Pirates A to Z: Change of scenery, pitch usage helped Robert Stephenson find spot in bullpen

During the offseason, the Tribune-Review will offer Pirates A to Z: An alphabetical, player-by-player look at the 40-man roster, from outfielder Miguel Andujar to pitcher Bryse Wilson.

Player: Robert Stephenson

Position: Pitcher

Throws: Right

Age: 29 (Feb. 24)

Height: 6 foot-3

Weight: 205 pounds

2022 MLB statistics: Went 2-2 with a 5.43 ERA and 1.33 WHIP, 10 home runs allowed, 55 strikeouts and 14 walks in 58 innings over 58 appearances.

Contract: Enters third year of arbitration eligibility.

Acquired: Claimed off waivers from the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 27.

This past season: After pitching in a bandbox in Cincinnati and at altitude at Coors Field in Colorado, Stephenson welcomed the opportunity to play at PNC Park.

“It’s more of a neutral park,” Stephenson said. “You’re not pitching in altitude, which is nice. I hated throwing in altitude. As much as I loved being in Coors — it was a beautiful ballpark — it was just not a great place to pitch. Your stuff moves differently there. So it’s nice to have consistency at home and on the road.”

Stephenson got hit hard while pitching for the Rockies, going 2-1 with a 6.04 ERA and 1.48 WHIP while allowing eight home runs in 44 2/3 innings over 45 appearances.

After he posted a 10.38 ERA and 5.19 FIP as opponents slashed .359/.390/.718 against him in eight appearances in August, the Rockies designated Stephenson for assignment. When the Pirates claimed the seven-year veteran off waivers, Stephenson appreciated the new opportunity.

“It’s good for me to build confidence to have a fresh start,” Stephenson said. “I feel like it was starting to spiral there a bit at the end with Colorado. Sometimes, you just need a bit of a push, with a new team, a new set of eyes and work on some new stuff. I feel I have a different perspective now. It’s a lot easier to have confidence in my stuff, whereas every time I’m going out there and getting hit. It was rough for awhile. Having these guys to work with, they’ve helped me a lot already.”

The metrics showed the Pirates that Stephenson was leaning too heavily on his four-seam fastball, which sat at 96.8 mph but had a hard hit rate of 46.7%. The Pirates studied Stephenson’s release point and determined that it put him in pronation too early and affected his movement, so he made changes to his grip to allow for better break.

“If I can find a way to turn that into a true carry four-seam, then it’ll play up a lot better than what it had been doing earlier this year,” Stephenson said. “That’s the main thing with the fastball, trying to maximize the vertical movement and kill the horizontal so it plays up better in the zone.”

When Stephenson gave up a double to Nolan Gorman, then threw an ill-advised, 0-2 fastball up in the zone against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sept. 10, Albert Pujols smacked it to center for a game-tying RBI single as the Cardinals rallied for a 7-5 win.

“Probably not a good idea to throw a guy that’s going into the Hall of Fame in five years three straight fastballs,” Shelton said. “That’s what we did. We beat him with the first two, he popped them up, then we tried to go up even higher. That’s why (Pujols) is who he is, regardless of how old he is or what he’s done this year versus right-handed pitching. He’s smart and he stayed hard and he got a pitch out over the plate and put in play right over the middle.”

Stephenson went 0-1 with a 3.38 ERA and 0.83 WHIP, striking out 18 against one walk in 13 1/3 innings over 13 outings for the Pirates. He had two or more strikeouts in five games, including three in 1 1/3 innings in a 6-3 win over the Reds on Sept. 13.

That game provided one of the highlights of the season for Stephenson. He escaped a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh, then fanned Jose Barrero, Chuckie Robinson and TJ Friedl in succession in the eighth inning while throwing a slider on 10 of his 13 pitches.

“The slider was good,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Fastball was really explosive again, (hitting) 97. The (eighth) inning, he went out and was able to execute the slider. The last two or three times he’s pitched, he’s done a really nice job with the slider.”

The slider was Stephenson’s putaway pitch with the Reds, who drafted him in the first round (27th) in 2011. He had a minus-17 run value with the slider in 2019 with the Reds, when the pitch produced a 51.6% whiff rate and opponents batted .125 against it.

“That was probably the best year I’ve had with that pitch,” Stephenson said. “I threw it a lot that year and got a lot of swing-and-misses. I feel like it’s heading in that direction.”

The future: When Pirates general manager Ben Cherington emphasized the need to add more swing-and-miss to the bullpen in the offseason, he used Stephenson as an example of a late addition who provided that.

Stephenson, who is projected by MLBtraderumors.com to earn $1.9 million in arbitration, is being counted on as a potential high-leverage reliever for the bullpen next season.

Where Stephenson threw his four-seamer on 49.4% of his pitches and his slider on 28.9% in 2021, he changed his pitch usage to 50.5% slider/47.8% fastball last season. Although his fastball velocity averaged 96.8 mph and ranked in the 91st percentile per Statcast, his hard-hit rate was 41.8% with an average exit velocity of 90.6 mph.

“That guy’s got an edge. He’s tough,” Pirates bullpen coach Justin Meccage said. “Obviously, his fastball velocity is (working) really well. We’re picking spots with his fastball, but the slider is any time, any count and has shown to be productive.”

With the Pirates, Stephenson focused on improving more so than finding a defined role. He was especially excited to pitch in late-inning situations.

“I love that they show confidence in me to do that,” Stephenson said. “But, at the same time, I’ll throw in whatever role they need me to throw in because I’m just trying to get better. I feel like moving forward, that’s the position I want to be in. I want to get back to being a back-end-of-the-bullpen guy, but to get there I’m going to have get my stuff better first.”