Pittsburgh Pirates: Two Minor League Signings That Could Make an Impact in 2024

Ben Heller

The Pirates signed Ben Heller during the Winter Meetings. The right-hander has mostly served as an up-and-down depth reliever since 2016, appearing in five of the eight total seasons since his 2016 debut. Last year, Heller pitched 18.2 innings for the Atlanta Braves, owing a 3.86 ERA but a poor 5.02 FIP, 1.45 WHIP, a walk rate of 13.4%, and a sub-20% strikeout rate.

But Heller pitched a lot better at Triple-A, both for the Braves and Minnesota Twins’ Triple-A affiliate. He pitched 44 innings between the two teams, working to a 3.27 ERA, 3.35 FIP, and 1.23 WHIP. He had a 28.9% strikeout rate, and despite Triple-A introducing the automated strike zone, Heller only had a 7.6% walk rate. On top of that, Heller had a 51.4% ground ball rate and HR/9 of 0.41.

But aside from decent Triple-A numbers, what other reasons are there to believe Heller could be the next Ryan Borucki? Heller’s sinker displayed well above average movement last season with 25.2 inches of vertical movement (13% better than average) and 17.5 inches of horizontal break (14% better than average). Opponents had a hard time facing his cutter with a .214 batting average and slugging percentage, meaning he didn’t give up a single extra-base hit with his cutter. But the real impressive offering here is his sweeper.

Heller’s sweeper was untouchable last year, and that’s not hyperbole. He threw it 13.3% of the time and did not allow a single hit. His 78.6% whiff rate was the highest in baseball last year among pitchers who threw sweepers. It’s not just the highest this year either; it’s the highest whiff rate Statcast has ever recorded on a sweeper, and it’s not even relatively close. The next closest, Jose Cuas, has the second-highest whiff rate on a sweeper in the Statcast era, and he sat at 64.3% last year, a gap of 14.3%.

What Heller should do next year is drop his changeup. Even though he only used it against 12 batters last year, and just 12.7% of the time, five of them got a base hit (he allowed 13 hits in total). Of those five hits, two were extra-base hits, including a home run and triple. It is a small sample size, but Heller’s change-up was the only pitch in his arsenal that didn’t register a positive run value.