Similar to the phoenix from the Harry Potter series, the once strong Pittsburgh Pirates pitching depth may be rising from the ashes a bit after appearing to flame out.
Coming into the 2015 season, the team’s pitching depth was considered a strength, as pitchers like Jameson Taillon, Nick Kingham, Brandon Cumpton, Casey Sadler and Clayton Richard were expected to be the team’s top pitching depth options. Instead, the former four players are now unavailable due to injury, while Richard was sold to the Chicago Cubs last week.
The team’s depth has undoubtedly suffered some serious blows this year, but a group of unheralded pitchers are helping ease those losses.
If the original depth was a grown phoenix in all its glory, then the current group is the reborn bird. It may not be as strong as it once was, but it gives reason for optimism that things will be okay.
The first pitcher in this group is Deolis Guerra. Guerra spent a decade bouncing around the minors before signing a minor league contract with the Pirates last November. He made his big league debut in late June, and has had a positive impact in his brief time in the Majors.
Guerra was called up shortly after the Pirates had a flurry of extra inning games the exhausted the bullpen, as well as after Rob Scahill went on the disabled list. So far it has been seven straight scoreless innings and two wins to start Guerra’s big league career; he has not given up a run since May 25 when he was with AAA Indianapolis.
It remains to be seen if Guerra’s success with the Pirates will continue – he has only pitched in four games for them after all. But so far he has done exactly what he was called up to do, help preserve the bullpen when some of the other arms need a night off, and then some.
The next unheralded pitcher stepping up to the occasion is Angel Sanchez. The right-hander parlayed an 8-1 record and 2.79 ERA at AA Altoona into a promotion to Indianapolis, and has not seemed to have missed a beat. In four starts for the Indians, he is 3-0 with a 2.88 ERA. He has shown some nice command, walking less than two hitters per nine innings, while his K/9 ratio is 7.6. Between his last two starts Sanchez has given up one run while striking out 16.
Like with Guerra, it is too soon to say if Sanchez can keep this type of performance up, especially considering some of Sanchez’s inconsistent periods this season. But if he finally has turned the corner, he gives the Pirates another bullpen or backend of the rotation option.
The next player is Radhames Liz. It is tough to call Liz an unknown, since he started the year in the Pirate bullpen after signing a one-year $1 million contract with them over the winter. Liz struggled in 17.1 innings with the club, when he gave up 20 hits and walked 10. He was not terrible, but was still outrighted to Indianapolis when Charlie Morton returned from the disabled list in late May.
After a brief stint in the Indians’ bullpen, he was moved to the rotation where he may have re-invented himself. In his first start, he threw four innings and struck out six, followed by seven strikeouts in five innings, then eight strikeouts in six innings, all while giving up only one run and walking three in this stretch. The right-hander’s fastball has been sitting between 95-97 MPH, going has high as 99 MPH.
It is only four starts in AAA for the 31-year-old, but it is encouraging that Liz’s control has improved. If he can keep up his new found success as a starter, Liz is likely to get back to the Majors at some point before year’s end.
Players like Guerra, Sanchez and Liz are not going to completely return the quality of the Pirates pitching depth to what it was at the start of the season. The original top options were top and mid-tier prospects, while the next group of pitchers is mostly unheralded journeymen.
But, like the phoenix, the Pirates depth has had a bit of a rebirth, and gives some hope that they can keep the winning going if called upon.
