The minor league pitching carousel continues to go around. Following the news of Jameson Taillon being placed on the 15-day disabled list with right shoulder fatigue, the Pittsburgh Pirates have called up Steven Brault from Triple-A Indianapolis to start tonight against the St Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
As Brault, a 2013 11th round draft pick of the Baltimore Orioles, gets set to make his big league debut, it marks the fourth time this season that a pitcher from Indianapolis’ loaded rotation will make their first career start. Taillon, Chad Kuhl and Wilfredo Boscan are the others, while Tyler Glasnow remains the only one without a call up.
While some people may not know much about Brault, I have experienced first hand what he brings to the table. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to talk with Brault following a rehab start for the West Virginia Black Bears. The 24-year old sustained a strained hamstring on May 8, but has since returned to Indianapolis and should make a good first impression on Pirates fans seeing him for the first time.
Bucs have another ground ball pitcher
Brault primarily pitches to contact and relies on inducing ground ball outs. The Pirates have plenty of experience with ground ball pitchers, having had Charlie Morton on the roster for a number of years. In his rehab start for West Virginia on June 20, Brault induced six ground ball outs in four innings of work.
After a shaky return to the diamond in Indianapolis, Brault settled down in his last start on June 30 against the Toledo Mud Hens. In five shutout innings, Brault induced three groundball outs, but even some of the hits he allowed were still balls hit on the ground that snuck through some gaps.
Inducing ground ball outs and even fly outs are vital to Brault’s success as he doesn’t have lights out stuff that allows him to completely blow by hitters. He can easily rack up the strike outs, but he isn’t dependent on it. He is a pitcher that is much more focused on allowing his defense to help him out than on trying to strike everyone out.
Simply throwing strikes is key
Throwing pitches for strikes is an obvious path to success for any pitcher, at any level. However, for Brault in particular, he knows that it will lead to him having a successful outing. In fact, when I did talk to him, he had some things to say about his ability to throw strikes, particularly in his rehab start.
“It’s nice to be able to come in and be able to throw strikes because that’s what I do and that’s how I’m going to be effective,” Brault said. “It’s good to have that already there and I can build forward on that.”
On that day, Brault threw 40 of his 53 pitches for strikes and showed tremendous command on the mound, another key for the left hander. In his first start back at Indy following his rehab, Brault got away from what usually makes him effective, throwing only 43 of his 77 pitches for strikes and allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits while walking two and striking out three in only 3.1 innings.
He was much better in his start against Toledo in which he threw 47 of his 72 pitches for strikes in five innings of work. The only trouble he had in this start was that he hit two batters and walked two, while striking out six, making his pitch count relatively high.
There is the possibility that Brault will throw a lot of pitches, becoming unavailable to pitch deep into a game. This season, he has yet to pitch more than six innings in a contest. However, if he’s throwing strikes or making guys chase at pitches out of the zone, at least he is being effective. Tonight, fans can expect this to be his focus.
Impressive arsenal of pitches
Aside from an ability to get ground ball outs and a focus on throwing pitches for strikes, Brault has himself a nice selection of pitches to use on the mound. He has a nice fastball that doesn’t exactly overwhelm a hitter, but he has a ton of command when using it and is effective. Brault also has a slider in his arsenal that he uses to fool hitters. Following his rehab start, he also discussed wanting to work on his delivery and his slider, a pitch that was initially giving him some issues.
“The main goal for me is be comfortable with my delivery again, which I did feel comfortable tonight,” Brault said. “The only pitch I had a problem with a points was my slider. It was giving me a little bit of trouble just because it’s hard to kind of get everything back. All the timing together at the same time.”
Brault also has an average changeup, but it provides another good secondary off speed pitch that he can use to fool hitters.
Brault’s stuff isn’t overpowering by any means. The Pirates No. 17 prospect relies on pounding the strike zone and mixing his pitches well to have success over hitters. It will be a more difficult task to do this against major leaguers, but as long as Brault stays focused at the task at hand, he will be up for the challenge.
Impressive statistics in Minor Leagues
Despite battling his hamstring injury, Brault has put up stellar numbers at the minor league level this season. In nine total starts (Eight at Indianapolis, one at West Virginia), Brault is 2-3 with a 2.31 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. He has also walked 15 batters while compiling 49 strikeouts in 39 innings pitched.
He has endured a trade early in his career and still been able to speed through the Pirates minor league system, compiling a career 27-17 record with a 2.51 ERA in 74 career minor league appearances.
Taillon, Kuhl and Boscan have already made an early impact, good or bad, on the Pirates major league rotation. Though tonight could possibly only be a spot start for the young left hander, Brault is next in line. As long as he can get ground ball outs, throw strikes and mix his pitches well, Brault could be bound for a stellar MLB debut. Pirates fans may not know much about him, but after he takes on a tough opponent in the form of the Cardinals tonight, they will.
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