Nick Mears underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow before the season, so he spent the majority of the summer working his way back to pitching again.
The Pittsburgh Pirates rewarded Mears by recalling the right-handed reliever to boost the bullpen for the final three games against the St. Louis Cardinals. To make room on the active roster, they optioned right-handed rookie Luis Ortiz, who wasn’t scheduled to make another start.
Ortiz, 23, made a dazzling debut in a 1-0 win at Cincinnati with a fastball that averaged 99 mph and touched triple digits six times. He was 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA and 1.13 WHIP and 17 strikeouts in 16 innings over four starts, though he lasted only two-thirds of an inning in a 13-3 loss at St. Louis in his final start Saturday.
Mears, 25, was activated from the 60-day injured list Aug. 20 after rehabilitation assignments with Low-A Bradenton and Indianapolis. He was 1-1 with a 4.74 ERA and 1.46 WHIP, 27 strikeouts and 17 walks in 24 2/3 innings over 23 appearances for Indianapolis this season.
“I think it’s very encouraging because when you battle through and work hard to get back on the field, it’s nice to get that reward at the end of the year, like, ‘I came in. I did everything to get back to the big-league level,’ ” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of Mears. “For him, that’s important. For us, we’re filling a need with three games left, making sure we fill innings. Our starters have been so short for the last four or five days just because we’ve run into innings limits with a lot of young kids so it’s nice to have a fresh arm in the bullpen.”
Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2018, Mears made his major-league debut in 2020, pitching in four games. He made 30 appearances last season and is 1-0 with a 5.08 ERA and 1.73 WHIP in 28 1/3 innings.
“When a guy makes a good impression and does good things, then all of a sudden he has an injury and has to battle through it, it had to be extremely frustrating and challenging for him,” Shelton said. “I give him a ton of credit for working hard to put himself in a position to be back here.”
