The Pirates' Bullpen -- Current Status

Lots of choices, but are they good enough?

Carmen Mlodzinski Photo Credit: WTM

So far this offseason, we’re still waiting for the Pirates to address their two most glaring holes: right field and the bullpen. On the subject of the latter, they’ve accumulated a lot of players who could theoretically compete for bullpen roles in spring training, just not anybody who stands out as an obvious addition.

I thought I’d summarize the possibilities as they stand right now. I’m strictly going to look at current players who seem to be in a position to vie for a role in the spring, so this won’t include, for instance, Dauri Moreta, who won’t be back yet, and it won’t include prospects who are a ways away.

I’m also going to leave aside the question of guys like, say, Braxton Ashcraft or Mike Burrows, moving into a role similar to what Luis Ortiz performed early in 2024. This will be guys who profile as relievers who could conceivably win spots in March, including relievers who will likely be in camp as non-roster invitees. And I won’t cover David Bednar, who obviously will be on the team but whose role is a subject in itself.

40-Man Roster

Colin Holderman: These first two pitchers have to be the favorites right now to take setup roles. Holderman’s had a consistent pattern in his time with the Pirates. He’s outstanding for long stretches, then has a bad stretch and ends up on the injured list for a while with some minor, nagging injury. He’s really good when he’s 100%. We just have to hope he can have 50-60 healthy games and that the Pirates will be realistic when he’s not 100%.

Dennis Santana: In his first game after the Pirates claimed him off waivers from the Yankees last June, Santana had a major meltdown. From that point on, he was the team’s best reliever. He’s been inconsistent throughout his career, but the Statcast data shows he gave up very little good contact in 2024. He’s had control problems in the past, but it’s improved in recent seasons, and he was excellent with the Pirates.

Carmen Mlodzinski: Mlodzinski has things in common with both Holderman and Santana. He had a good but not great 2024 that was disrupted by injuries that probably affected his performance for a bit, and he showed an ability to limit hard contact, although he didn’t miss as many bats as Santana. He may profile as a very solid middle reliever, but he’s actually relatively new to pitching.

He converted to the mound in college, but the pandemic cut down on his playing time there — he actually drew prospect-type notice with a big summer ball season, which is something that seems to attract the Pirates, and he threw only 200 innings in the minors. In 2024, Mlodzinski cut down on his fastball usage and added a cutter, although the fastball remains his best pitch. So there may be more to come here.

Kyle Nicolas: Other than Bednar, Nicolas may have the best stuff in the team’s bullpen, including 94th-percentile fastball velocity. The issue, of course, is control — you probably remember his contribution to the notorious bullpen meltdown in Paul Skenes’ first start. Nicolas improved over the course of the season, but throwing strikes remains an issue. It might help the effectiveness of his two breaking balls, which didn’t get good results in 2024, according to Statcast. For now, the Pirates seem inclined to give Nicolas opportunities. He has two options left.

Joey Wentz: The lone left-handed reliever on the 40-man roster, and the only lefty in this list, Wentz is a former 40th-overall draft pick who moved to relief in 2024 after not finding success as a starter. He pitched just passably for the Tigers until the Pirates claimed him off waivers late in the season. He pitched well in 12 innings with the Pirates. He throws 93-94 mph and has added a cutter, which may help as his previous secondary pitches were regarded as fringy. His control isn’t great and he’s had a lot of trouble with right-handed hitters in the majors. Wentz has no options.

Elvis Alvarado: I’m not absolutely sure about Alvarado’s status. According to reports from early December, the Pirates signed him to a split contract. There’s never been any official announcement, though, and there’s nothing on MLB.com or MiLB.com that shows him signing with the Pirates. It could just be a paperwork delay or maybe there was an issue with his physical. Anyway, Alvarado originally signed with the Nationals way back in 2015 as an outfielder but moved to the mound in 2018.

He misses a lot of bats with an upper-90s fastball and a slider, but command problems kept him stuck in the low minors until 2024. He got to AAA last year, where he walked seven per nine innings and struck out 13. Assuming he does indeed end up with the Pirates on a split contract, it’d be his first time on a 40-man roster, so he’d have three options. He’d obviously be a project and wouldn’t be likely to make the team out of spring training,

Peter Strzelecki: Strzelecki is a finesse righty who’s been exclusively a reliever as a pro. He has well below average fastball velocity and relies on good command of a wide assortment of pitches. He’s never overwhelmed anybody and didn’t make any top prospect lists, but he’s appeared in 77 games in the majors and posted a 3.44 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. He’s 30 now and has no options.

