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Edgar Santana Should Be In The Pirate Bullpen
By Marty Leap
It’s time for a shake up in the Pirate bullpen
So far this season the Pirate bullpen has been anchored by Felipe Rivero, Juan Nicasio, and Wade LeBlanc who have all been excellent. Daniel Hudson and Tony Watson have been up and down, and the rest of the bullpen has been a mess.
The Pirates have a very strong bullpen option at Triple-A Indianapolis in the form of right-handed pitcher Edgar Santana. It is time for Santana to be promoted to the Major Leagues and help the Pirate bullpen.
Edgar Santana has pitched in 19 games so far this season for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians. In these 19 games, he has pitched 28 2/3 innings and he has allowed just 20 hits and a 1 home run. He is averaging 8.79 K/9, 1.88 BB/9, and he owns a 49.3 percent ground ball rate.
He owns a 1.57 ERA, 2.43 FIP, and a 3.03 xFIP at Triple-A. He is also not allowing much hard contact, as his line drive rate against is just 17.8 percent.
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Santana throws a plus fastball, but his best pitch is his slider. His slider has is a wipeout pitch that helps him to rack up strikeouts, and this pitch has the ability to be a great one in the Major Leagues.
Inserting Edgar Santana into the Pirate bullpen would not be difficult, either. Johnny Barbato has options remaining and has been awful for the Pirates this season. Hell, even if he did not have options remaining designating him for assignment would not exactly be heartbreaking.
Since being promoted from Triple-A, Barbato has pitched 19 1/3 innings for the Pirates. He has allowed 18 hits, 3 home runs, and is averaging 5.12 BB/9. He owns a 4.19 ERA, 5.52 FIP, and a 5.45 xFIP.
Opposing batters have been teeing off on Johnny Barbato. Opposing batters own a 40 percent hard contact rate and a 26.8 percent line drive rate against Barbato. Both of these numbers are disturbingly high.
To be honest, there is no reason to keep Edgar Santana in Triple-A any longer. Not only has he earned it with his performance, with how poorly Johnny Barbato has pitched he should no longer be in the Major Leagues.
Next: Bucs Lose Wild One In Finale vs DBacks
Edgar Santana has all of the tools needed to be a very good reliever at the Major League level. The time has come for the Pittsburgh Pirates to promote Santana allowing him to begin that Major Leauge career.