Pittsburgh Pirates: Time to Move on From Heath Hembree

Free agent addition Heath Hembree has not worked out for the Pittsburgh Pirates and it is time to give his bullpen spot to a younger arm

This past offseason the Pittsburgh Pirates made five major league free agent signings. The team re-signed first baseman Yoshi Tsutsugo to a one-year contract, while also adding starting pitcher José Quintana and catcher Roberto Pérez to one-year contracts as well. Designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach signed a one-year contract with a club option for 2023.

The other free agent signing the Pittsburgh Pirates made was veteran reliever Heath Hembree. Hembree signed a one-year, $2.125 million contract. Unfortunately for Hembree and the Pirates this contract has not worked out, and it is time for the Pirates to move on from the veteran reliever.

For the most part the Pirate bullpen has been a strength this season. Hembree, however, has not been part of the success. The 33-year-old Hembree has pitched 12 innings this season, posting a 7.50 ERA and a 9.21 FIP. Hembree has walked batters at a woeful 14.5% clip, while also striking batters out at a 14.5% clip which is far too low of a number for strikeouts.

Hembree has also struggled with the long ball. He’s allowed a whopping 5 home runs in his 12 innings pitched this season which comes out to a 3.75 HR/9 rate. His latest issues with the home run ball came in Friday night’s 8-2 loss against the Cincinnati Reds when Hembree allowed a pair of home runs, which led to the Reds blowing open a 5-2 game and putting it out of reach.

Opposing batters have a 38.6% hard hit rate off of Hembree this season which is 2% higher than league average. His whiff rate ranks in the bottom 3% of baseball, while his chase rate is in the bottom 1% and his strikeout rate in the bottom 16%. Simply put, opposing batters are not being fooled by Hembree and rarely is he generating swings-and-misses.

Now, sure, it’s just 12 innings pitched. That said, this has continued recent trends for Hembree. During the 2020 and 2021 seasons Hembree pitched 77 innings, allowing home runs at a 2.45 HR/9 rate and walking 9.6% of batters faced. This led to him posting a 6.43 ERA and a 5.45 FIP across these 77 innings pitched.

It’s clear to see that Hembree is a pitcher that is trending in a downward direction. At 33-years-old and 344.2 innings logged on his right arm, it’s possible that Hembree’s time as a MLB quality reliever is just about at its end.

Other than him struggling, another reason to move on from Hembree is young arms at Triple-A that are ready for an extended look in the majors. Left-handed reliever Cam Alldred looked impressive in his MLB debut earlier this week before being optioned back to Triple-A to make room for Tyler Beede on Friday.

Yerry De Los Santos has been borderline dominant at Triple-A. In 12.2 innings pitched this season De Los Santos owns a 2.13 ERA, has struck out 16 batters and has limited opposing batters to a .178 batting average.

At this point Max Kranick should also be on the major league roster of the Pittsburgh Pirates. One way to get him onto the roster is to cut ties with Hembree to create a roster spot for the young righty.

At this point Hembree is serving no purpose for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He most certainly is not part of the team’s future, and with his immense struggles should not be part of the present either. It is time for the Pirates to move on from Hembree.