Pittsburgh Pirates Rumors: NL West Club Could Have Interest in Steven Brault

With the San Francisco Giants in the market for a left-handed starting pitcher, could they prove to be trade partners with the Pittsburgh Pirates?

According to their general manager, Scott Harris, the San Francisco Giants have been searching the market for left-handed starting pitching help. This could lead to them becoming trade partners with the Pittsburgh Pirates due to starter Steven Brault reportedly being available on the trade market.

Brault’s name has been brought up before in trade rumors. It should not be a big surprise as he is coming off a career season. Through 42.2 innings of work in 2020 Brault put up a career best ERA at 3.38, FIP at 3.92 and WHIP at 1.20. He also posted a career best strikeout rate at 31.3%. However, his surface numbers would have looked better if it weren’t for one game he allowed four earned runs on three walks and three hits without recording a single out.

The left-hander was able to induce low-quality contact as well. Brault was among the best pitchers in exit velocity ranking in the top 89th percentile. Batters only averaged 85.9 MPH off the bat vs the southpaw. He also didn’t allow very much hard contact either with a hard hit rate of just 32.7% which was in the top 76th percentile. In terms of barrel percentage, he was in the top 83rd percentile at 4.4%. This pairs well with his 49.1% ground ball rate and helped him post a .4 HR/9 rate. Brault was also above average in terms of xBA (.231) and xSLG (.359).

Brault also showed some potential with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2019. From his last start in May to his first start in September, Brault pitched 69.2 innings posting a 2.84 ERA, 3.52 FIP and 1.29 WHIP. Opponents only managed a .292 wOBA and just four long balls against him in this stretch of games as well. Brault also comes with three years of control left, including 2021.

While on the surface Brault has put up some solid numbers the past two seasons, many of his estimators are not too kind to the lefty. Brault still had a 4.85 xFIP, 5.07 SIERA, 4.49 xERA and 5.13 DRA. It also doesn’t help that he had a 12.4% walk rate. It’s probably best if the Pittsburgh Pirates capitalize while his value is up.

Still, that doesn’t mean Brault is devoid of value. He’s affordably under control for the next three seasons and could still be a solid back of the rotation arm. Currently the Giants do not have very many if any left handed starting pitching options. According to MLB.com, their current rotation would consist of Johnny Cueto, Kevin Gausman, Logan Webb, Anthony DeSclafani and Tyler Beede.

In terms of their farm system, the Giants do have some interesting prospects that might peak the Pirates’ interest. I recently talked about a potential trade proposal that would sen Brault to San Francisco for one of Sean Hjelle or Kai-Wei Teng as a headliner, but they are far from the only prospects that the Giants may be willing to part with to acquire some controllable starting pitching help. After all, they do have a deeper than average farm system.