.454 over 398 PA.
Star prospect Konnor Griffin was another big part of the Pirates lineup, hitting .276/.332/.404 with five homers and 20 stolen bases in the first 247 PA of his Major League career before a torn tendon in his left ring finger sidelined Griffin on July 6. He was moved from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL shortly after the initial placement, in keeping with the projected 8-to-10 week recovery timeline.
It looks like Griffin is making decent progress, as Cherington said the shortstop has resumed swinging. Other baseball activities are ongoing, and Pirates senior director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk told MLB.com’s Aiden Stepansky and other reporters earlier this week that he is “optimistic” Griffin can be activated from the 60-day IL when first eligible on September 4.
