Pittsburgh Pirates: Examining Potential 2023 Bullpen Arms

The Pittsburgh Pirates have an extremely deep farm system, but one area that they have a handful of young players at is relief pitching. So in a few years, what could the bullpen look like?

When the Pittsburgh Pirates were a postseason squad from 2013 to 2015, arguably their biggest strength was their bullpen. They rarely blew a lead once they started up the Shark Tank, boasting a pen that included Mark Melancon, Jason Grilli, Tony Watson, Jared Hughes, Jeanmar Gomez, Justin Wilson, and a handful of others. The bullpen has become some team’s greatest weapons, and by 2023, when the Pittsburgh Pirates should be ready to re enter competition, they could have a really strong bullpen.

Recently, we’ve went over what the Pirates’ line-up and rotation could look like in 2023. Their farm system is loaded with a ton of bullpen arms with a lot of potential. So today, let’s look at a handful of relief arms that the Pirates might be relying on out of the bullpen in a couple of seasons.

Geoff Hartlieb

2023 Opening Day Age: 29

Geoff Hartlieb has slowly become a hidden gem in the Pirate bullpen. Though he struggled in 2019 during his first call to the Majors, Hartlieb has some seriously impressive stuff. After all, just look at his Triple-A numbers. Through the 39.2 innings, the right hander pitched to the tune of a 2.50 ERA, 2.24 FIP, and 1.16 WHIP. He was a strikeout machine, getting 30.7% of the batters he faced on a third strike. He did have an unimpressive 9.2% walk rate, but he allowed no home runs on an absurd 63.2% ground ball rate. In a league where the long ball was king, he allowed no home runs, making that feat even more impressive.

Hartlieb mainly works with two pitches. His primary pitch in 2020 looks to be his sinker. He can throw it upwards of 94+ MPH, but it has some insane movement with 25-28 inches of vertical drop, and 15-16 inches of horizontal break. But it’s his slider that truly gets the strikeouts. The pitch sits in the 82-85 MPH range, but it also has some crazy movement too.

Hartlieb has put a lot more vertical movement on it so far this year, seeing it drop from 36.1 inches last year to 42.9 inches this year. But with 12.2 inches of horizontal break, it’s one of the best sliders in all of baseball. Last year with 8.8 inches of break, it ranked as the 30th break, and was one of 20 different pitchers to have a slider that was at least 100% better than the average break.

Hartlieb also has a change up which he has used sparingly compared to 2019, and hasn’t thrown his fastball yet, which is ok. His fastball had very little movement on it, but if he ever were to bring it back, all it might need is a small tweak speaking that it had 2479 RPM.

Blake Cederlind

2023 Opening Day Age: 27

Hard throwing right hander, Blake Cederlind, is probably the best known relief prospect the Pittsburgh Pirates have. Currently, he ranks as the organization’s 31st best prospect according to FanGraphs, and for a good reason.

Last year, Cederlind had a great breakout season at Double-A. Through 45.2 innings at Altoona, Cederlind had a 1.77 ERA, 3.06 FIP and 1.02 WHIP. He also only allowed one home run throughout his time at Double-A. Cederlind did struggle when he was moved to Triple-A, allowing 5 earned runs in six innings, but it was a very small amount of time, and he did get partially unlucky with a .435 opponent BAbip despite seeing his ground ball and fly ball rates move in the right direction.

Cederlind’s best pitch is his power fastball. FanGraphs gives the pitch a 65 future and current grade. It averages out in the high-90s, but Cederlind definitely can touch triple digits to blow it by batters. He also has a slider and change-up, but right now, they only are seen as future average pitches.

While the young right hander is good at limiting long balls, Cederlind needs to work on either striking out more batters, or drastically improving his walk rate. At Double-A, he had an 8.6% walk rate and 22.7% strikeout rate. Not bad numbers, but definitely could be better. However with his power fastball that can touch triple digits, Cederlind might see his strikeout rate improve.

Nick Mears

2023 Opening Day Age: 26

Nick Mears might rank as the team’s best relief prospect, coming in as the team’s 14th best prospect, but he isn’t as well known as Cederlind is. Mears was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2017 as an undrafted free agent, and has rocketed through their farm system.

In his first full professional season in 2019, Mears played at Low-A, High-A and Double-A. In total, he had a 3.28 ERA, 2.94 FIP and 1.05 WHIP across 46.2 innings of work. Mears struck out a ton of batters, racking up an eye popping 35.9% strikeout rate. While he did have a 9.4% walk rate, and 1.0 HR/9, two of the five home runs he gave up came in an 11.2 inning stint at Low-A ball, and his walk rate is pretty solid given his strikeout rate.

