The Pirates finally made their first big move to upgrade the offense, acquiring Brandon Lowe from the Rays in a three-team trade. The Bucs are further using their abundance of pitching depth to address other needs, sending Mike Burrows to Houston in the swap.
Lowe represents an obvious upgrade to a Pirates lineup that needed any kind of boost in the worst way. He’s homered 73 times over the past three seasons, including 31 last season, and has a career .481 slugging percentage. He’s been an All-Star twice and had two separate seasons where he finished in the top 10 in AL MVP voting.
Another bat coming to Pittsburgh in the trade is Jake Mangum, who projects as a solid fourth outfielder. He hit .296 with 27 stolen bases as a rookie in 2025, and he placed in the 91st percentile in both outs above average and sprint speed while playing all three outfield spots. While he isn’t super flashy, he’s certainly a valuable player. But it’s possible that neither Lowe or Mangum will go down as the best player the Pirates received in the deal.
Mason Montgomery could end up being the most impactful member of the Pirates’ latest trade.
The Pirates also received left-handed relief pitcher Mason Montgomery from the Rays. Though it may be difficult to buy that a reliever will outshine two hitters on a Pittsburgh team that desperately needed bats, Montgomery has the potential to turn into a stud.
Montgomery, who turns 26 in June, was a rookie in 2025, which puts him under team control through the 2030 season. Some of his surface numbers from last season—namely his 5.67 ERA, 1.65 WHIP, and 12.9% walk rate—will raise some eyebrows. But he’s one of the most electric arms in the sport, and adding a talent like that to an organization like the Pirates (who, to their credit, know how to develop pitching) could yield game-changing results.
Montgomery is an absolute flamethrower. Among qualified left-handed pitchers (starters or relievers), his average fastball velocity trailed only Aroldis Chapman and Jose Alvarado, both of whom have been among the best lefty relievers in the game for some time now. And thanks to his 81st-percentile extension coming from his six-foot, two-inch frame, those heaters look even faster than that—his fastball averaged 98.7 MPH, but the perceived velocity on those pitches was actually 99.6 MPH.
He’s not just a one-trick pony, either. He also utilizes a sharp-breaking slider that averages 89.8 MPH with nearly three feet of drop. The pitch was a devastating weapon against left-handed hitters, who hit just .105 and whiffed over 47% of the time against it. The Pirates’ pitching lab may want to develop some kind of changeup or similar off-speed offering for Montgomery to use against righties, who hit .361 and slugged .556 against the slider.
All told, Montgomery’s stuff makes him a legitimate relief weapon, and is especially rare to find in a left-hander. Despite walking too many batters and getting hit hard at times, he still posted elite strikeout (30.1%, 90th percentile) and whiff rates (35.8%, 97th percentile). According to Thomas Nestico’s pitch grading model, both of Montgomery’s pitches are graded above a 70 on the 20-80 scale:
Mason Montgomery (acquired by PIT) is an electric lefty reliever with some of the best pure stuff in MLB. He fell into trouble in 2025 by allowing too much hard contact on his fastball, but the upside is palpable
I really like this acquisition for Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/VFdMOgiuNm
— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) December 19, 2025The Pirates may have found their next relief ace in Mason Montgomery.
In addition to bolstering the offense, the Pirates have also placed an emphasis on improving the bullpen this offseason, first with Gregory Soto and now with Montgomery. Multiple members of the Pirates’ pen (like Dennis Santana, Justin Lawrence, Isaac Mattson, and Chase Shugart) found greater success upon joining the Pirates organization than they had with their previous teams.
Of course, the Pirates now have a new pitching coach in Bill Murphy, who oversaw a Houston Astros pitching staff that boasted the best ERA in MLB during his tenure. In Murphy’s last two years in Houston, he coached lefty Josh Hader, who, like Montgomery, is wild at times, but misses bats at a remarkable rate.
Adding Brandon Lowe and his 30-homer pop should make the trade a worthwhile investment. But Montgomery is a tantalizing talent who could ultimately become one of baseball’s best relief pitchers, and the Pirates are in a good position to help him achieve those heights.