The best rotation the Pittsburgh Pirates can have in the second half of the season

Who isn’t in this rotation

This set-up would have Quinn Priester in the bullpen as the long reliever. Priester hasn’t been horrible this year. He has a 4.43 ERA and 6.7% walk rate. Despite inducing a ton of ground balls, Priester has been home run prone, allowing seven long balls in only 40.1 innings. He also hasn’t struck out many batters with a 15.6% K%. Overall, he has been what you’d expect from a back of the rotation/spot starter-type pitcher.

There may also be moments when the Pirates turn to Priester as the sixth starter instead of Falter. We shall see how the lefty performs once he returns from his IL stint. If he starts to struggle, then maybe the Pirates will give Priester a few more starts, or just run with a prototypical five-man rotation.

Another notable name missing from this rotation is Martín Pérez. However, with Pérez’s recent struggles since coming off the IL, he may only stick around until the trade deadline. If Jones and Falter were both healthy at the time of writing this, he may have been the one to go to the bullpen.

The Pirates do have some top prospects who could see some starts late into the year. One is Braxton Ashcraft. Ashcraft has missed some time recently due to injury, and while it would be unwise to rule him out for the rotation, the Pirates might try and limit his innings late into the year. Ashcraft barely pitched for three years from 2020 to 2022, and has already surpassed his innings total from last year by nearly 20 frames. He’d make a fine bullpen arm down the stretch, however. 

The Pirates also have a whole host of pitchers who are doing great at Altoona. Po-Yu Chen, Thomas Harrington, and especially Bubba Chandler have mowed down Double-A batters. One of them could find themselves on the Pirates’ pitching staff before the end of the season. Luckily, the Pirates have enough depth they don’t need to rush one of these three talented young arms to the majors.