The Pirates must implement a hybrid six-man rotation in 2025

The one constant surrounding the 2025 Pittsburgh Pirates remains their elite young starting rotation. Headlined by Paul Skenes, the Bucs have seven-to-10 MLB-caliber starting pitchers that can fill out the rotation. This comes thanks to general manager Ben Cherington’s reluctance to trade a singular prospect to better the team’s offense.

The Bucs will return four of their five starters from a year ago, while adding back an injured arm and having three or four pitchers ready to break into the staff at the major-league level. While the answers to this good problem are numerous, a hybrid six-man rotation appears to be the best way to approach the year.

The Opening Day starting rotation has likely already been determined. Skenes will remain at the forefront of the operation, while Mitch Keller, Jared Jones, Bailey Falter and Johan Oviedo should round out the second-through-fifth slots. Those five options alone leave the Bucs as a borderline top-seven rotation in baseball.

Skenes had a 1.96 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 170 strikeouts over 133.0 innings in his National League Rookie of the Year campaign. Keller was better than his 4.25 ERA and 1.30 WHIP a year ag,o as he logged 166 Ks and 178.0 innings over 31 starts. Jones had his ups and downs as he continued to mature as an MLB arm. The 23-year-old had a 4.14 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 132 strikeouts over 121.2 innings in 2024. Falter ended last year with a 4.43 ERA and 1.29 WHIP over 142.1 innings, but was lights out over the first 2.5 months of the year. Finally, Oviedo missed all 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery, but showed major promise in 2023 with a 4.31 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 158 strikeouts over 177.2 innings and 32 starts.

With three of those five arms age 26 or younger (and with one coming off major arm surgery), built-in rest would prove invaluable for the long run, both this season and in the future. Enter the MLB-ready arms. Bubba Chandler sits atop the list, and has a real chance to do what Jared Jones did a year ago. Do not be surprised if Chandler earns a spot on the Opening Day roster following a strong spring training. The 22-year-old was stretched out to 119.2 innings last season. Chandler registered a 3.08 ERA and 1.02 WHIP while punching out 148 between Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis, with significantly better numbers at the higher level. Chandler is the missing piece to the Pirates' dream hybrid six-man rotation.

This Pirates rotation hybrid could revolutionize how organizations handle young pitching staffs.

The point of the extra arm is to give the rest of the rotation a scheduled skipped start every five times through the rotation. In this particular example, Skenes-Keller-Jones-Falter-Oviedo-Chandler will be assigned the numbers one-through-six. The Bucs would begin the season with normal trip or two through the six-man rotation. Then, on the third time through, pitcher No. 1 (Skenes) would be skipped over. The next time through, pitcher No. 2 (Keller) has the same fate. The cycle repeats through the rotation until it reaches pitcher No. 6 (Chandler), who would take his his turn to skip a start before the cycle repeats.

This is how the start schedule would look visually: 1-2-3-4-5-6, 1-2-3-4-5, 6-2-3-4-5, 1-6-3-4-5, 1-2-6-4-5, 1-2-3-6-5, 1-2-3-4-6, 1-2-3-4-5, repeat. This would also keep the rookie arm of Chandler on six days of rest to help limit his workload more than the other pieces of the rotation.

The system also factors in potential injuries throughout the course of the season. Other arms can simply plug-and-play into any spot in the rotation without the others missing a beat. Right-handers Braxton Ashcraft and Thomas Harrington would likely get the first crack at the MLB level following an injury. Mike Burrows, Anthony Solometo and Hunter Barco would be next in the incredibly unlikely event of a massive, injury-plagued year.

The point stands for any of these arms as a plugin solution, just in case something goes wrong with the original six. Keeping the team’s young arms both healthy and rested throughout the season will allow them to pitch deeper into each individual start, while saving their arms for seasons to come. If implemented correctly, the hybrid six-man rotation would give the Bucs a top-five unit in baseball, while potentially changing how teams manage young, flame-throwing arms moving forward.