The Pirates will be sending some of the players who don’t make the opening day roster a little down the road on the North Shore.
Heinz Field will be one of three alternate training sites the Pirates will use for the 2021 season. The others are PNC Park and Charles L. Cost Field at the University of Pittsburgh.
The Pirates will be using a Heinz Field locker room as the clubhouse for the players in camp. If the Pirates are on the road, workouts will be held at PNC Park. If they are at home, they will be at Charles L. Cost Field. They will also play the alternate site teams of the Tigers in Toledo, Ohio, the Indians in Columbus, Ohio and the Reds in Louisville, Ky. All of those contests will be on the road.
“The Pirates organization is extremely grateful to both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the University of Pittsburgh for allowing our players and staff to use their first-class facilities during the first month of the season,” general manager Ben Cherington said in a team statement. “It is a great example of the unique bond each of the professional teams and Pitt share with each other and part of what makes Pittsburgh such a special place.”
These alternate sites will host mostly players who would have made the AAA team in Indianapolis, giving the Pirates easy access to players in case they need to call someone up early in the season.
Major League Baseball came up with the idea of alternate sites last year after the minor-league season was cancelled. Outside of some initial trouble on the league’s side to get some COVID-19 testing done while they were in the intake process, the Pirates’ camp went smoothly.
Minor-league spring training for players not in major league camp will start once the Pirates leave Bradenton, Fla.
It’s not known how long the league will be using alternate sites this year. The Pirates' arrangements with the Steelers and Pitt is through April.
Last year the Pirates used Peoples Natural Gas Field, the stadium of its Class AA affiliate Altoona Curve, as the alternate site. While the Curve offered their stadium again, the Pirates wanted to make sure that they could properly prepare for their own regular season, which is set to get started on May 4.
It’s not known who will be running the site this year. Last year, it was the AAA coaching staff of manager Brian Esposito, pitching coach Joel Hanrahan and hitting coach Jon Nunnally.