Kyle Nicolas looks to ride momentum with Pirates
Reliever looks to carry Triple-A play into prolonged major league stay.
In recent history, Kyle Nicolas has required a period to gain his footing and confidence. Having now surpassed that, he is looking to strike while the iron is hot early in his Major League career.
He pitched a perfect eighth inning and struck out two in his first big league appearance of 2024 on Sunday.
Nicolas, who was promoted by the Pirates last week, made four 2023 Major League appearances. While his numbers didn’t look great on the surface, most of the damage was in his debut, when he allowed six runs on three hits and two walks. Following that outing, he worked five innings, yielding just a single run on four hits while striking out seven.
“I think we kind of saw (the good feel) a little bit last year,” Nicolas said. “Then toward the end of the year was a good run. I think it’s just carrying that into this year.”
So far, the 25-year-old righty has done just that.
Overall, Nicolas passed through three levels in 2023 with mixed success. Consistent with what he experienced in the big leagues, he improved as the season went along in his first go-around in Triple-A. Nicolas allowed 32 hits and 26 runs over his first eight games with Indianapolis. In his final 22 innings at the level last season, he allowed just 10 hits and five runs.
The only downside with Nicolas is that he is consistently going to allow walks. He has the stuff to miss bats, and the strikeouts will always be there. With experience, Nicolas has been able to limit the damage with balls in play. If he can continue his recent trend, this could be a lengthy stay with the Pirates.
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I'll have to look at updates, but I know Stuff+ models loved Nicolas last year
The stuff looked good to me last night, if he can just throw strikes then he should have success. I think the stuff is good enough that he wont even need great command, just better control