Pittsburgh Pirates: Steven Brault Continuing His Emergence

Dating back to May 2019 Steven Brault has been been pitching at a high level for the Pittsburgh Pirates

Throughout much of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates lefty Steven Brault has drawn plenty of ire and criticism from fans. Owning a lifetime 4.55 ERA and 4.66 FIP in 330.1 innings pitched it is easy to see where the frustration comes from.

That said, Brault has turned into a different pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Dating back to mid-May of 2019 Brault has been enjoying a long streak of success. At this point, the streak of success that Brault has been on is the equivalent to that of a full MLB season.

Brault has pitched in 32 games dating back to May 18, 2019. The first two games of this stretch came as a reliever, although he pitched 3.1 innings and 5.2 innings in these outings, with the last 30 being as a starting pitcher.

In these 32 outings Brault has logged 154.1 innings, posting a 3.97 ERA and a 4.21 FIP. He’s allowed just 136 hits, has limited the home run ball being stunk at a 0.82 HR/9 rate, has walked 10.2% of batters faced and struck out 20.0%.

During this stretch Brault has allowed line drives at just a 20.5% rate. He has also limited opposing batters to a 35.9% hard hit rate, which is just slightly below the league average hard hit rate for MLB hitters.

While Brault may not continue to pitch as well as he has during this stretch, he does not appear to be a pitcher due for huge regression either. Brault appears to be emerging as a solid middle of the rotation pitcher which is a valuable commodity for a MLB club.

Due to missing fours months this season, odds are, trading Brault this offseason would be difficult to do. However, if he continues pitch well down the stretch and then starts the 2022 season strong he should have plenty of trade value at next year’s trade deadline.

A left-handed starting pitcher pitching the way Brault has in his current 32 game stretch is a pitcher that will carry plenty of trade value. If Brault continues to pitch anywhere near as well as he has dating back to May 2019, he should be able to net the team a strong return on the trade market either this offseason or next July. He could also pitch himself into being a potential extension candidate to help bridge the gap until many of the top Pirate pitching prospects begin to arrive in the Majors in coming years.