Bullpen Role Suiting Valentin Linarez In Greensboro

After a tough start to the season pitching out the rotation, a shift to the bullpen has yielded better results for Valentin Linarez

Making the jump from Single to High-A is much a bigger step than some would think. There have been plenty of pitchers over the last couple of years that put up strong numbers in Bradenton but struggled moving up to High-A.

Back in 2021, Valentin Linarez jumped straight from the FCL to Greensboro to make two starts at the end of the season. Going into the following season, he went back to Single-A, where he put up some strong numbers while with the Marauders.

In 20 games, 17 of which were starts, the big right-handed pitcher struck out 88 batters in 80.2 innings pitched, posting a 4.13 ERA in the process. Maybe not the most impressive overall numbers, but he improved as the season wore on.

Not a guarantee to make that next jump, especially in Greensboro, Linarez struggled out the gate in 2023 as a part of the Grasshopper rotation.

In nine starts this season, Linarez has posted a 7.11 ERA while allowing 39 hits and 16 walks and striking out 24 in 25.1 innings pitched.

He was shifted to the bullpen as the Grasshoppers got rotation reinforcements (Thomas Harrington, JP Massey, and Derek Diamond), and from there he has looked a lot better.

Pitching out the bullpen 17 times this season, Linarez has held hitters to a .182 average (.355 as a starter), with a 3.14 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 28.2 innings pitched.

The Pirates left quite a few pitching prospect open to take in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft, which they in turn were hit hard by.

Linarez seems to be taken a similar path as a player taken in that draft - Domingo Gonzalez.

Now in the Braves system, Gonzalez showed a similar improvement in play once making the shift to the bullpen as a swing man of sorts. Despite pitching mainly as a reliever, Gonzalez managed to top 100 innings pitched, one of a handful to do it in the Pirates system last year.

It isn’t likely Linarez will find his way to the century mark when it comes to innings pitched, but he is certainly showing himself to be a valuable piece of the Greensboro bullpen.