Only nine games remain for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and JT Brubaker is doing his best to work his way back to pitching in one of them.
The 28-year-old right-hander, who went on the 15-day injured list Sept. 18 with right arm inflammation, threw 25 pitches in a live batting practice Monday afternoon at PNC Park in hopes of returning to make one more start this season.
“That’s my goal,” Brubaker said. “All of this is to stay built up, arm moving instead of just shutting it down. It’s to get to another start.”
Pirates RHP JT Brubaker discusses throwing a live BP today, his goal of returning to make another start this season after stint on IL. pic.twitter.com/JDxKk63PCe
— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) September 26, 2022
Brubaker is 3-12 with a 4.58 ERA and 1.46 WHIP in 141 1/3 innings over 27 starts this season. Brubaker leads the Pirates in strikeouts (145), is tied with Mitch Keller for most starts and ranks second to Keller in innings pitched.
“It’s important for both parties, for us to make sure he pitches before the end of the season, just going into next season knowing where he’s at,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “For him, personally, there has been a ton of growth. There’s been some ups and downs. There’s been some challenges. The beautiful thing I really like about Bru is when we first talked about going on the IL because we knew we were going to miss one start, we would have to skip one start, and so putting on the IL was only going to affect the start. But it was very important to him, that ‘I want to finish the year pitching.’ ”
Brubaker wanted to avoid finishing the season on the injured list for the second consecutive season. He was shut down after 24 starts last year with a thumb contusion.
“It sucked,” Brubaker said. “But the steps we did last year reassured me that I was going to be good for the offseason and spring training. This is just reassuring me once again that this was just a little, minor hiccup, nothing to season-end. Get another start and have a full offseason to do what I need to do.”
Pirates RHP JT Brubaker on having Roberto Perez catch his live BP and why he wants Perez to return to the Pirates next season. pic.twitter.com/mruu07N45y
— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) September 26, 2022
Brubaker wasn’t the only one working himself back into playing shape. Brubaker was thrilled to have Roberto Perez, who had season-ending surgery on his left hamstring in May, catch his live batting practice against Miguel Andujar and Jose Godoy.
“Just him back there, quiet moving, it’s all positive,” Brubaker said. “His hamstring’s getting strong. I probably would have never noticed he was on the IL if you didn’t tell me he was on the IL. It was awesome to watch him work back there and he’s a joy to throw to.”
