Pirates Rumors: Top prospects could be candidates for bullpen in 2025

The Pittsburgh Pirates have more pitching depth than they have openings on their starting rotation for 2025. With Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Jared Jones, Luis Ortiz and Bailey Falter all likely to return to the mix next season, there may realistically only be one rotation spot up for grabs.

But what about the bullpen? With Aroldis Chapman presumably pricing himself out of the Pirates' payroll and David Bednar facing a hefty raise in arbitration, Pittsburgh may decide to promote from within as they look to beef up their relief corps next season.

The Pirates have a handful of pitching prospects who are on the cusp of breaking into the big leagues, and Alex Stumpf of MLB.com recently floated the idea of diverting some of these arms to the bullpen in 2025, where they could be more useful to Pittsburgh at the Major League level.

"The Pirates haven’t had discussions about Braxton Ashcraft going into the bullpen, but his stuff would absolutely play there, and it could be a way to manage his innings," Stumpf wrote. "Mike Burrows also has good stuff and could be a swing man. Obviously, you need starting-pitching depth, so you can’t convert everyone into a reliever, but they showed last year with Luis Ortiz that a trip to the bullpen doesn’t close the door on starting, and this team needs to deepen its bullpen pool."

Pirates insider suggests top pitching prospects Braxton Ashcraft, Mike Burrows could be MLB bullpen candidates for 2025

Ashcraft, the Pirates' No. 4 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, went 3-2 with a 2.84 ERA across 16 appearances for Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis in 2024 and struck out 77 batters over 73 innings pitched. Ashcraft has made 35 appearances over the last two seasons combined and missed all of the 2022 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Similarly, Burrows was on the verge of cracking the big-league roster when he was forced to miss the majority of 2023 and the beginning of 2024 while recovering from Tommy John. He came back this year and pitched in 16 games across three levels of the Pirates' minor league system before earning the call-up ahead of Pittsburgh's penultimate game of the season against the New York Yankees. Serving as a piggyback reliever to starter Paul Skenes, who pitched just two innings due to workload management, Burrows allowed just two hits and one earned run across 3 1/3 innings of work to earn the win for the Pirates in his MLB debut.

Moving Ashcraft and/or Burrows to the bullpen may help preserve their arms long term as they continue to build back up to full strength after injuries sidelined them early in their careers. Improving the bullpen should be at the top of the Pirates' to-do list this offseason, and they already have the pieces to do it in-house without having to spend on a reliever or two in free agency.

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