Jake Mangum received quite the endorsement from Mason Montgomery on Tuesday when the latter praised his hard work ethic and tenacity, describing him as a “good spark to a team.”
After acquiring him, along with Montgomery and Brandon Lowe, in a three-time trade with the Rays and Astros on Dec. 19, Ben Cherington described Mangum as “pest-oriented.”
Both of those descriptions seem to be appropriate considering all that Mangum brings to the table after hitting .296 with 40 RBIs, 27 stolen bases and 6 Outs Above Average, a metric in which he ranked in the 91st percentile, in 118 games as a 29-year-old rookie in 2025.
“I’ve been called a pest a few times, and I don’t know how to take that,” Mangum said today with a laugh. “I get it, though.”
Mangum comes from a football family, so he knows that’s where it comes from. His father, uncle and grandfather all played in the NFL and Mangum was raised with a football mindset.
He always loved playing football, but he knew at a young age that he would one day pursue baseball. So, he decided to pursue it with that same football mindset in tact, which means he’s always determined to grind out an at-bat and come out of it with a positive outcome rather than walking back to the dugout after seeing three strikes cross the plate.
“I’ve just never liked striking out,” said Mangum, who ranked in the 84th percentile with a 15% strikeout rate last year. “There is nothing more that I hate doing than striking out.”
To put that figure into perspective, the league average strikeout rate is 25% and Mangum’s rate ranked as the 12th-lowest among all outfielders with at least 400 plate appearances. The Rays and Pirates finished with collective strikeout rates of 23 to 24%, which means Mangum was better within the context of his team — both former and current — environment.
“If there’s two strikes and I can just touch it, you have an opportunity to get on first base, and I can steal second base and the guy behind me drives me in,” Mangum said. “Or if you reach on a fielding error, you reach first base and get to second on a passed ball. There’s just different ways to help the team win. I know striking out is not one of them.”
Mangum knows that strikeouts are a part of the game. Even the best of players are going to go down on strikes from time to time. But, every time he steps into the batter’s box, Mangum’s “pest-oriented” goal is to help his team win by making consistent contact, creating havoc on the base paths and perhaps even driving the ball more than he has in the past.
“Last year, as a 29-year-old rookie, I came up and I knew I had to perform immediately or I was going to go back down,” Mangum said “Being a non-prospect, older rookie, I needed to get going immediately. I thought the biggest strength of mine was contact and running fast, so I did that to the best of my ability. Now that I have a year of experience under my belt this offseason, we’re grinding to try to get into some more hitter’s counts, getting to some counts where I can drive pitches. Hammering those pitches that you have an idea are coming. That’s what we’re working on this offseason. Strengthening what I do well and expand on what I need to work on.”
Based on conversations he’s had with Cherington and Don Kelly in the weeks since the trade, Mangum knows he doesn’t have to change much about his game. The Pirates have added some much-needed pop to their lineup with the recent acquisitions of Brandon Lowe and Ryan O’Hearn, and there’s certainly more that’s needed. But a player like Mangum, one whose game is centered around bringing energy in the batter’s box, on the bases and in the field, is necessary for any team to experience sustained success.
“They want me to play my style of baseball,” Mangum said. “They said we acquired you because you have a skill that we want you to do. They were very welcoming to the idea of me working on the things I know I can get better at, like the low-hanging fruit, I like to call them. They said we want you to play good defense, we want you to get contact and then run the bases like you have.”
Whether he’s utilized as an immediate starter in the outfield or as a depth piece capable of playing all three outfield positions, it’s evident that Mangum operates with an attitude centered around doing whatever it takes to help the team win. He’s willing to take on any role, tackle any challenge head on and embrace the football mindset, or “pest-oriented” approach, that has allowed him to experience success at the major-league level.
That won’t change, as Mangum aims to accomplish the ultimate goal of contributing toward the Pirates taking the next step in 2026.
“There’s some really cool things happening in Pittsburgh right now,” Mangum said. “There’s some excitement, there’s some really good players on the roster, and a front office and staff that’s ready to take the next step. I think that’s awesome. We’re going to do everything in our power to do that. We’re representing a city that really loves sports. From everything I’ve learned, Pittsburgh really, really loves sports. They’ve got football, hockey and baseball, and we’re going to do everything in our power to give them a team they’re happy and proud of. There’s going to be tough times this year — they always come — but I’d say the biggest thing is whenever things don’t go well for us, how we’re going to respond that. After a tough night, can we flush it and go win a ballgame the next day? The ability to do that, I think, is what sets good and great teams apart.”