10 numbers that highlight the Pirates' massive offensive turnaround

PHILADELPHIA -- Forget Paul Skenes’ velocity, Braxton Ashcraft’s ascent or the Pirates' bullpen struggling.

The wildest first-half storyline with this team has been a screeching and squealing offensive U-turn, Pittsburgh going from worst to (tied for) first in runs scored and flipping this facet from weakness to strength.

It should’ve been represented at the MLB All-Star Game in Philadelphia this week, but that doesn’t change some of the crazy stuff we’ve seen this season, the Pirates (516) scoring 56 more runs than they ever have before the break or matching their 2025 home run total (117) in 92 games.

The eye-popping numbers are everywhere. Ditto for belief and excitement within this group.

“It’s a blast being a part of this lineup,” Brandon Lowe said. “One through nine, even guys not starting, there’s damage to be found and runs to be scored.”

“There’s confidence with the team that we’re never out of it,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said.

“We have a really good offense,” Bryan Reynolds said. “It’s definitely more fun.”

Before the second half starts -- a chance for this group to finish what it’s started -- let’s examine 10 numbers that demonstrate just how much things have changed.

10: That’s how many players the Pirates have with an OPS+ (100 is considered league average) of 100 or better among those with least 100 plate appearances in 2026. Last season, they had one (Spencer Horwitz).

29: This represents the Pirates’ year-over-year improvement in wRC+, another fancy, all-encompassing number where you’re using 100 as a base. Pittsburgh’s wRC+ was 82 in 2025 and sits at 111 this year, which ranks second in MLB. No team has made a bigger jump. In fact, the Rockies (+18) are a distant second.

13: When it comes to individual changes, you won’t find many bigger than Bryan Reynolds’ run value of 13 (per Baseball Savant) on four-seam fastballs in 2026. Only seven MLB hitters have fared better against any pitch. In 2025, Reynolds had a career-worst -2 run value against four-seamers (tied for 215th).

34.1%: It might not be as obvious as some numbers on this list, but Pirates hitters have been much more aggressive. They’re swinging at the first pitch 34.1% of the time, fifth-most in MLB. That’s up from 31.6% (17th) a year ago.

1,015: The Pirates have hit that many balls at 95 mph or harder in 2026. Only five teams have more. Yet a year ago, the Pirates had just 1,625 hard-hit balls to rank 25th.

Furthermore, they nearly have five players in the top 100 MLB-wide in balls hit 95-plus: Reynolds (31st), Lowe (43rd), Ryan O’Hearn (76th), Nick Gonzales (86th) and Oneil Cruz (103rd). Last year, they had two such players (Reynolds and Cruz).

.500: Speaking of Cruz, that’s his slugging percentage against breaking balls this season, way up from .294 in 2025. It’s one slice of a breakout season for Cruz. Yet it’s still not as impressive as what he’s done against left-handed pitching: .102 average and .176 slugging in 2025 compared to .312 and .506 this season.

7: Since 2020, the Pirates have had 11 players produce an .800 OPS or better while logging at least 100 plate appearances. Seven of those have come this season.

That group this season: Esmerlyn Valdez (1.084), Reynolds (.878), Endy Rodríguez (.858), Horwitz (.842), O'Hearn (.838), Cruz (.822) and Lowe (.803).

The others: 2021 Reynolds (.912), 2021 Yoshi Tsutsugo (.883), 2021 Adam Frazier (.836) and 2022 Reynolds (.807).

13: At their current pace of 5.3 runs scored per game (516 in 97 games), the Pirates will eclipse their 2025 run total (585) by July 30 at Cincinnati. Think about that: They could have more runs and home runs than last year before August. That tends to happen when your team OPS spikes more than 100 points (.655 and last to .768 and second).

15.5: Pirates position players have accounted for 15.5 wins above replacement this season, according to FanGraphs. That’s the fifth-most in MLB. In 2025, Pirates position players accounted for 6.6 fWAR, third-fewest of any club. They have an entire lineup of players (nine) worth at least 1 fWAR, more than twice as many as they had in 2025.

10: The Pirates have six players with at least 10 home runs, plus two more with eight. That doesn’t include Konnor Griffin, who's been limited to five because of injuries. Furthermore, Pittsburgh had just five players with double-digit homers in 2025. This year, they should also have at least four hit 20 or more. They’ve had five 20-plus-homer seasons the past three years combined.

Jason Mackey: Jason.Mackey@pirates.com and @JMackey_PGH on X.