P2Daily: The Pirates Have Pitching Talent, But Lack Results So Far

The Pittsburgh Pirates are going to need pitching before they contend again.

In the early part of the 2022 MLB season, they’ve had the 28th ranked WAR among pitching staffs, along with the 25th or lower rankings in ERA, FIP, and xFIP.

That’s similar to where this team was in 2021, universally having one of the worst pitching groups.

One positive so far this year is that the offense has gone from bottom of the MLB to middle of the pack. But that pitching is still going to need to show up.

The Pirates have talent. Among the guys we’ve seen in the majors so far, I think that Roansy Contreras, Mitch Keller, JT Brubaker, Wil Crowe, David Bednar, and a few others could pitch on the next contending team.

Whether any of those guys are starters, or in traditional roles is another question.

The Pirates have pitching prospects in the minors beyond Contreras. They’ve got the Altoona group of starters, highlighted by Quinn Priester, Mike Burrows, and Carmen Mlodzinski. That group could start to arrive in the next year.

Still, whether any of those guys remain starters is still in question.

The Pirates have pitching talent right now, between their struggling MLB pitching staff and their emerging farm system. They also have a chance to get creative with all of these arms, departing from traditional starter roles to maximize production. In an early, small sample size, we’ve seen this work well for Crowe.

Of course, they’ll need a few starters who can be counted on for starter innings every five days.

They have candidates to emerge in that role in 2022.

I think a big focus, in what will inevitably be a losing 2022 season, will be watching to see which of these pitching options can emerge as a regular starter, and which ones can still provide value in a non-traditional role.