Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Under-the-Radar Trade Chips
By Marty Leap
Left-handed reliever Chasen Shreve
This past offseason the Pittsburgh Pirates signed left-handed reliever Chasen Shreve to a minor league contract. It came as a bit of a surprise that the Pirates were able to sign Shreve to a minor league deal, it was also a surprise when he did not crack the Opening Day roster.
Shreve started the season with the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians. In early May the Pittsburgh Pirates promoted Shreve to their MLB roster. Since then, Shreve has done nothing but pitch well for the Pirates.
After having successful seasons in the past with the New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets, Shreve is putting together a strong season once again. In 23 appearances this season Shreve has pitched 20 innings. He’s walked 8.9% of batters faced, struck out 20.3%, has allowed just 3 home runs and has limited opposing batters to a .194 opponent batting average against.
All of this has led to Shreve posting a 2.25 ERA and a 4.56 FIP this season.
Shreve’s biggest value comes in his ability to limit left-handed hitters. LHHs have hit just .152/.237/.152 off of Shreve this season. He has not allowed a home run to a left-handed hitter this season and has struck out 18.4%.
In his career Shreve has struck out 27.6% of LHHs faced while limiting them to a .221/.320/.397 slash line. So while his strikeout rate against LHHs is down this season, he has improved in limiting power, as he has not allowed an extra base hit.
At the trade deadline teams are always looking for bullpen help. This is especially true when it comes to left-handed bullpen help. Due to this Shreve could have a strong trade market this month.