BRADENTON, Fla. – The Pirates cut four of their starting pitching prospects from MLB camp yesterday, with General Manager Neal Huntington talking several times about how much depth the organization now has in the upper levels.
That depth started to arrive last year, when Jameson Taillon, Chad Kuhl, Tyler Glasnow, Steven Brault, and Trevor Williams all made their MLB debuts. Taillon and Kuhl are now fixtures in the rotation, with Kuhl technically still battling for the number four spot in the rotation, but holding an inside track over everyone else. Glasnow, Brault, and Williams are all competing for the number five spot in the rotation this spring, and should all be up in some role this year, whether it’s because they have emerged as one of the best starting options, or for depth purposes.
More depth is on the way behind them. Nick Kingham and Clay Holmes were optioned to Indianapolis yesterday. Kingham is being viewed as a guy who can help out in the second half. Holmes might be ready in the second half, or late in the year similar to Brault and Williams last year. Tyler Eppler and Cody Dickson will likely start back in the Altoona rotation, despite spending the entire 2016 season at the level.
The Pirates will have three of Glasnow, Brault, Williams, and Drew Hutchison in the Triple-A rotation to start the year. They will be joined by Kingham and Holmes. Down in Altoona, Eppler and Dickson will be joined by another wave of prospects, with Brandon Waddell, Yeudy Garcia, and JT Brubaker likely making up the rest of that rotation. Things could be even more crowded by the second half, with Mitch Keller, Taylor Hearn, and/or Gage Hinsz making the jump from Bradenton.
As a result of all these pitchers, the Pirates will have a lot of depth from their prospects, along with a young rotation for years to come.
“It’s young,” Huntington said of the guys at the top levels. “So there’s risk that comes with youth, but we love the ceiling of the group, and love the collection of the different skills and the individual stuff as well as quality of people and the intelligence. The size, the strength, the delivery, the arm actions. The power sink that some of the guys have. The ability to use their fastball that some of the guys have. We like this group a lot. How it all comes together, and how it matures collectively and individually will be an important step for us.”
It’s not possible for all of these pitchers to make it as starters with the Pirates. There are only five rotation spots, and while a team will actually need closer to ten starters in a season, there are still more starting prospects in the minors than future rotation spots available. Some of those prospects won’t work out, which is always the unsaid risk with prospects. Some will get traded, which the Pirates have done with other pitching prospects over the years.
And then some of those prospects will have to eventually move to the bullpen, just because there won’t be space for them in the majors with the Pirates as starters. We might see that happen this year with some of the upper level guys, although expect the transition to happen in the minors first.
“One of the things we work hard to do is not ask somebody to do something they haven’t done before at the highest level,” Huntington said. “Even in Major League Spring Training, it’s uncomfortable for us to ask somebody to go play right field that maybe hasn’t played right field. It’s always awkward to ask a starter to come out of the bullpen. But in Spring Training you’ve got a more controlled environment. In a perfect world, if we’re going to ask somebody to come out of the bullpen, we would like to get them exposure in Triple-A, as we did with a few guys last August.”
The Pirates have a lot of starting options listed above who only profile as back of the rotation starters. Their projected rotation could be strong enough that a legit back of the rotation starter would either need to be stashed in Triple-A, or converted to a reliever. That means guys like Brault, Williams, Dickson, and Eppler might have a better chance of helping the Pirates out of the bullpen one day.
“The beauty of having so many optional starters is that we’ll have some optional relievers as well that we maybe force into that situation,” Huntington said. “But in a perfect world, we’ll introduce something we’re asking them to do at the Major League level while they’re in the minor league system.”
The Pirates do have some strong pitching depth in the upper levels, and it has started to spill over to the majors. That is currently helping their rotation, and soon enough, it will boost the bullpen as well.
