Carlson Reed made adjustments to the fastball heading into breakout 2024

Bucs on Deck 2024 Breakout Player of the Year talks adjustments to pitch arsenal

Photo Credit: WTM

Analytics has become a big part of the game, from the major league level all the way down. Teams and players are looking for whatever advantage they can find, both on the hitting and pitch side of things.

The Pirates have made great strides on the pitching side of things and, in turn, have one of the best stables of young arms in baseball.

One that emerged this year was Carlson Reed, their fourth-round pick out of West Virginia in 2023. Making the shift from the bullpen to the rotation for his first pro season, Reed emerged as the breakout player in the system after finishing behind only Bubba Chandler in strikeouts.

Keeping his mentality as a reliever into his time as a starter was a big reason for the success, but so was a little fine-tuning with his pitch arsenal.