Pittsburgh Pirates Minors: Jake Brentz Impresses In Triple-A Debut

A left-handed reliever prospect made an impressive Triple-A debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night

During his tenure as general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, one thing Neal Huntington has done well is trading players that seem to have no value whatsoever for an intriguing return. One of the biggest examples of this is when he traded relief pitcher Arquimedes Caminero to the Seattle Mariners in August of 2016.

At the time of the trade, Caminero owned a 4.76 FIP in 41 innings pitched. In those 41 innings pitched Caminero had serious control issues owning a 12% walk rate. He had also hit four batters, and thrown four wild pitches.

After the 2016 season ended, the Mariners would designate Caminero for assignment. This led to the righty spending two seasons pitching in Japan, before resurfacing in the New York Mets’ minor league system this season.

Despite his struggles, Huntington managed to land a pair of prospects for Caminero. The Bucs were able to net a pair of pitching prospects in Pedro Vasquez and Jake Brentz. The more intriguing of the two was Brentz.

Brentz is a left-handed reliever that possesses a power fastball. His fastball sits in the upper 90s, and has hit 100+ MPH in the past, and is completed by a sharp low 80s curveball. He has also started to dabble with a splitter that he has had some success with.

Brentz started the season with Double-A Altoona. After posting a 0.77 ERA and a 2.04 FIP. In 11 2/3 innings pitched, he walked just three batters and struck out 13. The low walk number was great to see as control problems have always plagued Brentz.

His success with the Curve led to him earning his first promotion to the Triple-A level. On Saturday, he made his debut for the Indianapolis Indians.

Pitching in relief of Eduardo Vera, Brentz looked good in his Triple-A debut. He pitched 2 innings, retired each batter he faced, and recorded three strikeouts. He threw 27 pitches with 20 of them being for strikes. Again, it was great to see the good control from Brentz.

If Brentz can continue to hone in his control, then he could be an excellent reliever for the Pittsburgh Pirates one day and soon. LHPs with the power fastball that Brentz possesses are not easy to find. Hopefully, his control continues to improve to give the Pirates another power lefty for their bullpen in the near future.