In one move, the Pittsburgh Pirates have admitted a failure and provided a shot in the arm to a struggling bullpen unit.
As part of his pre-game comments today, Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle announced that Juan Nicasio would be moved to the club’s relief pitching unit.
Clint Hurdle today said that Juan Nicasio is headed to the bullpen. They believe he better helps the team in a bullpen/multi-inning role.
— Dan Zangrilli (@DanZangrilli) June 24, 2016
In barnstorming through the Grapefruit League, Nicasio gave Hurdle little choice but to chase the lightning in the bottle potential that the former Dodgers and Rockies pitcher showed in spring.
The Pittsburgh Pirates chased the potential, and they were right to do so. The results just simply were not there for Nicasio, who struggled nearly out of the gate. The right hander had a dangerous combination of a high walk rate combined with giving up 1.7 HR/9. Those two black marks negated his considerable strikeout potential, and led to many short outings.
Below are his stats for 2016:
| Year | W | L | GS | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 5 | 6 | 5.83 | 12 | 63.1 | 67 | 43 | 41 | 12 | 27 | 65 | 4.91 | 1.484 | 1.7 | 3.8 | 9.2 | 2.41 |
The move to the bullpen could right Nicasio’s ship. As a starter, he was forced to mix in his changeup and curveball more than he was likely comfortable doing. The move to a relief role will allow him to rely on his considerable fastball/slider combination.
The news may have the most bearing on the relief pitching, whose early inning options have struggled. Nicasio will likely not occupy a “long-relief” role, as his pitch selection lends itself to a short relief mindset.
Pirates Breakdown will have more analysis on the Pittsburgh Pirates’ shifting pitching roles in the coming days.
Featured image credit – Daniel Decker Photography
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