Here at Pirates Breakdown, we have been profiling various starting pitchers who could potentially help the Pittsburgh Pirates’ rotation in 2017. Next on that list is Rubby De La Rosa.
After a promising 2015 in which he threw 188.2 innings, right-handed staring pitcher Rubby De La Rosa – the former top 100 prospect – had various injury issues last season condensing him to only 50.2 innings. This directly led to being non-tendered by the Arizona Diamondbacks. De La Rosa has pretty good stuff. In his career, he has averaged 7.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Last year in his short time, he averaged 9.6 K/9.
Let’s look at his career-to-date.
The Tale Thus Far
Stats and table courtesy of baseball-reference.
The Repertoire
Rubby De La Rosa has a nice fastball/slider combo working in an occasional changeup. His fastball sits at about 95 mph while the slider sits at 84-85 mph. In 2016, De La Rosa threw his fastball 62.4 percent of time, slider 29.2 percent, and changeup at 8.4 percent. For his career, those percentages are 61.3 percent, 17.9 percent, and 19.5 percent.
What happened to the changeup in 2016? For whatever reason, it wasn’t used as much, and it is hard to fathom why as the pitch carried a 56.6 percent groundball rate. One thing is certain though. If you want to be a successful starting pitcher in the major leagues, you will most likely need a three pitch mix at minimum.
If De La Rosa or his pitching coaches lost faith in the change up, that in and of itself may be the biggest of red flags.
Three Plausible Scenarios
For me, I see three different future possibilities for the 26 year-old Rubby De La Rosa.
First, De La Rosa will rediscover his changeup and use it more like he did pre-2016. He will stay healthy. With his stuff, and a little bit of help from Ray Searage, De La Rosa could potentially be a right-handed Francisco Liriano with slightly worse stuff but far less walks. This version of De La Rosa would be a solid starter for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2017.
Or, De La Rosa will abandon his changeup completely and become a two pitch pitcher. He will shift to the bullpen as a middle reliever with potential to be a back end guy. This version of De La Rosa reminds me of Juan Nicasio. A solid fastball with a good slider but unable to be an effective starter. This version of Rubby De La Rosa still holds value to a team like the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2017.
It is possible that De La Rosa will continue to have injury problems. As someone who has already had Tommy John surgery back in 2011, De La Rosa will not be able to overcome his health issues. This is a sad reality for many pitchers in today’s game. Hopefully this doesn’t happen to Rubby De La Rosa but it is not out of the question.
Should the Pittsburgh Pirates pursue his services?
Rubby De La Rosa was projected to get about $3 million in arbitration this year. Now that he is on the open market, the price will rise. If the Pirates could get him at one year for about $6 million, he could be an attractive signing. If that number rises to near $10 million, it would be hard to justify. There could be safer options out there.
Image Credit – Flickr Creative Commons
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