Even over the last half-decade, when the Pittsburgh Pirates haven't had the most complete roster in baseball, they've still done one thing extremely well, and that's pitching.

The 2026 season, for the most part, was no exception to that. Pittsburgh still had an above-average pitching staff, but the group also took a step back in some areas.

These five stats alone paint a confusing picture of the Pirates' 2026 season from the pitcher's perspective.

The team was around league average in earned runs, walks, and hits per inning, but the FIP shows the pitching was much better than the box score suggests. 

Perhaps some of this had to do with Pittsburgh's below-average defense, which Ben Cherington emphasized must improve in 2027. Just because a play wasn't logged as an error doesn't mean it's one that should have been made.

What the fielders didn't have control over, though, was the number of free bases Pittsburgh's rotation allowed on walks.

Overall, these numbers show that the Pirates' pitching in 2026 was good, but not great.

The expectation coming into the season was that Paul Skenes would be the leader in just about every single one of these categories. Instead, he's at the top of just two of the six groups.

Is that a result of Skenes' abnormal year and/or the growth of some of the other pitchers on staff? The answer depends more on how you interpret the numbers.

Skenes leading the way in innings pitched is a testament not only to the workhorse he is, but also to how deep he's able to get into games. That said, his ERA was also a career high.

This opened the door for Braxton Ashcraft to have the best ERA among starting pitchers in his first full season in the rotation. Calling this a positive sign for his future is an understatement.

Ashcraft's was also just a tenth of a run behind Jared Jones for the team lead. The Pirates really did find another potential ace to add to this group.

Taking a close look at Jones, to see that he led Pittsburgh in WHIP, FIP, and strikeout-to-walk ratio after such a frustrating start to the year after coming back from surgery, is such a great sight to see that he's getting close to being back to form.

Jones has always had a ton of potential to be one of the top pitchers of this staff, and he proved that even with a late and slow start to the season. 

If the starting trio of Ashcraft, Jones, and Skenes lead the way with some support from Bubba Chandler and whoever fills in the fifth spot, the Pirates could once again have one of the top rotations in all of baseball in 2027.