Paul Zeise: The Pirates have the attention of their fans. Now they need to take advantage of it.

Paul Zeise, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Mar 21, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

PITTSBURGH — The Pirates don’t deserve the attention of their fans, as they have no credibility with them. The Pirates have not just been bad for a decade — they have shown time and time again they don’t care about winning.

There is just no reason for anyone to patronize the Pirates, no reason for anyone to pay attention to them and no reason for anyone to buy a ticket or spend one dollar on any of their merchandise.

I mean, if Bob Nutting doesn’t care about his team and winning, why should anyone else, right?

All of that being said, the Pirates have managed to change the narrative for this season and get people at least somewhat interested in them. There seems to be a lot of optimism and a lot of people engaged in this season.

That’s because the Pirates were able to make enough moves to convince people they are trying to win. They added some hitters and bolstered their pitching staff, and as a result, the optimism around them is higher than at any time since 2015.

That is incredible, considering most fans have seemingly given up on the Pirates, and that’s mostly because they are not a fan of the owner. There is a lot of frustration with Nutting and the way he runs the team, as he is notoriously cheap and never seems to favor winning over his bottom line.

It is actually incredible the Pirates after the last five seasons have been able to get their fans engaged again based on a couple of talking points that may or may not be true.

Paul Skenes is obviously the easiest reason for fans to get reinvested in the Pirates. Skenes is the Cy Young Award winner from the National League and very much in the conversation for the best pitcher in baseball.

It isn’t just that Skenes is really good, though. He has that “it” factor — he is confident, borderline cocky. He is electric, and every time he takes the mound, it is a national story. Skenes is one of the biggest names in Major League Baseball, and that makes every time he pitches an event.

I can’t tell you the number of people I know who are casual Pirates fans who will go to games just to see Skenes pitch. He is that impressive and that exciting and he is the top reason there are many people who want to watch what the Pirates do this season.

There are other reasons, though, as well, starting with two young, exciting pitchers in Braxton Ashcraft and Bubba Chandler. These two give the Pirates a chance to have a legitimate starting rotation, but obviously they have to perform when the lights are on.

Brandon Lowe was brought in to solidify the second base spot and he should be an upgrade in every way over Nick Gonzales. The Pirates also added Marcell Ozuna to upgrade the designated hitter position and they have added a couple of outfield pieces, as well.

One of the main reasons the Pirates have recaptured their fan base is the idea that rookie phenom shortstop Konnor Griffin might be on the major league roster to start the season. Griffin is only 19, but he is the highest-rated prospect in the Pirates organization and there is a lot of excitement for his arrival.

I am all for Griffin making the major league roster if he is legitimately the best shortstop to start the season. I am also OK with the idea that Griffin needs some more work in the minors (he has fewer than 100 plate appearances in Double-A and zero plate appearances in Triple-A) if it is determined he is not ready.

Pirates fans will not handle it well if Griffin is not on the major league roster because they are enamored with his talent and prospect rankings. But again, if he isn’t ready, it would be silly to bring him to the major league roster just for public-relations reasons when spring training ends.

Griffin is one of the main reasons fans are engaged with the Pirates again, even though there is no guarantee of him being on the roster to start the season.

And I think that is the theme of this entire season — it is rare a team gets a chance to re-engage with its fan base without winning, but the Pirates have. They were able to do just enough this offseason to convince a large portion of fans, even the most cynical ones, that this year will be different than the last 10.

Now it is up to the Pirates to follow through on all their promises to take advantage of this reset among fans. It is important they don’t have another year that goes off the rails by mid-May or a complete collapse in August.

It is imperative the Pirates don’t fumble away this opportunity because there is actual, genuine interest in them at this point. The Pirates have had losing seasons recently and seasons when they have collapsed down the stretch, but that was expected, so it wasn’t shocking in any way.

I really believe the Pirates have a chance to regain credibility among their fan base. They are at a critical point actually, as they need to get it right this time or Nutting and Co. will forever lose their fans.