PITTSBURGH — I can’t confirm the rumors that Pirates general manager Neal Huntington crafted right-handed pitcher Jhan Mariñez in a factory. I can confirm that he’s just about everything the Pirates look for when it comes to making a pitcher acquisition.
Mariñez is a right-hander with a mid-90’s fastball. He throws a sinking two-seamer that’s helped him to a 57.4 percent ground-ball rate. His ERA is 5.40, but his secondary stats show promise for improvement. He has a 5.07 FIP and a 4.83 xFIP. He also comes with five years of control, including the 2017 season.
There’s a lot to like there, obviously, and Clint Hurdle said Saturday that Mariñez is a player that they’ve had on their radar for quite some time.
“We have had interest in the pitcher in the past,” Hurdle said. “He had a very successful campaign last year. He can sink the ball and pitch multiple innings. If things were rolling for him right now we wouldn’t have been able to get him, but we like some of the indicators and feel like he can get back to have success again. We’ll give it a play, give a roll.”
Mariñez is available to pitch in longer innings, but with the sinking action and ground-ball rate, he could also profile to be a fireman-type that could come in with inherited runners when the Pirates need a double play. Mariñez stranded 16 of 26 inherited runners with the Brewers this season. The 26 opportunities were the most on the Milwaukee bullpen when he was designated for assignment.
On that front, Mariñez might end up being the spiritual successor to Jared Hughes in the Pirates’ bullpen. Hughes pitched in that role for several years before being claimed on waivers by the Brewers at the end of Spring Training. One of the reasons Mariñez was available was the fast start Hughes has had. He has a 2.20 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP in 17 appearances.
“There are certainly similarities,” Hurdle said. “(Mariñez) can come in and sink the ball with men on base, take us through one inning and get us into the next inning.”
Mariñez hasn’t pitched since May 14 and has just one appearance since May 9, but he said he’s been throwing at home in Miami since being designated for assignment and will be available out of the bullpen on Saturday.
WHY MAKE THE MOVE?
The bullpen has been pretty solid for the Pirates recently, despite a large workload placed on them by some ineffective starts. But the Pirates have had to do some reshuffling to the back-end recently.
With Daniel Hudson struggling, he’s been moved out of a high-leverage situation for his last few appearances, pushing Felipe Rivero from the seventh inning to the eighth. That’s led to more opportunities for higher leverage situations for Wade LeBlanc and Juan Nicasio, but those are also some of the options Hurdle has to use in longer outing. Most longer outings are lower leverage, so Mariñez’ ability to go two innings as a bridge to those players will be a welcome addition.
Hudson, meanwhile, will continue to get in work and try to get back on track after posting a 6.88 ERA and a 1.82 WHIP thus far. He pitched back-to-back scoreless outings in his last two appearances and allowed just one base runner over two innings pitched.
“I think the way he’s pitched (on the home stand) is something you can build on,” Hurdle said. “We met after Arizona and talked about something different environmental situations where he could work things out. I think it’s helped. He’s starting to make the progress he needs to make. Now, it all comes down to executing when it comes game time.”
TIMING IS EVERYTHING
Josh Lindblom threw 33 pitches Friday night. Saturday, he landed on the disabled list as the move to open a spot for Mariñez. Mariñez was acquired before Lindblom pitched on Friday, so the injury — left side discomfort — seems to have just come up at a convenient time for the Pirates.
“He contacted us this morning,” Hurdle said. “We met with him and then the training staff met with him. He doesn’t know if it was the volume of innings or pitches he threw (last night) that contributed to it or not.”
Thirty-three pitches isn’t a lot for Lindlbom, who was stretched out as a starter in the spring, but his previous two outings were 87 and 65 pitches, respectively, giving him 180 pitches in 11 days.
