Pirates Confident With Isiah Kiner-Falefa At Shortstop
After spending much of his stint with the Pittsburgh Pirates playing across the infield last season, Isiah Kiner-Falefa will have a chance to settle in at one position in 2025.
With Oneil Cruz moving to center field at the end of 2024, IKF saw more time at shortstop down the stretch. Now, he'll have a chance to settle in there to at least begin next season. Pirates general manager Ben Cherington expressed confidence in Kiner-Falefa, noting the team's metrics with his defensive play at shortstop and he believes the opportunity to hone in on one position will be beneficial for IKF.
"For what it’s worth, our internal metrics have him as an above-average defensive shortstop," Cherington said. "He’s been an elite infield defender for sure, over the course of his career. We also believe that going into spring training, potentially, if he has an opportunity to maybe focus a little bit more on short, where as last year when he was in Toronto, it was second, it was third, he was kinda bouncing around, he’ll be even more prepared for that position going into 2025."
IKF played 56 games at second base, 48 at third base and 43 at shortstop last season between the Blue Jays and Pirates. After Cruz was moved to center field at the end of last season, IKF played 17 games at shortstop.
The last season IKF played a full season at shortstop was in 2022 with the New York Yankees and he posted 10 defensive runs saved but -1 outs above average. With the Texas Rangers, IKF won a Gold Glove at third base in 2020.
While Liover Peguero got some run at shortstop at the end of last season, the job is seemingly IKF's for at least next season. If IKF can settle in there and regain his form from when he was in Toronto, he could potentially be Pittsburgh's answer beyond 2025.
