Pittsburgh Pirates Breakout Candidates: JT Brubaker vs Bryse Wilson

Jul 31, 2021; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher JT Brubaker (34) throws against the Philadelphia Phillies during the fifth inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 31, 2021; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher JT Brubaker (34) throws against the Philadelphia Phillies during the fifth inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /
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Bryse Wilson

The Pirates acquired Bryse Wilson at the 2021 trade deadline. He, along with right-handed pitching prospect Ricky DeVito, arrived in Pittsburgh in exchange for right-handed reliever Richard Rodríguez. Wilson had been a 4th round pick by the Braves in 2016 and by 2018, he was a consensus top 100 prospect.

But the Braves seldom gave him a chance in Atlanta. Going into 2021, Wilson had a total of 42.2 innings pitched across three seasons from 2018 to 2020. The most starts he ever made was just 4 in 2019.

Before being traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Wilson had a 5.88 ERA, 5.67 FIP, and 1.69 WHIP. Very poor numbers, but in only 33.2 innings. Wilson had also been optioned and recalled by the Braves six times in 2021 alone. Four of his eight starts were 7-inning doubleheaders where the Braves were allowed an extra man on the roster. So while he wasn’t pitching well against major league batters, he never even got a chance to face major league batters consistently.

All told between his debut in 2018 up until he was traded, Wilson was optioned 17 times and 16 times. Wilson had consistently been flipping back and forth, multiple times a month, between the major leagues and minor leagues, for four seasons in a row. It shouldn’t be a major surprise that he struggled in the bigs.

Wilson isn’t a hard thrower. He averages out around 93-94 MPH with his four-seam fastball. But he also throws a sinker, change-up, curveball, and slider. Along with the five offerings, Wilson’s strongest suit is his command. FanGraphs currently has him with 55-grade command and projects him to have 60 by the time he’s fully developed.

The former Braves prospect is only going into his age-24 season. He has less than 120 career major league innings under his belt and over 60% of his innings came this year. After bouncing back-and-forth from the minors and majors for the last three-and-a-half seasons, Wilson will finally get his chance at regular starts in the Major Leagues.