Andrew Heaney is Pirates' latest test subject in what has been successful experiment

The Pirates have added another veteran to the mix, bringing in left-handed pitcher Andrew Heaney to join what is already projected to be a pretty strong starting rotation. That wasn't necessarily viewed as a need, but GM Ben Cherington has added a soft-tossing lefty starter to the Pirates' rotation in each of his offseasons running the show.

The results over the last four seasons have largely been positive. Tyler Anderson (2021), Jose Quintana (2022), Rich Hill (2023), and Martín Pérez (2024) each signed one-year deals with the Pirates and parlayed their first-half performances into deadline deals to contenders. Those four pitchers cut down their collective ERA by 27 points, FIP by 30 points, and saw a 1.5% drop in home run to fly ball rate in Pittsburgh versus the season prior.

Heaney isn't exactly coming off of a down year like some of those guys were. He posted a 4.28 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and a 22.9% strikeout rate in 31 starts for the Rangers last year. Over the last two seasons, he is one of 22 pitchers (and one of only three southpaws) to start at least 28 games and record at least 150 strikeouts in each season. Once a highly-regarded prospect, he now represents a model of steady consistency as he approaches his mid-thirties.

Heaney boasts a more intriguing profile than the average pitcher with his stuff (his fastball averaged 91.5 MPH in 2024), but he's not an extension merchant like rotation-mate Bailey Falter. Instead, he uses deception (he sometimes turns his back to the hitter mid-delivery like Johnny Cueto) and a very low release height to enable his stuff to perform like that of a dynamic hard-thrower. This allows Heaney, who has always had plus command, to miss bats at a strong rate—his 18.5% strikeout-to-walk rate over the past five seasons is better than that of Luis Castillo, Max Fried, Sandy Alcantara, and Logan Webb.

The biggest knock on Heaney is his susceptibility to the long ball. Heaney has allowed at least 20 home runs in five seasons, including 23 in 160 innings last year. He's averaged 1.5 homers per nine innings throughout his career while generating groundballs on just 37.6% of balls in play. However, this makes him an ideal target for Pittsburgh —over the last three seasons, only Progressive Field in Cleveland has played host to fewer homers by right-handed hitters than PNC Park.

Do the Pirates have what it takes to get the best out of Andrew Heaney?

Heaney's peak performance came in 2022, his lone season with the Dodgers. He was limited to just 16 appearances due to shoulder troubles, but when he was on the mound, he was excellent. In 72.2 innings, he had a 3.10 ERA, struck out 110 batters, and walked only 19. His expected batting average against of .203 ranked in the 86th percentile, and he finished in the 96th percentile or higher in chase rate, whiff rate, and strikeout rate.

His slider was his most effective weapon while with the Dodgers, but in the two ensuing seasons in Texas, he finished in the third and 10th percentiles, respectively, in terms of run value on breaking pitches. Strangely, the tweak he may need to make to get back to 2022 form actually doesn't concern his slider.

During Heaney's time with the Dodgers, he excelled at pitch tunneling, the art of keeping different pitch types on the same plane for as long as possible to make them harder for hitters to decipher. They coached him to locate his fastball in the same general vicinity (up and in to lefties, up and away to righties). This is where the pitch generally ends up due to his 30-degree release angle, and that allows him to tunnel his slider off of his fastball when he lands the slider in the opposite corner of the strike zone.

The difference in slider effectiveness from Los Angeles to Texas was pretty consequential. In 2022, opposing hitters batted .170 and slugged .340 against Heaney's slider; in Texas, those figures rose to .259 and .409 respectively, with a difference in whiff rate of over 11%.

The risk involved with that strategy is the potential for making the fastball more hittable, and he did post some concerning numbers with the Dodgers (he finished in the fourth percentile or worse in average exit velocity, barrel rate, and hard-hit rate). But as previously mentioned, pitching in Pittsburgh minimizes some of those home run worries. As evidenced by the lefty starter additions of seasons prior, plenty of those flyballs are contained by the confines of PNC Park.

If the move to PNC Park intrinsically reduces the damage allowed against Heaney, and if he can get closer to the levels of swing-and-miss he exhibited with the Dodgers, he could turn out to be a game-changing addition for the Pirates, and perhaps one they opt to keep in the rotation all season long instead of shopping in July.

It seemed like the Pirates already had their rotation sorted out prior to Heaney's arrival. Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, and Jared Jones are clearly locked into spots. Bailey Falter and Johan Oviedo looked to be the favorites for the final two spots before Heaney was brought in. Top prospect Bubba Chandler is waiting in the wings, with other highly-regarded prospects (Mike Burrows, Thomas Harrington, Braxton Ashcraft) also potentially contributing in 2025. Additionally, relievers Carmen Mlodzinski and Caleb Ferguson have spoken about their plans to be stretched out this spring.

Andrew Heaney bolsters what was already a strength for the 2025 Pittsburgh Pirates.

While Heaney isn't a hitter (and those clamoring for more offensive help are certainly justified in doing so), he could prove to be an impactful player and an impetus for the Pirates to improve upon their consecutive 76-win seasons. He fits the demographic that Pittsburgh has had success with in recent years, and he likely has the most raw talent of any of those players they've gotten their hands on.