Nick Kingham Needs a Permanent Spot in the Pirate Starting Rotation

Rookie righty Nick Kingham should have a permanent spot in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ starting rotation

While the Pittsburgh Pirates currently own a 26-20 record and are just 1.5 games out of first place in the National League Central Division, their starting rotation still leaves a lot to be desired. Entering play on Sunday the Bucs’ rotation ranked 9th in the National League in ERA (4.13) and FIP (4.29), while checking in at12th in home runs allowed (33) and strikeout rate (19.4%).

These results are not good enough to maintain the 91 win pace the Pirates currently have. The starting rotation should get a boost on Friday when Joe Musgrove is activated off the disabled list. However, there is another move that needs to be done to bolster the starting rotation – giving Nick Kingham a permanent spot.

In his Major League debut against the Cardinals, Kingham took a perfect game into the 7th inning. He would go on to pitch 7 innings of shutout ball on that day.

His most recent start, despite allowing 3 runs in 6 innings of work, was arguably even more impressive.

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Kingham issued a 1-out walk in the top of the 1st inning on Saturday night before allowing three consecutive hits to plate 3 Padre runs. After this, Kingham settled in and dominated retiring 17 of the last 19 batters he faced.

Many veteran pitchers, let alone rookies, would have crumbled after starting a game the way Kingham did on Saturday. Kingham, however, did the complete opposite and would shut the Padres down the rest of the night.

After three starts Kingham owns the best FIP (2.60), strikeout rate (30.4%), and walk rate (2.9%) of the six starting pitchers the Pirates have used this season. Yet, following his start on Saturday night he was optioned back to Triple-A Indianapolis.

If all five Pirate starters were pitching well this would be a completely different conversation. That is nowhere near the case, though.

Chad Kuhl, who has minor league options remaining, has pitched poorly for the Pirates this season. In his nine starts he owns a 4.53 ERA, 4.82 FIP, and he has already allowed 8 home runs. He has also struggled with control walking 8.5% of opposing batters, to go along with three wild pitches and a pair of hit batters. Optioning Kuhl to Triple-A in exchange for Kingham is a move that would improve the Pirate rotation.

Kuhl has not been the only problem with the Pirate rotation this year, he just has options. Jameson Taillon and Trevor Williams have minor league options as well, but neither of them are going anywhere. Ivan Nova has had plenty of struggles this season, but with his contract he will not be removed from the starting rotation.

The fact of the matter, though, is that Nick Kingham needs a permanent spot in the Pirate starting rotation. It is up to the Pirates to figure out how to make that happen.