Pittsburgh Pirates Waiver Target: Relief Pitcher Robert Dugger

With the bullpen being overworked, the Pittsburgh Pirates should take a chance on this right-handed relief pitcher

A lot has gone into the Pittsburgh Pirates increased usage of the bullpen this season from injuries to the management of innings, as well as a strategy that simply requires more from the bullpen. This has created an issue of late with the Pirates having to rely on their relievers to throw more pitches and cover multiple innings due to lack of available arms.

The Pirates of course have tried to mitigate this issue with recent additions of Manny Bañuelos, Eric Stout, and Yohan Ramirez, who was just acquired on Friday. However, with the way things have gone the past two seasons, the Pirates will likely need more arms before the end of the season.

One of those arms could be right-handed relief pitcher Robert Dugger. Dugger, a former 18th round pick for the Mariners, was recently designated for assignment by the Reds after pitching against the Pirates in the double-header on Thursday. In that game Dugger went 3.2 innings with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts, only allowing 2 hits.

Dugger has had an interesting season thus far. Before pitching for the Reds he had made one appearance for the Tampa Bay Rays after starting 5 games for their Triple A team, then was claimed off waivers by the Reds. For the Reds he made an appearance in May before heading to Triple-A where he started 6 games and made 2 relief appearances.

On the season Dugger has a 4.50 ERA and 2.10 FIP in 12 innings, striking out 17 batters for a 32.7% strikeout rate. He throws a four-seem fastball and sinker, a slider, curveball, and a changeup. Dugger’s best offering is the slider, which sits between 77-82 mph and carries a whiff rate of 40% this season.

His curveball is his second best offering, sitting between 72-75 mph, and can work very well when he’s able to hit the top of the zone with his fastball. Though Dugger throws a slower fastball, typically averaging around 90 mph, mixing that with a slow curve can generate a lot of swings & misses when he’s spotting his fastball at the levels.

Dugger has long been a starter, with only more recently finding himself in the bullpen. Without a strong fastball or change-up Dugger has a hard time facing the order more than once, having to rely primarily on his breaking pitches. If he executes those pitches effectively, though, he can be very good and generate a lot of swings & misses and cover multiple innings out of the bullpen.

While Dugger isn’t a stud or a diamond in the rough, there’s value to be had in a pitcher that can cover more than one inning. The Pirates have valued those types of pitchers, such as Tyler Beede and Dillon Peters, and will have to continue to rely on these types of pitchers as they continue to put together a starting rotation that can get deep into games.