Pittsburgh Pirates: Carmen Mlodzinski Pushing for Triple-A Promotion

Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Carmen Mlodzinski could recieve a promotion to Triple-A very soon after stringing together a handful of quality outings.

One of the Pittsburgh Pirates better pitching prospects is Carmen Mlodzinski. The Pirates draft Mlodzinski with their competitive balance pick in 2020, and he has made his way up to Double-A this season. After a rough start to the year, he’s found a groove and could be on his way to a promotion to Triple-A in the coming weeks.

The first three starts of the year weren’t great for the young right-hander. In 11.1 innings, Mlodzinski allowed nine earned runs, walked eight batters, and surrendered two long balls. On average, he gave up 1.59 hits and walks per inning. But since those three outings, Mlodzinski has been on a roll.

His last ten starts have yielded a quality 3.37 ERA, 3.42 FIP, and 1.34 WHIP. His strikeout rate sits just a tick below a quarter, coming in at 24.7%. After giving up two home runs, he’s allowed just three in 42.2 innings, leading to a 0.63 HR/9 rate. His walk rate of 9.3% might not wow anyone, but it’s still a massive improvement from 15.4% through his first few outings.

The one outing I do want to take away from this was his start on June 17th. He went just two-thirds of an inning, allowing two earned runs, a walk, and six hits, one of which was a long ball. Outside of that one outlier of a start, Mlodzinski has a 3.00 ERA, 9.1% walk rate, 25.6% strikeout rate, and 0.43 HR/9 rate. His WHIP goes from 1.34 to just 1.26. It might not be a massive upgrade, but a noticeable one nonetheless.

Mlodzinski’s now-former teammate Mike Burrows already got a promotion to Triple-A earlier this year. Now, after stringing together a handful of successful outings, it could be his turn to re-join him at Indianapolis. If Mlodzinski gets promoted to Triple-A within the next few weeks, it will give Indianapolis another notable pitching prospect, along with Burrows and Cody Bolton.