Pirates sign injured veteran RHP Tom Koehler
The Pittsburgh Pirates agreed to terms on a minor league contract with former Marlins starter Tom Koehler on Wednesday. The right-hander will report to minor-league camp and spend most of the 2019 season continuing rehab from surgery on right shoulder last summer.
Koehler, 32, had a 4.39 ERA in 161 games (133 starts) between 2012-17 for the Marlins and Toronto Blue Jays. He is 36-55 with 6.9 strikeouts per nine innings and 1.39 walks and hits per inning in his career. His season-low ERA is 4.08 in 2015.
Koehler, though, put up solid numbers in his first extended MLB stint as a reliever late in 2017 for Toronto: 2.65 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 17 innings. There perhaps is merit for the idea of Koehler excelling as a reliever: his career ERA in innings 1-3 is almost a full run less (3.99-4.94) to innings 4-6.
Koehler did not pitch in 2018 after signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Love baseball? Stay up-to-date with the latest Pittsburgh Pirates news.
Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris at cadamski@tribweb.com or via Twitter @C_AdamskiTrib.
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.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.