Non-Roster

Hunter Stratton: Stratton seemed to be established in the Pirates’ bullpen in 2024, putting up a 3.58 ERA after making the team out of spring training as an NRI. In July, though, he went out with a triceps strain, then a week after returning in late August he went out for good with a knee injury. It seemed bad at the time and the Pirates dropped him from the roster after the season before re-signing him on a minor league deal.

At last report, though, he was ahead of schedule in his rehab and might be ready for spring. Stratton throws in the mid-90s, but his more effective pitches are his cutter and slider. Like a lot of slider-heavy relievers on this list, he’s had significant platoon splits in the majors, although that might make him a good combination with Wentz given careful usage. Oddly, in AAA, Stratton had high walk and K rates, but in the majors, he’s had low rates of both. I don’t know what accounts for the divergence. Stratton still has three options.

Carson Fulmer: Fulmer was the eighth overall pick in the 2015 draft. He reached the majors the next year and very little has gone right since then. Whether due to being rushed or some other factor, he’s almost never pitched well. He has a career ERA of 5.38 in the majors, 4.90 in AAA, and 4.76 in AA. He was quickly out of options, and in an eight-month stretch from 2020-21, he was claimed off waivers eight times. That included twice by the Pirates, for whom he never pitched. Since then it’s been a succession of minor league deals, including one for 2025 with the Pirates. He was even claimed once in the minor league phase of Rule 5. The fact that teams keep taking fliers on him is a tribute to the lasting hype value of being such a high draft pick. Maybe the prospect guides should start coming with expiration dates.

Tanner Rainey: Rainey is another flier, but the issue is more straightforward: health. He pitched well in relief for Washington in 2020 and 2022, and decently in 2019. He had a down year in 2021. Rainey had Tommy John in 2023 and, in 2024, his stuff didn’t bounce back. His fastball dropped from 97-98 mph to 94 and his slider lost much of its break. He appeared in 50 games with the Nationals and put up weak numbers across the board, leading them to non-tender him. Late in the season, FanGraphs posted an article saying that Rainey was on pace to have the lowest-leverage reliever season ever, as the Nats used him strictly in blowouts. So the Pirates, no doubt, will be looking to see whether his stuff bounces back. If added to the 40-man roster, he can’t be optioned.

Isaac Mattson: Mattson pitched well most of the way through the minors, but he struggled once he reached AAA in 2021-22 and ended up in independent ball. The Pirates picked him up last year and he was possibly the best reliever at Indianapolis. He appeared in three games in the majors near the end of the season, was removed from the roster after the season, and re-signed on a minor league deal. Mattson throws about 93 mph with a curve and a change. He has a history of missing a lot of bats; when he has trouble it’s usually due to his control. He has two options left.

Yohan Ramirez: Ramirez has settled in as a reliever teams are comfortable picking up when they need a bullpen arm. The result, which isn’t uncommon when you run out of options, is that he’s moved around a ton over the last several years. Starting in 2022, he was either traded for cash or claimed off waivers eight times. Boston outrighted him last August and he became a free agent after the season, signing a minor league deal with the Pirates.

Ramirez’s best stint in the majors was actually with the Pirates: 22 games in 2022 and 26 in 2023. He had exactly a 3.67 ERA both times, although his xFIP both years was a good bit higher. He throws in the mid-90s, although his velocity has been variable, and he misses a lot of bats with a slider. He also misses the strike zone a lot. His problems have mainly been that, as well as a large platoon split, as he’s another slider-heavy reliever who struggles with opposite-handed hitters.

Yerry Rodriguez: Rodriguez throws a 96 mph fastball with good movement that produced high K rates in the minors. His secondary stuff, though, grades out as well below average and he’s struggled at the AAA level. He got into 30 big league games with Texas and Toronto over the past three seasons and put up an ERA of 8.17, with control problems and significant gopher ball trouble. The Jays outrighted him last September; he became a free agent and signed a minor league deal with the Pirates. He has no options left.

So, can you cobble together a good bullpen from this list?

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