4 pitchers on the bubble as Pirates spring training opens

Selection Sunday remains five weeks away. But that doesn’t mean talk of the “bubble” hasn’t started, nor does it have to be limited to college basketball.

On the eve of Pittsburgh Pirates pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, here are four pitchers who enter it on a proverbial bubble of sorts:

Mitch Keller

It would be a rather significant upset if Keller was not in the starting rotation when the Pirates come north (all 25 miles of it) on Opening Day. It also would be a major disappointment for Keller and the organization.

Chad Kuhl and Steven Brault figure to be the primary competition for, at most, two open starting spots after Chris Archer, Joe Musgrove and Trevor Williams. Longshots such as Cody Ponce, Derek Holland and others could work their way into the mix, too, but Keller leads the pack of candidates to be a No. 4 or No. 5 starter when the season begins.

Of course, the Pirates have much higher hopes than that for Keller’s future. He’s been the organization’s top prospect for three years now. But his 2019 MLB debut season was less than promising in its raw numbers (72 hits, six home runs, 7.13 ERA in 48 innings). Still, Keller’s Fielding Independent Pitching (3.19) and strikeout ratio (12.2 per nine innings) suggest he remains an exciting prospect.

Analysis: Mitch Keller and Ke’Bryan Hayes lead the current list of top 10 Pirates prospects https://t.co/lgDm2tMgDD

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) January 20, 2020

Derek Holland

Holland is the biggest “name” the Pirates acquired this offseason, an 11-year MLB veteran and former World Series star. But he’s coming off a season in which he was largely awful (6.08 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, 6.10 FIP) for two teams.

Yet, he’s left-handed (a quantity in rare abundance on the 40-man roster) and as recently as 2018 was a reliable presence (171¹/₃ innings, 3.57 ERA, 1.29 WHIP) for San Francisco.

A nonroster invitee, Holland is a longshot to make the rotation but could provide valuable insurance. Last season, the depth of MLB-caliber starting pitching in the organization was weak, and it was exposed. But Holland in 2019 was much better as a reliever (4.53 ERA vs. 8.10 as a starter), and he limited left-handed hitters to a .192 average and .528 OPS last season. There figures to be a role for Holland somewhere on the team.

#Pirates relief pitcher Kyle Crick’s season is over after he injured the index finger on his right hand in an altercation with bullpen mate Felipe Vazquez in the team’s clubhouse in San Francisco https://t.co/XcMcFSGTjS

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) September 11, 2019

Kyle Crick

Crick is not on the bubble at all in regards to a roster spot. Barring injury, he’ll be in the Opening Day bullpen. The question is, in what role?

It’s not inconceivable that he ends up the closer. Crick most often was the No. 2 man in the 2019 Pirates bullpen (he pitched in more eighth innings than all other innings combined), and with Felipe Vazquez gone, Crick has a case to be the closer even if Keone Kela is the heavy favorite.

Conversely, if Crick has a poor spring, he could slide down the pecking order considerably. His ERA after the All-Star break last season was 7.85. It was 9.82 after Aug. 1, and Crick’s season ended after he punched a teammate. And with Nick Burdi, Edgar Santana and Chad Kuhl back from injury, each is a candidate for a high-leverage bullpen role. Richard Rodriguez also is a strong candidate for eighth-inning duties.

Crick was elite in 2018, though. His 2020 could end up falling either way, so Crick is someone to watch in Bradenton.

Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.