How Has The Pittsburgh Pirates Bullpen Fixed Itself?

Last night, the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen pitched five shutout innings, helping the team come back to win 7-5 against the Cardinals.

This has been a familiar refrain in the two weeks leading up to last night’s game.  During that time, the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen has pitched brilliantly, helping the Pirates post a 9-2 record over that span.

Why have their results been so much better?

A Complete Reversal

In 11 games played from June 24 through July 5, the bullpen posted an overall ERA of 0.64 and is averaging 0.83 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched).  They have struck out nearly a batter per inning and boast a 5:1 K/BB ratio.

It wasn’t so long ago that the Pirates bullpen was a major liability for the team, giving up important runs at crucial moments.  The contrast between then and now begs the question “what’s different about the bullpen now and will the they be able to sustain this performance?”

There are parts of the bullpen that have been consistently good throughout the season like Neftali Feliz and Mark Melancon, and there were failed experiments like Jorge Rondon.  However, since these were consistent throughout the season, they don’t contribute to the difference in results.  What is more interesting is comparing what is different now versus then and examining concrete reasons why this version of the Pirates bullpen is performing better.

Juan Nicasio moved to the bullpen

Later on when the Pirates look back at their season, they will point to June 25 as a pivotal moment.  This is the date that Nicasio returned from the restricted list and joined the bullpen.  Since then, he has pitched 8.1 innings with only one earned run (ER) and no home runs allowed.  During Spring training, Nicasio won a position in the starting rotation, but as the table below shows, he struggled to get through opposing lineups the second time through the order.

His fastball / slider combination is built to get hitters out via strikeout or weak contact.  He can set up hitters with one pitch and then fool them with the other.  However, once hitters have seen both pitches, they can “sit” on one of them.  Nicasio’s BAA for his slider is only .167 the first time through the order and jumps to .310 the second time through.  This is a pitch he only throws about a quarter of the time, so if a hitter only faces Nicasio once, he can’t afford to wait for it.  This is what makes Nicasio so deadly as a reliever and at the same time limits him as a starter.

This isn’t just about Nicasio as his addition to the bullpen displaces other less effective relievers.  Jorge Rondon was designated for assignment when Nicasio came back from the restricted list and Curtis Partch was designated two days later.  Those two relievers accounted for 10 ER in only 3.2 innings pitched.  As long as Nicasio isn’t pressed into service as a starter again, this change is here to stay.

Arquimedes Caminero regains his command

Caminero was an indispensable part of the Pirates bullpen last season, pitching 74.2 innings with 73 strikeouts against only 29 walks.  His 100 MPH fastball was complemented nicely by his 90 MPH “offspeed” cutter.  His command was not the greatest, but he was able to throw close enough to the plate to get hitters out.  In the beginning of 2016 it was a different story for Caminero.  In games played earlier this season (April 5 through May 24), he gave up 10 ER in 17.1 innings with almost as many walks (13) as strikeouts (14).  His command was just not there on his fastball and he threw it less and less as the season wore on.

To make matters worse, opposing hitters seemed to know when the fastball was coming and hit for a .381 average against it.  This exacerbated the problem, leaving Caminero no choice but to try and pick at the edges of the strike zone – only 35% of his four seam fastballs were located in the strike zone.  On June 4, Caminero was placed on the DL retroactive to May 24 and was sent to Indianapolis for a rehab assignment.  It is very likely that the Pirates pitching staff identified some kind of pitching mechanics that signaled his fastball early in his delivery and corrected it during this assignment.

Since he has been back from the DL, Caminero has been a different pitcher.  In games played June 11 through July 5, over 50% of his four seam fastballs have been in the strike zone.  He has 12 strikeouts against 6 walks and he has allowed only 2 ER in 15 innings pitched for a 1.2 ERA.  Most importantly, his confidence in the four seam fastball has increased dramatically.  He is throwing it 60% of the time as opposed to 29% earlier in the season.  Arquimedes Caminero appears to be back.

