Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Relief Pitchers to Consider Pursuing This Off-Season

Brent Suter

If the Pirates need a lefty who could give them innings out of the bullpen, Brent Suter is the guy. Suter is the definition of a durable but effective southpaw. Since 2021, Suter has pitched 204.1 innings out of the bullpen, the sixth most by any reliever, and the most by any lefty. Suter now enters free agency looking to latch on with a team.

Suter finished the 2023 season with a 3.42 ERA, 3.47 FIP, and 1.32 WHIP. Suter’s 18.7% strikeout rate rate is the lowest rate he’s posted since 2016, though it’s not all that much worse than his career 20.4% strikeout rate. Suter’s 8.7% walk rate is also a career-worst, though his 0.4 HR/9 is somehow a career-best. Keep in mind that he pitched for the Colorado Rockies this past season.

But Suter is a ground ball pitcher who feeds off of soft contact. Suter held batters to an 83.9 MPH exit velocity. That is not just the best in baseball this year, but one of the best in the Statcast Era. Among relievers since 2015 to pitch at least 50 frames in one year, Suter’s exit velocity is the 8th best of all time. His 25.9% hard-hit rate was in the 99th percentile, and his 3.4% barrel rate was in the 96th percentile. Suter had a well above average 46.4% GB%, which was in the top 71st percentile.

Not only does Suter induce a lot of soft contact, but he throws slow as well. His four-seam fastball averaged out at 86 MPH. He threw his sinker faster, but only up to 88.1 MPH. But even with the relatively archaic approach, you can’t argue with the results. It marks the third year in a row Suter has pitched at least 65 innings with an ERA below 3.80.

The only thing is Suter isn’t a high-leverage guy. He’s mostly been used as a long reliever, having pitched more than one inning on 23 different occasions this year. It also marks the third year in a row Suter has pitched more than one inning out in at least 20 games. While I wouldn’t entrust Suter with a late-inning role, he does his job good, and that’s being a quality lefty long-reliever. He could definitely save the bullpen on days a starter doesn’t go long, or on days when the bullpen is taxed.

David Robertson

The bullpen needs a good reliever who can be asked to take on high-leverage innings. Bednar has the 9th inning on lockdown, and the likes of Holderman, Borcuki, Moreta, and rookie Carmen Mlodzinski will be in the running for the set-up men roles. But it would certainly help if the Pirates got another reliable, higher-leverage reliever, especially since it doesn’t look like youngsters Jose Hernandez and Colin Selby looked like they needed a few more minutes in the oven this year.

If that’s the case, then the Pirates should look into right-hander David Robertson. Robertson opened the year with the New York Mets, overtaking the closing role after losing Edwin Diaz to injury during the World Baseball Classic. In his first 44 innings of the year, Robertson pitched to a 2.05 ERA, 3.58 FIP, and 1.00 WHIP. While Robertson allowed just over a home run per nine innings (1.06), he also struck out 27.6% of opponents with a 7.6% walk rate.

The Mets then traded Robertson to the Miami Marlins around the trade deadline. Now his numbers in Miami look quite ugly. In 21.1 innings, he had a 5.06 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, but a quality 3.49 FIP. One might look at an ERA over 5.00 in the second half, and the fact Robertson will be in his age-39 campaign and assume this might be a hint of the beginning of the end for the veteran. But looking more closely reveals that D-Rob likely still has some gas left in his tank.

Of the 22 earned runs Robertson allowed this year, 10 were in August. He struggled horribly but then got things back on track. Robertson immediately rebounded, and put up a 1.74 ERA in the final month of the year, with a 1.32 FIP. August also marks the only month of the year he posted an ERA above 3.09. He had an ERA below 3.00 in four of the other five months.

Based on how hard he’s throwing, Robertson has at least a few more years left. His cutter averaged out at 93.3 MPH this season, the hardest he’s thrown it since 2011, over a decade ago. With 2665 RPM on average, it’s also the most spin he’s put on his primary pitch in the Statcast Era (since 2015). His slider also hit a career-high in RPM and velocity at 85 MPH and 2764 RPM, and his curveball fell just 50 RPM (2018) and 0.3 MPH (2022) from career bests in those numbers as well, respectively.

Robertson brings a veteran presence that a young bullpen, like the Pirates’, could greatly benefit from. Robertson has consistently been a high-leverage threat out of bullpens for 15 seasons now, and he has shown no signs of stopping. Granted, an older reliever like him is a bit of a risk. 2024 will be his age-39 campaign, and will likely sign just a one-year deal. However, putting him as the 7th or 8th inning man alongside Mlodzinski, Holderman, and Borucki would form a fairly effective bridge to the 9th. Robertson also brings enough experience where you would be confident in him closing games when needed.

Pierce Johnson

After a few solids seasons as a relief pitcher in San Diego, the Colorado Rockies decided to pick Pierce Johnson up on a one-year deal. Despite being expected to overtake a key role in the Rockies’ bullpen, the first half of the year did not go well for the right-handed reliever, and that’s putting it lightly.

In 39 innings, Johnson pitched to the tune of a poor 6.00 ERA, 4.54 FIP, and 1.85 WHIP. Johnson had walked 13.3% of opponents faced and a 1.62 HR/9 rate are two of the reasons why he struggled so badly. Of the few positives, his 30.9% strikeout rate was well above the league average. 

Now granted, a .408 batting average on balls in play did not do Johnson any favors. But when you’re dishing out walks to over 13% of the batters you face while allowing over 1.5 home runs per nine innings, the numbers aren’t going to be pretty regardless. In spite of his poor numbers, the Rockies were able to off-load him to the Atlanta Braves.

This is where Johnson started to turn things around. Johnson had an astounding rebound with the Braves down the line. In his final 22.2 innings of the year, Johnson owned a 0.79 ERA, 3.08 FIP, and 0.93 WHIP. Johnson’s strikeout rate increased to 33.7%, while his HR/9 dipped to 1.19. But the real improvement was his walk rate. Johnson all of a sudden became allergic to walks, only posting a 5.8% BB% for Atlanta. Johnson became so effective for Atlanta that they regularly gave him appearances in the 7th and 8th innings.

While the right-handed reliever did great for the Braves, is any of it sustainable? Well possibly so. Johnson had a sub-2.00 xFIP and SIERA for the Braves. Johnson’s .265 batting average on balls in play is a tad low for him, but his ground ball rate shot up above 50% for the Braves. Johnson had just a 3.8% barrel rate. Sure, he might not be a sub-1.00 ERA pitcher, but very few are, and Johnson still could continue to pitch well into 2024.