Carmen Mlodzinski’s latest workload reveal raises more Pirates questions

At some point, Carmen Mlodzinski and the Pittsburgh Pirates have to pick a lane.

For most of the season, Mlodzinski has maintained that he views himself as a starting pitcher. The Pirates have repeatedly stretched him out, moved him into the rotation, pulled him back out and used him in bulk relief. Through it all, the numbers have continued pointing toward the same conclusion: Mlodzinski is a significantly more effective pitcher when used out of the bullpen.

Yet Wednesday somehow produced another layer of confusion.

Mlodzinski threw three perfect innings against the Giants on just 30 pitches, retiring all nine batters he faced. With the game tied entering the 10th, manager Don Kelly went to Camilo Doval instead. San Francisco scored twice, and the Pirates eventually lost, 5-4.

Asked afterward whether he could have pitched another inning, Mlodzinski didn't exactly sound certain.

“Probably if needed,” he told reporters after the game. “I think just based off of the rest that I had from the last outing on 3 1/3 [innings on Saturday], probably asking for four there might have been a little too much. But I probably could have gone one more, just with how efficient I was.”

That explanation deserves some scrutiny.

Mlodzinski had four days of rest after throwing 3 1/3 innings Saturday. He's spent substantial stretches of this season preparing as a starting pitcher, a role in which the expectation is to throw five or six innings and potentially 80, 90 or more pitches every fifth or sixth day. But after 30 pitches Wednesday, a fourth inning on four days' rest might have been “a little too much”?

Pitchers aren't machines, and workload isn't determined solely by pitch count. Kelly said the Pirates were monitoring Mlodzinski's up-downs, and repeatedly warming up and sitting down can create a different type of fatigue than simply counting pitches. That's reasonable. What isn't reasonable, though, is the broader identity crisis that has surrounded Mlodzinski all season.

If he's a starter, then why are four innings after four days of rest suddenly being treated like an unreasonable workload? If he's a reliever, why has so much of this season been spent accommodating the idea that he needs to start?

The Pirates can't have it both ways forever. And neither can Mlodzinski.

Carmen Mlodzinski’s latest workload explanation only adds to Pirates’ never-ending role confusion

This isn't even an argument over where he has been most effective. As a reliever, Mlodzinski has repeatedly shown he can be an efficient, valuable weapon. That should be a good thing. Plenty of pitchers discover that their stuff plays better in shorter outings and build extremely valuable careers because of it.

Instead, his role has become an exhausting season-long negotiation.

Mlodzinski has made his preference for starting clear, while Pittsburgh has bounced him between roles often enough that nobody seems completely committed to anything. Wednesday offered the perfect illustration: The Pirates used their supposed bulk pitcher a day before their scheduled bullpen game because they needed him, removed him after only 30 pitches because three innings were apparently enough, and then had to figure out how to cover Thursday.

Kelly's decision itself is defensible in isolation. Mlodzinski hadn't thrown more than 3 1/3 innings since June 10, the Giants' lineup was turning over, and Pittsburgh could present fresh stuff with the automatic runner starting at second. But this can't be evaluated in isolation anymore.

The Pirates have spent months blurring the line between starter and reliever with Mlodzinski. Eventually, that ambiguity creates consequences. Wednesday's decision weakened the bullpen for Thursday while simultaneously taking one of Pittsburgh's best relief options out of a tied game despite him having thrown only 30 pitches. Meanwhile, Mason Montgomery and Luke Weaver were unavailable after pitching three of the previous four days.

This is September. The Pirates are trying to stay alive in a playoff race. There shouldn't still be this much uncertainty about how one pitcher is supposed to be used. And if Mlodzinski remains unhappy with being viewed primarily as a reliever, the Pirates should seriously consider trading him this offseason.

Mlodzinski may believe his future is in a rotation. Fine. Let another organization give him that opportunity if one values him that way. Pittsburgh should be building its pitching staff around what actually helps the Pirates win, not around preserving a player's preferred job description.

Perhaps the bigger criticism belongs to the organization for allowing this situation to drift for this long. Good teams define roles based on performance, roster needs and winning. They listen to players, certainly, and workload decisions should always involve collaboration between pitchers, coaches and medical personnel. But collaboration isn't the same thing as indecision.

The Pirates have spent too much of this season seemingly asking what Carmen Mlodzinski wants to be instead of deciding what Carmen Mlodzinski is. Wednesday supplied another answer when he gave them three perfect innings out of the bullpen.

Maybe it's time Pittsburgh finally believes what it keeps seeing.

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