Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Things to Watch in May

The starting rotation needs to be better for the Pittsburgh Pirates

Through the first 24 games of the season the Pittsburgh Pirates have had arguably the worst starting rotation in all of baseball. Pirate starters have pitched a MLB worst 99 innings, while ranking 28th in ERA at 5.55.

Veteran lefty José Quintana is the only starting pitcher that has been able to give the Pirates any sort of consistency. In 5 starts Quintana has posted a 3.38 ERA and a 3.62 FIP in 24 innings pitched.

In his last three starts Mitch Keller has been trending upward. Keller has posted a 3.38 ERA to go with a 3.45 FIP in these three starts. He’s walked just a pair, allowed just two home runs and struck out 13 in 16 innings of work.

This will set up a big month of May for Keller. If he can string three or four more strong starts together in a row, that may be a sign that he truly is starting to turn a corner and put it all together as a starting pitcher.

Outside of Quintana and Keller, the rotation is in dire need of something, anything really. Even with Keller, you need to see more before becoming convinced that he has turned a corner to become a consistent starting pitcher.

Can JT Brubaker and Zach Thompson make strides in their next few starts? If not, how long of a leash will they get before the Pittsburgh Pirates potentially look to go elsewhere with the starting rotation.

While options are somewhat limited, Max Kranick is healthy now and could be an option. While the Dillon Peters/Bryse Wilson piggyback has worked well the team could also look to use Peters as a more traditional starting pitcher to bolster the rotation, while piggybacking someone such as Chase De Jong with Wilson.