Platoon Splits for the Pirates' Top Bullpen Candidates
Something to bear in mind as they piece together the puzzle
Below are the platoon splits for the relievers who appear most likely to make the Pirates’ bullpen out of spring training, or to appear in Pittsburgh at some point not too late in the season. The splits seem especially worth some attention because the Pirates have made clear they’re going to try to piece together a bullpen out of disparate parts, rather than bring in several dominant relievers.
The splits below are career major league splits, hence no Mike Burrows or Braxton Ashcraft. I also left out Johan Oviedo because he’s more likely to be starting. I have doubts about whether minor league splits mean much once a pitcher is in the majors. Also, bear in mind that some of these are still small sample sizes, such as with Kyle Nicolas and Hunter Stratton. The figures you see are opponents’ OPS.
Left-Handers
Caleb Ferguson: No split - LHH .708, RHH, .702
Tim Mayza: Large split - LHH .573, RHH .820
Joey Wentz: Large split - LHH .674, RHH .849
Ryan Borucki: Large split - LHH .557, RHH .820
Right-Handers
David Bednar: No split - LHH .650, RHH .657
Colin Holderman: Small split - LHH .692, RHH .645
Dennis Santana: Small reverse split - LHH .675, RHH .696
Kyle Nicolas: Large reverse split - LHH .631, RHH - .786
Carmen Mlodzinski: Small reverse split - LHH .592, RHH .636
Peter Strzelecki: Large split - LHH .792, RHH - .567
Hunter Stratton: Large split - LHH .888, RHH - .538
One thing you can see is that the guys positioned right now as the best candidates to take the late innings — Bednar, Holderman, and Santana — don’t have splits of any significance. That’s probably a good thing. The same is true of Mlodzinski and Ferguson, both of whom could see late-inning action.
The main exception is Nicolas, with the big reverse split. I’m not sure of the reason for this and it could be statistical noise. His most effective pitches last year, his only significant major league time, were his fastball and curve, while his slider wasn’t so effective. He’s reportedly adding a change, which could make him still more effective against left-handed hitters.
The three lefties apart from Ferguson — Mayza, Wentz, and Borucki — all probably need to be used as much as possible as situational guys. Depending on how much stock you put in Nicolas’ reverse split, you might hesitate to have him and two of those three lefties in the pen at the same time.
The other two relievers with big splits are Strzelecki and Stratton, both of whom rely heavily on sliders. They might be best suited to enter in tough situations mid-game to face right-handed hitters, and might not be suited for multi-inning relief.
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One thing I didn't add above but probably should have -- The guy in here who seems best suited to a multi-inning relief role is Ferguson, and the Pirates in fact suggested they might get him stretched out.
I will throw this out here one more time that I think former first round pick(31st) Carmen Mlodzinski has the arm for more innings. I think when he broke in the majors he had a high-intensity bull dog mentality which didn't work for multiple innings. Watching his pre-game approach several times last year, his preparation and mentality seems to be more calm and fitted for a starter. I wouldn't mind seeing him stretch out his innings this year to be a piggy-back starter. ( I know I am in the minority on this one.)