3 former Pirates who went on 'Linsanity' runs in recent seasons

Vin Mazzaro

No Linsanity run has arguably provided a more significant impact than Vin Mazzaro to the 2013 Pirates. The Pirates had one of the best bullpens in baseball in their return to the postseason, and part of the reason was Mazzaro’s huge contributions. But heading into that season, Mazzaro was nothing more than a depth pitcher and would return to a similar role after the 2013 campaign.

Mazzaro had pitched just 286 innings from 2009 through 2012. He was not particularly effective either, with a 5.22 ERA, 5.01 FIP, and 1.62 WHIP with the Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals. He was then sent to the Bucs in a small-time trade involving three other players.

Mazzaro pitched 73.2 innings out of the pen, which was the most by any Pirates reliever who did not start a game that season. The right-hander had a quality 2.81 ERA, 3.31 FIP, and 1.21 WHIP for the Bucs that season. He only struck out 15.1% of opponents but limited walks with a 6.9% BB% and only had a HR/9 rate. Like many Pirates pitchers of this era, Mazzaro was a groundball specialist. He induced grounders at a 52.2% rate.

At the start of the season, Mazzaro was a standard multi-inning reliever. But by the end of the season, the Pirates entrusted Mazzaro with higher leverage work with how good he was. The right-hander contributed +1.34 win percentage added to the Pirates, which was higher than Gerrit Cole, A.J. Burnett, and Charlie Morton.

You’d think that a reliever who pitched over 70 innings while producing strong numbers would have returned for another season. But Mazzaro was oddly designated for assignment at the end of Spring Training 2014 and would only pitch ten and a third innings for the Bucs that season. After 2014, he would bounce around with multiple different teams, totaling just 13 more frames after the Pirates let him go.

Mazzaro was as important to the Pirates’ bullpen in 2013 as Tony Watson or Mark Melancon, given that he was effective both in high leverage and for multiple innings at a time. The Pirates’ bullpen did not get off to a great start in 2014, and they ranked in the bottom half of the league in ERA, FIP, and WHIP heading into June of that season. For a team who missed out on the division by only two games, leaving Mazzaro out of future plans may have been the difference maker.

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