Pittsburgh Pirates: Two Young Bullpen Arms Who Could Have Big Roles

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have a handful of young relievers who should receive extended looks this season, but what kind of role could these two arms play?

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ bullpen has some talent, but it’s currently unstable. There are many young arms who have shown talent throughout the minor leagues, but there is certainly risk. David Bednar is the only pitcher who is guaranteed to have a defined role. While bullpens are becoming much more un-specialized, later-inning arms still have slightly more defined roles.

With the number of younger pitchers, there are no set-in-stone roles for many of the rookie relievers. But a handful will break camp with the team, and by the end of the season, could be in a more specific role such as set-up man, middle relief, long relief, high-leverage, etc. So what role will these hurlers play in 2023?

Jose Hernandez

The Pirates drafted Jose Hernandez in the Rule 5 draft, and he’s looked dominant in Spring Training. Of course, pre-season results mean very little, but his overall stuff has looked fantastic. Hernandez is consistently hitting 95-98 with his four-seam fastball and sinker. His breaking pitch, a slider, is coming in the low-mid-80 MPH range.

Hernandez pitched 59.2 innings for the Dodgers’ High-A and Double-A affiliates. There were a handful of positives for Hernandez, including a 3.32 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate, 1.21 WHIP, and a .214 opponent average; however, there were also some red flags. This includes a 4.50 FIP, 10.1% walk rate, 1.21 HR/9, and 4.09 xFIP.

Hernandez certainly has reliever-type stuff. This was the first minor league season he worked almost solely out of the bullpen. He did make two starts, though they were more like opens, as they both lasted less than two innings. He has a big fastball/sinker and a plus slider. Command has been a point of contention for the southpaw, but if he can keep the walk rate manageable, he’ll be fine.

Rule 5 picks are always risky. Once in a while, a team will hit on a Rule 5 pick, but those hits are few and far between. The Pirates haven’t been too great at the Rule 5 draft, with the last R5 pick who produced a bWAR of at least +0.5 being Evan Meek 16 years ago. But Hernandez is probably one of the more talented Rule 5 Draft selections they’ve had in their recent history.

Hernandez will likely open the season in a middle relief role but has the stuff that he could eventually work himself into higher leverage situations. Given the team's lack of quality left-handed bullpen options, he could be their go-to high-leverage lefty reliever if he can prove himself in a lower-leverage role first.

Colin Holderman

Similarly to Hernandez, Colin Holderman has looked great this spring, but more importantly, he’s shown the kind of talent you love to see. He’s topping out in the triple-digits with his four-seamer while consistently sitting 97-99 MPH with his sinker. Holderman’s average sinker velocity in 2022 was 96 MPH, which was in the 75th percentile of velocity. So far, his slowest sinker has registered at 96.8 MPH.

In the few innings Holderman did throw last year, the right-handed reliever worked to a 3.81 ERA, 3.32 FIP, and 1.20 WHIP in 28.1 frames. He had just a 22.4% strikeout rate but a superb 8.2% walk rate and didn’t allow a single home run. Despite his plus velocity in 2022, he struggled to get swings and misses. His whiff rate was just 22.5%, compared to the league average rate of 24.7%. But he did at least have an above average exit velocity (86.6 MPH) and hard hit rate (43

Those numbers are a tad inflated, as he surrendered five earned runs on one walk and three hits in his final game of the year before he was out indefinitely on the IL. Aside from his promising sinkerball, he also throws a slider that had a 41% whiff rate, .114 AVG/SLG%, and .160 wOBA against it.

If you followed Holderman in the offseason, you’d know that his velocity gains came from working out at Driveline, one of if not the most advanced baseball facility in the world. Holderman is throwing harder than ever, a highly promising development for him in Spring Training, and it could lead to a greater role down the stretch.

Holderman should open the year as a set-up option to help bridge the gap between the middle relievers and the high-leverage arms. If the improvements are real, Holderman could be a dominant force in the back-end of the bullpen. He definitely could find himself as the 8th inning man to David Bednar.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have a handful of young relievers who should receive extended looks this season, but what kind of role could these two arms play?

Jose Hernandez

Colin Holderman

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