The Pittsburgh Pirates Need To Promote Geoff Hartlieb

The Pittsburgh Pirates will almost assuredly need to promote a reliever from the minor leagues on Tuesday, and there is only one pitcher that it should be

On Monday night, just about everything that could go wrong for the Pittsburgh Pirates did. In a 12-4 loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the team struggled with runners in scoring position, Elias Diaz had a big defensive folly, and the bullpen imploded.

Part of the bullpen implosion comes with an asterisk, though. This is because righty Nick Burdi was pitching with an injury starting to form. After allowing a home run in the 7th inning and three straight hits to start the 8th inning, Burdi exited the game after throwing a pitch to Jarrod Dyson and falling to his knees in pain.

Following the game the Pirates announced that he left the game with right elbow and bicep pain. This does not paint a pretty picture for a pitcher that has already undergone Tommy John Surgery and has been through hell and back to reach the MLB level.

While the primary concern here is the health of Burdi. Especially after all he’s been through to get to this point, the construction of the Pirate roster is a factor, too. Assuming Burdi is placed on the injured list, the team will be looking for a reliever.

The easy move for the Pirates would be to promote one of the pitchers at Triple-A that already have logged MLB innings with the Bucs. Righties Clay Holmes, Dovydas Neverauskas, and Michael Feliz all come to mind as pitchers that fit this mold. As does lefty Steven Brault who was optioned back to Triple-A to create a roster spot for the returning Gregory Polanco on Monday.

None of these pitchers should earn the promotion to Pittsburgh. Instead, it should be righty Geoff Hartlieb. The 25-year-old Hartlieb is a future member of the Pirate bullpen, and, in a move that would follow a recent trend, the future needs to be now.

So far this season the Pirates have already turned to a youth movement by promoting outfielders Bryan Reynolds and Jason Martin, as well as shortstop Cole Tucker to the MLB level. Each of these three moves have worked out for the Pirates.

In 29 plate appearances Martin is slashing .296/.345/.370 with a wRC+ of 97. Reynolds with 5-for-10 with two doubles since being promoted on Saturday. Tucker, who was also promoted to the Majors on Saturday, is 3-for-10 with a home run, two doubles, and a walk. He has also played an outstanding shortstop.

Assuming Burdi is injured, the Pirates need to continue their youth movement by promoting Hartlieb. In 8 innings pitched this season for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians Hartlieb has allowed just five hits while posting a 0.00 ERA. While he has walked eight batters, he’s also struck out nine to go along with a healthy 56% ground ball rate. His strikeouts and ground ball rate have helped Hartlieb work around his early season control issues.

Hartleib’s control issues should not be much of a red flag. He posted a 9.6% walk rate at Double-A last season, 6.9% at High-A in 2017, and a 4.9% walk rate at Low-A in 2017. Hartlieb has never had control issues in the past, and a small sample size from early in the season should not create concern.

Hartlieb is also a pitcher the Pirates are high on. During Grapefruit League play, Clint Hurdle went to Hartlieb regularly with runners on base to clean up messes. More times than not, Hartlieb put the fire out.

Yes, it was just Grapefruit League play but Hurdle and the Pirates were not shy about signing Hartlieb’s praises following these outings. Hurdle routinely mentioned Hartlieb’s ability to stay calm in those situations and pitch out of them. He also mentioned Hartlieb as a big part of the future of the Pirate bullpen. Well, with Burdi presumably injured, the future needs to be now.