Pirates A to Z: Kyle Crick has eye on shutting door as closer

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 Anthony Alford to pitcher Trevor Williams. (The only MLB player with a surname that starts with Z is Detroit Tigers pitcher Jordan Zimmerman).

Kyle Crick

Position: Relief pitcher

Throws: Right

Age: 27

Height: 6-foot-4

Weight: 225 pounds

2020 MLB statistics: 0-1, 1.59 ERA/1.941 WHIP in 5 2/3 innings over seven games.

Contract: Eligible for arbitration for the first time; free agent in 2024.

Acquired: Trade from San Francisco Giants, along with outfielder Bryan Reynolds, in exchange for Andrew McCutchen in January 2018.

This past season: After a tumultuous 2019 season in which opponents batted .308 against him and hit 10 homers in August and a fight with Felipe Vazquez resulted in a right index finger that required surgery, Crick was crushed when he discovered he was tipping pitches. Then, the death of his brother became his driving force.

The 2020 season provided a fresh start, and Crick came into it with confidence, knowing he had the opportunity to finally seize what he has always wanted: A high-leverage role in the Pirates bullpen.

“I’ve always been in my head a high-leverage kind of guy,” Crick said. “We have four or five who I can name on the team in the same role, so to speculate now on who’s gonna throw those innings would be pure speculation. I think we have multiple arms that can do it. It’ll just be who’s the most consistent and who goes out there and puts up the most zeros in a row.”

Despite two strikeouts in his season debut at St. Louis, Crick misplayed a pair of dribblers back to the mound and gave up a two-run single. In his next outing, against Milwaukee, he inherited two runners in scoring position and promptly gave up a two-run double to Ryan Braun as the Brewers rallied to tie the game in the top of the ninth.

The next day, he was placed on the injured list with a right shoulder/lateral muscle strain. That was a crushing blow to the back end of the bullpen, which also was without closer Keone Kela and relievers Michael Feliz (right forearm) and Edgar Santana, who was serving a suspension for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

What worried the Pirates most is that the velocity on Crick’s fastball had dipped from 95 mph over the three previous seasons to 91.4, according to Statcast. They couldn’t figure out what was wrong, either.

“You know what, maybe it’s the layoff, maybe it’s the small injury he came back from, we don’t really know,” Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin said, noting they were looking at his heel connection. “One of the things we saw was his heel coming up a little bit early. As he’s going down the slope, that heel connection was lost. As the heel connection gets lost, you lose power in your legs. So that’s one of the things we wanted to make sure he maintained his heel connection down the slope for two things: No. 1 is health, so some of that stress on the arm is not completely on the arm. And just to be able to carry his momentum down the slope a little bit better from there. Which he did, at his best he maintains heel connection. It’s just something that happens to pitchers sometimes. He was unaware of it, and we are going back to it.”

Crick had some success when he returned from the IL on Aug. 30, with a 1.93 ERA and .222 batting average against in 4 2/3 innings over five outings, striking out five and walking three. But he gave up the winning run in the 11th inning of an 8-7 loss to the Chicago Cubs, and didn’t do enough to lock down a role heading into 2021.

The future: Now that Kela has elected free agency, the Pirates will be searching for back-end bullpen help and a quality closer, a role Richard Rodriguez handled out of necessity.

“I think you guys know this, but closers can appear out of nowhere sometimes,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said. “I would think about it as who has the ability to pitch in leverage situations. I do think we have some guys on our team who are capable of doing that, some guys who have already done that. … We can also see other guys in our current mix who have the kind of talent and stuff upside to be able to do that and maybe just haven’t had as much time in the major leagues and need some more experience. Whether it’s in trade or free agency, if we can make the back end of the bullpen stronger through that we’ll certainly keep an eye out and look to do that.”

If Crick was on the track he and the Pirates were expecting, he would have been a natural to ascend to the closer role. Instead, he’s going to be fighting for a high-leverage role. That is, if the Pirates don’t non-tender him in his first year of arbitration eligibility.

That hasn’t stopped Crick from envisioning himself getting the game’s final out and shaking the catcher’s hand.

“Those ambitions are are stored in everyone’s head in the bullpen, no matter what your role actually is,” Crick said last July. “I think it’s all about how you look at it. I’m sure the ninth inning is a little bit more of a rush. It’s the same three-out game that we play, but it’s something I’ve always thought was pretty cool. …

“From how I look at it, it’s (about) putting up a zero. I don’t care if it’s (via) strikeouts or however you do it, but getting three people out and just shoving the door.”

For now, Crick has to be concerned about keeping doors opened.

Check out the entire Pirates A to Z series here.