Tony Watson is focused again

Watson had a rough start to the season, allowing earned runs in 3 of the 12 games he pitched in April.  Just when everyone was asking what was wrong with him, he went the entire month of May with zero earned runs and only 1 hit allowed across 9 innings of work.  On May 24^th, he went on paternity leave to welcome the birth of his second child.  He allowed 7 earned runs in his first 4 games back from paternity leave, causing panic in the ranks of Pirates fans.

In 12 games since then, he has not allowed a single earned run and looks every bit the dominant pitcher he was last season.  It is possible that he lost his focus for a few games after the birth of his second child and who can blame him?  I am sure that having kids puts baseball in a different perspective.

What is even more impressive is that he has 9 strikeouts and 1 walk in those 12 games since he last allowed a run.  He has faced the minimum number of batters in 8 of those games and thrown 16 or fewer pitches in 10 of them.  In Tony Watson’s case, there were a few explainable bumps in the road, but he has been otherwise lights-out this season.  There is every reason to believe he will continue to pitch well in the second half of the season.

Less Walks

Since June 24, the entire bullpen has become much stingier at issuing the free pass.  In that timeframe, there have been a total of 8 walks issued by the bullpen in 26.2 innings.  Prior to this date, the bullpen walked batters two-and-a-half times as often (111 walks in 248 innings).  The simple reason for the marked improvement is pitchers with high walk rates (Ryan Vogelsong, Cory Luebke and Caminero) are either no longer pitching or have made a fundamental correction in their mechanics.  Players like A.J. Schugel with good control (8 walks in 41.1 innings pitched) have moved in to take their place.  This is definitely a sustainable change as long as the Pirates maintain the current bullpen roster.

Less Home Runs

Pittsburgh Pirates relievers have also tightened up on allowing devastating late-inning home runs.  The bullpen has only allowed one home run in games played since June 24.  Some of this can be chalked up to bad luck early in the season.  This is likely the explanation for Tony Watson allowing 4 home runs early in the season after allowing only 3 home runs for all of last year.  He gave up 3 in April this season but then settled down, allowing only 1 home run after that.  That home run was hit by Albert Pujols and turned a 4-3 Pirates advantage into a 5-4 deficit late in the game.  However, that pitch was at least a foot above the strike zone and Pujols somehow managed to swat it out of the park.  That was not a bad pitch.

Jared Hughes, on the other hand, has given up 3 home runs so far this season, also equaling his number from all of 2015.  The difference here is all 3 home runs came on mistake pitches in tight games.  The most recent was a belt-high fastball on June 8^th against the NY Mets, allowing them to tie the game in the 8^th inning (the Mets would later go on to win in extra innings).  Hughes continues to scuffle and is currently the weakest link of the revamped Pirates bullpen.

The overall home run rate for both Pirates starters and relievers is way down since June 24.  They played the L.A. Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Oakland A’s and the St. Louis Cardinals during that stretch.  Of these four, only Seattle is in the top ten for team home runs, so perhaps this is an artifact of the schedule versus a significant pitching change.

The Future is Bright for the Pirates Bullpen

The Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen has come together in the past two weeks to deliver the kind of performances that fans remember from the league’s best bullpen last season.   The improved results are the product of adjustments that the Pirates pitching staff have made.  The addition of Juan Nicasio is a huge plus for the bullpen and he has shown why he is a formidable reliever.  Arquimedes Caminero appears to have refined his approach and gained confidence during a AAA rehab stint.  Tony Watson is still a very good relief pitcher and now that he seems focused, he is delivering solid results.  The bullpen staff as a whole are issuing less walks and allowing fewer home runs, which translates into fewer late-inning runs for the other guys.  Almost all of these changes are sustainable and, barring major injuries, will translate into better bullpen performance in the second half of the season.

Featured Image Credit – Daniel Decker Photography