The Pirates could improve the bullpen with this waiver claim

On Saturday, the Baltimore Orioles designated right-handed pitcher, Mike Baumann for assignment. Baumann was having a solid season in the Orioles bullpen, but they needed to make room on the active roster for Grayson Rodriguez, who was returning from the injured list. He was out of minor league options, so Baltimore had no choice, but to designate him for assignment.

Baumann is an arm the Pirates should attempt to acquire to improve the bullpen. The bullpen for Pittsburgh has been solid this season, but there is still room for improvement. As a team, the Pirates bullpen has an earned run average of 3.90, which is 12th in MLB. The bullpen also has a team WHIP of 1.25, which is 13th in MLB. Both of these are impressive, but Baumann could make this bullpen even better.

This season, Baumann has a 1-0 record with an earned run average of 3.44 in 18.1 innings pitched and has struck out 16 batters. He also has a 1.47 WHIP and a 4.46 FIP. Opponents are batting .250 against him and his walk rate is at 11 percent. Baumann has allowed plenty of base runners this season, but some of them have been luck. His expected opponent batting average is at .217, which is in the 79th percentile. His earned run average should be lower, too, as it is expected to be at 3.27. He misses barrels a lot at a very impressive rate of 3.6 percent, which is in the 90th percentile.

Baumann's stuff is good enough to be compared to Zach Wheeler and Gerrit Cole. His fastball is around 96 miles per hour with solid vertical movement. He also has a hard slider that is around 92 miles per hour, and that has been his most effective pitch for getting outs. Opponents have an expected batting average of .171 and an expected slugging of .262 against his slider. His curveball generates most of his strikeouts. 33.3 percent of his strikeouts come from the curveball.

Overall, Baumann could help the Pirates' bullpen improve. He brings a good pitch mix with some decent numbers. The Pirates' 40-man roster currently sits at 39, so the Pirates would not need to make room there. To put him in the Pittsburgh bullpen, someone would need to go down to the minors. Possibile pitchers inlcude Ryder Ryan and Carmen Mlodzinski.