Pirates Finally Part Ways With Marcell Ozuna

The Pittsburgh Pirates are cutting ties with the struggling veteran slugger.

Jun 17, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates designated hitter Marcell Ozuna (24) rounds the bases after hitting a home run against the Athletics during the seventh inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Pittsburgh Pirates are ending the Marcell Ozuna experiment.

As first reported by MLB insider Mike Rodriguez, the Pirates are set to release Ozuna. Ronny Simón will come up from Triple-A Indianapolis and take his place on the 26-man roster.

Ozuna signed a one-year, $12 million deal with Pittsburgh towards the beginning of spring training with the expectation that he'd serve as the team's primary designated hitter.

The 35-year-old got off to a putrid start, however, posting a slash line of .181/.236/.277 over 83 at-bats in April and never really turned his season around from there.

While Ozuna logged a respectable .713 OPS with three home runs in May and a .738 OPS with two homers in June, he slashed .216/.326/.324 during July.

The power never really showed up in Pittsburgh, as he leaves the club with just eight homers to his name, and he also struck out 28.6 percent of the time.

For a Pirates team that's in the Wild Card race in the National League and were buyers at the trade deadline as a result, they couldn't keep handing regular at-bats to Ozuna.

While Pittsburgh could use all the offensive help it can get with Konnor Griffin, Ryan O'Hearn and Oneil Cruz all on the injured list, Ozuna simply wasn't a solution.

Aug 13, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Ronny Simon (63) celebrates a home run by outfielder Bryan Reynolds against the Milwaukee Brewers in the sixth inning at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael McLoone-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Who Will Take Ozuna's ABs?

Towards the end of his time with the Pirates, Ozuna essentially became a platoon DH, with most of his starts coming against left-handed starting pitchers.

He was only marginally more productive against southpaws than righties, though, owning an .681 OPS against the former and a .584 OPS against the latter.

Because Ozuna's playing time had dwindled significantly as the year went on, his departure isn't much of a shake-up when it comes to lineup composition and the distribution of at-bats for manager Don Kelly.

Pittsburgh's bench, which now Símon, Jhostynxon Garcia, Jared Triolo and Rafael Flores Jr., is full of right-handed hitters.

Triolo isn't a DH candidate and instead could be inserted into the lineup at shortstop to spell Jacob Gonzalez if a right-hander is on the bump.

Flores hasn't gotten much of an opportunity in the majors this year, though he does have a .769 OPS across 23 plate appearances while also boasting a .966 OPS against lefties in the minor leagues.

Símon's OPS against left-handers for Indianapolis this season is 1.057, so it wouldn't come as a surprise if he were to get some plate appearances against them in the big leagues as well.

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