Pittsburgh Pirates: Examining Sam Howard’s 2020 Season

Sam Howard was given an opportunity by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020 and he ran with it. Now, let’s examining the lefty’s 2020 season.

During the shrotened 60-game 2020 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates saw their bullpen undergo some changes. With injuries to pitchers such as Clay Holmes, Michael Feliz, Nick Burdi, and Keone Kela, as well as Kela’s battle with COVID-19, the make up of the bullpen was much different than they originally anticipated.

Combine this with MLB teams be permitted to use an extended 28 man roster in 2020, and it created opportunities for relievers with the Pittsburgh Pirates. One of these relievers was lefty Sam Howard.

Howard was claimed off waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates on October 30th, 2019. This came after he pitched in parts of two seasons with the Colorado Rockies. The move to Pittsburgh is one that benefitted Howard.

With the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020, Howard logged a career-high 21 innings and 22 games pitched. Howard posted a 3.86 ERA, walked 10.0% of batters faced and he struck out 30.0% of opposing batters.

However, not everything went swimmingly for Howard. He did struggle mightily with the long ball, allowing four home runs (1.71 HR/9) which is a lot for just 21 innings pitched. This, along with his high walk rate, led to Howard posting a 4.81 FIP and a 5.11 DRA. Neither of which paint a pretty picture when trying to project what future seasons could hold for Howard.

While Howard struggled with the home run ball, his other peripherals were strong. Opposing batters owned an average exit velocity of just 87.7 MPH, this was below league average and in the 61st percentile of baseball. His hard hit rate of 35.3% was league average, and his strikeout rate ranked in the 80th percentile in baseball.

Opposing batters also struggled to barrel the ball up against Howard, with his opposing barrel rate being just 3.9%. This was nearly 3% lower than the league average, and fell in the 86th percentile of baseball.

A driving factor in the success Howard found was spin rate. Spin rate, as Noah previously discussed with Chris Stratton, can be vital for a pitcher. This was certainly the case for Howard in 2020.

Howard’s fastball spin rate was in the 83rd percentile of baseball, while his slider carried a healthy 2568 RPM spin rate. Opposing batters were just 9-for-37 off of his fastball and 8-for-40 off of his slider. His slider carried a healthy 40.6% whiff rate, and the exit velocity off the pitch was just 85.3 MPH. While his fastball whiff rate was just 27.1%, the exit velocity was still below league average at 87.8 MPH.

These were the two pitches that Howard leaned on in 2020. According to Baseball Savant’s pitch track data, other than one sinker and one change up Howard only threw his four-seamer and slider in 2020. It is easy to see why. Do not fix what isn’t broken, right?

Entering spring training 2021, Howard should all but have a spot locked up in the Pirate bullpen. Outside of his struggles with the home run ball, his 2020 season was excellent. Even his home run struggles are bit confounding due to how well he did limiting hard contact and the struggles opposing batters had barreling the ball up against him. It is very possible that over the course of a full season, his home run issues would have been solved and become a non-issue.