There are so many things you can say about the 2022 edition of the Pittsburgh Pirates — some good, a lot bad but one thing that is certainly worth mentioning is the progress of the rotation.
When the season started, it seemed one of their weaknesses. They have slowly molded the rotation into perhaps their biggest strength at the moment.
As we wind down the 2022 season, things are really falling into place for the Pirates to have something going into 2023 that they haven’t had in some time — real, actual starting depth.
The starters have been solid in the month of September for the Pirates, posting a collective 3.59 ERA (Bryse Wilson’s outing when he came in after an opener was used towards this data), while walking 47 and striking out 103 across 112 2/3 innings.
They’ve had some really great outings, the seven shutout innings on Saturday by Johan Oviedo (Photo above by David Hague), as well as some clunkers — JT Brubaker allowed five earned runs in three innings pitched in his last outing before heading to the Injured List. There’s also been some in-between, Roansy Contreras striking out 10 in 4 2/3 innings but allowed six earned runs as well.
The point is, the Pirates actually have options, with even more on the way at some point next year.
Contreras, Brubaker and Mitch Keller seem like the favorites to lead the rotation next year, with Johan Oviedo quickly becoming a legitimate option. The recently acquired right-handed pitcher is becoming a starter again, after St. Louis shifted him to the bullpen this season.
Bryse Wilson is showing upside as someone who can come back and forth between the majors and minors to make a start whenever called upon. Luis Ortiz is also quickly throwing his name into the competition for rotation spot in 2023.
That’s not even counting potentially Quinn Priester, Mike Burrows, Carmen Mlodzinski, and Kyle Nicolas, among others, who could also be looking to be making their major league debuts next season.
If the last two years have told us anything is that, there is no amount of depth that is too much depth and the fact that a pitching prospect could be a numbers casualty and have to restart in Altoona would be a good thing for the system in general.
Other Notes
— If there was more than a week left in the season, I would say that if you are looking for a fringe guy to use the free 40-man spot on who may be ‘deserving’ of a promotion, there may not be a better name or fit than Jared Oliva. He’s played amazing defense, and has been hitting the cover off the ball.
He’s also right-handed, meaning the Diego Castillo experiment in right field could finally end. Although that could be a sign that Castillo is fighting for his life to keep a roster spot, it just hasn’t helped and ultimately cost the Pirates the other night when he got too close to Bryan Reynolds on a fly ball, eventually allowing a couple of runs to score.
— If there was an odd name I would have liked to see in the Arizona Fall League solely off his performance in September, it’s Mason Martin. He went through a huge slump during the season, and went an entire month without hitting a home run. Within that time, he fixed some of the issues he had previously, low walk rate, a lot of strikeouts but wasn’t hitting for power.
Now the power is starting to come through, and it would have been really nice if the season was a little longer to see if he could continue it.
— It wouldn’t shock me in the least if Zach Thompson becomes 2022 Wil Crowe in 2023. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did well in that role as well. He struck out four in two innings on Saturday, allowing just two hits and a walk.
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