Mears works with two, above average pitches. His first is a 70 current and future grade fastball. Mears can throw this pitch at a multitude of different speeds, with it being able to sit in the 93-98 MPH range, and top out in the triple digits. Not only can he throw it with some heat, but he can throw it with 2400 RPM. The average fastball RPM in 2019 was in the low-2000’s, and he would sit in the high-80th percentile in baseball in 2019. His curveball, while not as good as his fastball, still has some solid spin. It has a future 55 grade, and averages out with 2450 RPM.

Yerry De Los Santos

2023 Opening Day Age: 25

Yerry De Los Santos might just be the team’s most underrated pitching prospect. He currently comes in as the team’s 33rd best prospect, but he put up some wild numbers at Single-A, and, yet, hasn’t received much attention as a potential future closer option for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Last year was the first full season Santos worked as a relief pitcher, and he was outstanding. Despite making his professional debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2015, the right hander is still just 22-years-old. Through 50 innings at Greensboro, Santos worked a 1.44 ERA, 2.37 FIP and an extremely impressive WHIP of just 0.88.

Santos struck out 38% of the batters he faced. While Mears and Cederlind both had walk rates above 8%, Santos had a walk rate of just 6.3%. To go with his outstanding control and strikeout rates, he allowed just three home runs with a 55.4% ground ball rate.

The young Pirate prospect works with two pitches. That being a fastball with a future 60 grade, and current 55 grade, and slider with current 50 and future 55 grades. His fastball right now sits in the 93-97 MPH range and tops out in the upper-90s with average spin.

Chris Stratton

2023 Opening Day Age: 32

Chris Stratton has been one of the Pirates’ best under the radar finds as of recently. The right hander was designated for assignment last year by the Los Angeles Angels, and has since become a diamond in the rough for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Last year, Stratton was putting up overall average numbers for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Through 46.2 innings of work, Stratton had a 3.66 ERA, 4.11 FIP and 1.39 WHIP. While he did have a 1.4 HR/9, Stratton walked just 7.5% of the batters he faced, and posted a solid 23.5% strikeout rate.

But what made Stratton really intriguing was his spin rates. He sat in the top 93rd percentile of fastball spin rate at 2498 RPM. His curveball had more than 3000 RPM at 3017, placing it in the top 99th percentile. His slider had 2922 RPM, giving him three pitches with some of the best spin rate in baseball.

This year, Stratton has seen his spin rate for his fastball rise to 2613 RPM. Though he has seen his curve and slider spin rate take a small tick down, they both have well above average spin. This has gotten Stratton much better results than in 2019. So far, he’s struck out 13 batters, and has seen his out of zone swing percentage rise from 30.2% to 31.7%. He probably wouldn’t be in a high-leverage role often, but more of a role like Vin Mazzaro played with similar numbers.

Blake Weiman

2023 Opening Day Age: 27

Blake Weiman is one of the Pirates’ minor league lefty relief pitchers, and he’s so far put up some pretty solid numbers throughout the minors. Weiman was really, really impressive in 2018. In 67 innings across three different levels of ball, Weiman had a 2.42 ERA, 2.41 FIP and 1.00 WHIP. What was even more impressive is the fact he struck out 29.1% of the batters he faced, and walked just 3.4%. He also allowed five home runs.

Weiman did get off to a great start to 2019. Through his first 19.1 innings at Double-A, Weiman allowed just 4 earned runs on 11 hits and one home run, while striking out 24 of the 73 batters he faced. He also issued just four walks. Though he did struggle a bit when he was moved to Triple-A, Weiman only pitched 11.2 innings, and he did spend time on the injured list in the second half of July, and over a month in September.

Weiman has an overall average fastball with a 50 grade, and a slider with a 55 current and future grade. However what makes Weiman standout is his control. Weiman has a career minor league walk percentage of just 3.97%, and 1.4 BB/9. Considering he usually doesn’t allow that many home runs, and racks up a ton of strikeouts, if he can continue to keep doing that, Weiman could be a really underrated left handed relief pitcher.

Jack Hartman

2023 Opening Day Age: 24

The Pirates selected Jack Hartman with their 4th round pick in the most recent draft. An Appalachian State product, Hartman has some serious strikeout stuff. Through his 33.2 innings at the NCAA level, Hartman has struck out 48 of the 163 batters he faced. He also did a great job keeping the ball in the yard, allowing just two home runs. But the biggest issue Hartman has ran into is limiting walks. Hartman walked 26 batters, all coming to a 7.0 BB/9 and 15.9% walk rate.

Hartman has two pitches that are both seen as plus pitches. Hartman has some velocity on his fastball. Not only that, but he can also put some spin on the pitch as well. His slider has also been given good reviews. Though he’s still an extremely raw talent, Hartman definitely has the talent to become a reliable bullpen arm for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The future of the bullpen appears to be very bright for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The pitchers covered in this article are just some of the examples of why. When the team is ready to compete again in a few years, they should have a strong bullpen.