With Jameson Taillon set to return to the starting rotation fairly soon, the Pittsburgh Pirates will have a decision to make. Who is going to be the odd man out?
The Pittsburgh Pirates rotation is suddenly a very fluid one.
Gerrit Cole and Ivan Nova are locked in. Tyler Glasnow is still the top prospect. Although he has struggled this year, it is still imperative for him to continue to gain reps and develop. That leaves Chad Kuhl and Trevor Williams fighting for that last spot.
Who has the edge?
The case for Kuhl
The 24 year-old righty is showing promise this year but has not been the most consistent. In 49.1 innings, Kuhl has 40 strikeouts and 20 walks with an ERA of 6.02 and xFIP of 5.00. He has a 38.9 percent ground ball rate and has only given up five home runs.
The biggest issue for Kuhl is getting left handed batters out. Lefties are hitting .340/.414/.667 against him this season. All five home runs surrendered this year have come at the expense of a left handed hitter. Righties on the other hand are hitting just .237/.305/.333 against Kuhl.
Kuhl is primarily a 2-seam fastball/sinker/slider pitcher. He throws hard pitches 68.7 percent of the time and the slider 21.6 percent of the time. Kuhl has a changeup as well but uses it just eight percent of the time. For right handed batters, this is a problem. It is difficult to make solid contact on a high velocity pitch when it is coming in on you. For lefties, the complete opposite is true. Lefties feast on Kuhl’s sinker as it often starts on the inner half of the plate then fades towards the middle and gets mashed.
Kuhl’s best pitch this year has been his slider. Opposing batters have a .204 average against that pitch. It has been his knockout pitch as 17 batters have struck out on it. In the future, that may be a pitch Kuhl needs to lean on and throw more than a fifth of the time.
The case for Williams
Williams has been hot as of late giving up one run apiece in his last two starts. In 43.1 innings, the bearded righty has 28 strikeouts and 13 walks. He has a 4.57 ERA and 5.01 xFIP. Williams has a ground ball rate of 41.5 percent and has also given up five home runs on the season.
Like Kuhl, Williams has had better success against right handed batters as they hit .225/.307/.416 against him. The main difference though is that Williams isn’t getting torched nearly as badly against lefties. Lefties are hitting .286/.337/.396 against Williams.
Over his last two starts, Williams has adopted the Nova method of pitching. Pitch to contact. Get quick innings. Two starts ago, Williams got through six innings on 67 pitches. He didn’t walk a batter. Last start, he got through seven innings on 95 pitches and walked only two batters. In both outings he struck out three.
Williams has done an excellent job of maneuvering a second time through the order. For pitchers, this can be difficult as the batter has seen your stuff one time already. That being said, Williams has a 1.84 ERA and the opposition is hitting .204/.204/.259 when pitching through the order a second time.
Who gets the nod?
Chad Kuhl and Trevor Williams are two very different pitchers. Kuhl throws harder and seems to have a fiery demeanor when on the mound. He shows emotion. To me, Kuhl seems like a guy who would be better suited in a bullpen role. With his stuff, Kuhl would play well in the back end of the bullpen with potential to be a lockdown reliever. As a reliever, Kuhl would routinely amp up the heat around 100 mph and wipe hitters away with the slider. The Pirates are one solid arm away from having a top notch bullpen. Kuhl could be that guy.
Williams, on the other hand, seems calm. Aside from his first start in Los Angeles where things got away from him, Williams has been a solid starter. In his last five starts, Williams has a 2.83 ERA with 16 strikeouts and five walks in 28.2 innings. To me, Williams has the perfect demeanor of a starting pitcher. He never gets too high or too low. He is quirky guy who doesn’t take himself to seriously. If you follow him on Twitter, that is quite evident. He seems hungry yet composed.
A forgotten piece in this puzzle has been Steven Brault. The 25 year-old lefty has been killing it in AAA this year. In 67.1 innings, Brault has an ERA of 2.14 with 66 strikeouts and 26 walks. He may very well start in the International League All-Star game. If anybody falters, Brault will be waiting. It’ll hard to imagine a case where he doesn’t take advantage of any opportunity waiting for him. Plus, it would be nice for the Pittsburgh Pirates to have a left-handed starter in the rotation again.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
