Throughout the offseason the Pittsburgh Pirates projected to have a very strong bench for the 2017 seasonAdam Frazier, David Freese, and John Jaso are all strong bench bats. Additionally, Chris Stewart is arguably the best back up catcher in all of Major League Baseball.
After these four players, however, the Pirate bench goes off a bit of a cliff. Phil Gosselin brings positional flexibility to the table, but his career wRC+ of 93 leaves a lot to be desired. Alen Hanson, the next man up, can play a lot of positions, but none of them overly well, and he has not proven he can hit at all.