The Pittsburgh Pirates have relegated struggling starting pitcher Jon Niese to the bullpen, as per Rob Biertempfel of the Tribune Review
Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Jon Niese will be a starting pitcher no longer for the club.
https://twitter.com/BiertempfelTrib/status/754045637633581056
For Niese, the writing may have been on the way this morning. Pirates general manager Neal Huntington appeared on the team’s flagship station and commented that he felt that, in retrospect, two fringe prospects would have been a better return for Neil Walker.
#Pirates GM Neal Huntington on the #FanMorningShow: ‘2 Fringe Prospects’ May Have Been Better Pickup Than Niese https://t.co/9B02MjsFz7
— 93.7 The Fan (@937theFan) July 15, 2016
Niese’s struggles can be directly related to the home run ball. Being billed as a ground ball pitcher, Niese surprisingly lived up to that billing, with the highest ground ball rate – 55.3 percent – of any Pirates starter with at least 50 IP. However, his 20 home runs quickly became an albatross that the team could no longer live with.
We’ve previously went in on the home run tendencies in great detail. From that piece:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] If you are looking for answers as to why Niese gives up so many home runs, you won’t find them here. He is not the only homer-prone starting pitcher on the Pittsburgh Pirates staff, but Jon Niese’s home run tendencies leap off the page. He has given up 53 earned runs on the season – just one more than Jeff Locke despite seven more home runs allowed. [/perfectpullquote]Niese does have five relief appearances under his belt for his career.
This should have no bearing on the team’s presumed plans to trade him, but it would likely be another ding in his already-hurting trade value.
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