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Breaking Down the Depth in the Pirates’ 2017 Rotation

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BRADENTON, Fla. – The first group of pitchers during bullpen sessions today featured the heart of the Pirates’ rotation. Ivan Nova, Gerrit Cole, and Jameson Taillon were grouped together for the very first bullpen session of Spring Training, with Pirates’ closer Tony Watson rounding out the group. Perhaps no group is more important to the success of the 2017 team than those four pitchers.

Watson’s importance is more of a smaller scale issue, with the Pirates needing him to bounce back from a poor 2016 season to lock down the late innings. But if the rotation has another year like last year, it won’t matter if Watson bounces back, as there won’t be many opportunities to get him the ball with the lead.

The Pirates had some problems last year with injuries and poor performances from their starting pitchers. So far, Cole has been healthy this year, experiencing a normal offseason after a year of injuries and rehab. The Pirates got a boost from Taillon and Nova in the second half, and will hope to get more of the same from day one in 2017. That should put the Pirates in a much better situation this year than the start of last season.

“We love the upside of the rotation,” Pirates’ General Manager Neal Huntington said. “Gerrit Cole healthy again, and being Gerrit Cole. Jameson Taillon, if he continues to grow and develop the things we saw last year in his half season. Chad Kuhl, we saw in his half season the growth and development there. The upside of some of the guys that are capable of filling roles. There’s a lot of upside.”

While Huntington loved the upside, Pirates’ Manager Clint Hurdle praised the experience of the trio at the top.

“I like the fact that we’ve got guys with experience,” Hurdle said. “We’ve got a guy like Nova that’s still 30. He’s only 30 years old and he’s got the experience he has. Cole has valuable experience through challenges and through the success. Taillon, how about his mindset coming through this spring compared to last spring? He’s in the rotation. He’s earned his spot. Chad Kuhl did some really serious work for us. Some really blue collar work for us. He’s getting every opportunity to maintain and hold down a rotation spot.”

It’s interesting that both Huntington and Hurdle focused on Chad Kuhl right after that group. It’s not really a surprise, since the Pirates have been high on Kuhl, and see him as a starting option. Huntington said today that he will have an inside track for one of the final two spots on Opening Day.

“Chad Kuhl comes in on the inside track, based on what he did in his half-season in the big leagues last year,” Huntington said. “Especially when we take into consideration he really wasn’t the Chad Kuhl that had success in Triple-A. There was more ground ball oriented, more bottom of the zone oriented [in Triple-A]. Chad is an incredible competitor. Adrenalin probably got the best of him and elevated a few more pitches. His ability to add and subtract, and the feel and compete, and just make some big pitches when he needed to. Now we get him a year in, get him to get the ball down in the zone, get that sink back again, let the changeup and slider work for him. He should be in a position.”

If Kuhl makes the rotation, that leaves a battle for the final spot, with Huntington mentioning Drew Hutchison, Tyler Glasnow, Steven Brault, and Trevor Williams as the contenders. He said that Hutchison gets legitimate consideration due to his experience, while Glasnow gets the same type of consideration due to his ceiling. He also praised Brault, and while that addition would give the group a left-hander, Huntington said that wasn’t overly important.

“Perfect world, you want a balance in your rotation, but we also want to take the five guys that we feel put us in a position to win most consistently,” Huntington said of Brault. “Prior to the hamstring, Brault was a different guy than we saw at the Major League level last year. More power, more quality, more crispness of the stuff. If that guy is back again, he’s going to open some eyes.”

Williams trails in the group, but Huntington praised his ability to put balls on the ground, get some swings and misses, and said he could fit in an MLB rotation. Huntington also noted that they will stretch Wade LeBlanc out during Spring Training and give him a look as a starting option. Finally, there’s a second half option in Nick Kingham, who is returning from Tommy John surgery.

“A guy that we’re looking for at some point, probably later in the season than early in the season, would be Nick Kingham,” Huntington said. “Nick has gotten pushed aside because of the injury, but he’s a guy who is still on our radar, and a guy that we’re still excited about. Again, much like Taillon, the expectation is that he’s going to be ready a little bit later because of the injury and coming back from it.”

The Pirates have plenty of options for the back of the rotation, making it more likely this year that they will have someone stepping up, or someone to fill in for an injury or poor performance. The top of the rotation looks to be in a better place with a healthy Cole, and full seasons from Taillon and Nova. The back of the rotation looks good with plenty of available options and plenty of depth. And the Pirates will probably need all of that depth at some point.

“You need a heck of a lot more than five starters,” Huntington said. “We’re going to start the season with five starters, and then we’re going to need another five probably before the end of the year. So you want to make sure you keep your depth. You want to make sure you take a good pitching staff north. We’ve got a ton of options in the bullpen. Some of our young starters, one or two might end up in the bullpen. But we want to make sure we have multiple starters in Triple-A that are ready to come up when we have a need, because unfortunately, history shows us that there will be a need.”

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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