The Pittsburgh Pirates need to be active in free agency before the potential lockout at the start of December. Second baseman Brandon Lowe should be their top priority to start the offseason; however, another free agent they should have near the top of their wishlist is utility man Edmundo Sosa.
Sosa has spent parts of the last five MLB seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies. This year was a down year, at least by the surface numbers. In 250 plate appearances, Sosa only batted .247/.283/.429 with a .307 wOBA and 89 wRC+. He struck out in 21.6% of his plate appearances, and posted a career-low 2.8% walk rate. On the plus side, he still hit for power, with nine home runs and a .182 isolated slugging percentage.
Sosa’s 2026 is a step back from his 2024-2025 performance. Between the two seasons, he batted .266/.310/.445 with a .325 wOBA and 105 wRC+. He showed off solid power, going yard 18 times over 535 plate appearances, leading to a .179 ISO. Sosa struck out at a 22.8% clip, while only drawing a walk 4.8% of the time.
Sosa’s expected numbers in 2026 were similar to his 2024-2025 bottom line. His expected batting average (xBA) sat at .277, while his expected slugging percentage (xSLG) came in at .444. Sosa’s expected wOBA (xwOBA) clocked in at .328. He also posted a career-high mark in xwOBA on contact (xwOBACON) at .398. That xwOBACON put him in the same company as Wilyer Abreu (.398), Corbin Carroll (.395), and Randy Arozarena (.388) this year.
The thing that may attract the Pirates the most toward Sosa is his ability to hit lefty pitching. The Bucs struggled against left-handed starters this season, and having someone who crushes Southpaws could give him an advantage going into next season. Even with a down year in 2026, Sosa still slashed .290/.343/.492 vs. lefties.
Overall, Sosa is one of the best hitters against left-handed pitching since the start of 2024. He owns a .297/.350/.512 triple-slash vs LHP in that time. He has a higher slugging percentage against lefty pitching than Vlad Guerrero Jr. (.491), a higher batting average than Yandy Diaz (.294), and a better OPS than Bobby Witt Jr. (.857).
The Pirates aren’t limited in the ways they could use Sosa in the field. He has over 1000 innings at shortstop and third base. Sosa has +19 defensive runs saved and +17 OAA at the former, and +7 DRS and OAA at the latter position. He also has nearly 650 innings at second base, where he has +6 DRS and OAA. Sosa saw 182 innings in left field this season, where he had zeros in both OAA and DRS.
The Pirates should obviously make Brandon Lowe their #1 offseason priority, but Edmundo Sosa should be the next name on their free agent wishlist behind Lowe. His ability to hit lefty pitching, hit for some power, and play above-average defense at multiple different positions could fix many different issues the Pirates had last season.
