Pirates took calculated risk by changing pitching coaches in push to maximize talent

Don Kelly repeatedly made the point that pitching was the foundation for the Pittsburgh Pirates, with Paul Skenes an overwhelming favorite to win the National League Cy Young and anchoring a staff that led MLB in shutouts and ranked in the top 10 in multiple categories.

So, it came across as counterintuitive — and stunning to some — that one of the first moves made to Kelly’s coaching staff was to not renew the contracts of pitching coach Oscar Marin and assistant Brent Strom.

After all, the Pirates had the third-lowest ERA and WHIP (1.22) in the NL (3.76) and allowed the third-fewest home runs, fifth-fewest runs and had the eighth-lowest batting-average against in the major leagues.

But there is a belief around baseball that the Pirates have some of the game’s top young pitching, and within the organization that they have the talent to be even better. So, the Pirates took a calculated risk to search for someone who can bring a fresh, new perspective and utilize every resource available to maximize their pitching potential.

“In some ways, pitching is more controllable,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said late last month, “and I think you can make faster progress with pitching.”

Skenes, a 23-year-old right-hander, led the majors with a 1.97 ERA and ranked in the top five in strikeouts (216) and WHIP (0.95). Opponents had a .199 batting average against him as Skenes led the team with 187 2/3 innings pitched and 20 quality starts in 32 outings.

Yet his assessment of his season was that there was room for improvement, not only for himself but the rest of the team.

“Looking in the mirror is part of that. We need to do that,” Skenes said in mid-September. “I think everybody in this room can be better. I believe that, going into the offseason, a lot of guys, a lot of guys are going to see it that way. You don’t just go into the offseason like, ‘Hey, I’m trying to be the same player I was last year.’ … It’s going to take a lot of guys taking a look in the mirror, figuring out what it is that they need to get better at and making sacrifices to do that.”

That the Pirates were willing to sacrifice Marin for the sake of their young pitching staff is telling, given their desire to develop Braxton Ashcraft, Hunter Barco, Mike Burrows, Bubba Chandler, Thomas Harrington, Jared Jones and Skenes — all 25 years of age or younger — after they made their major-league debuts either last year or this season.

Cherington said Pirates players had the freedom to give feedback during exit interviews last week, so it’s unlikely they would have parted ways with Marin if their team MVP had demanded his return. But Skenes arrived as a more polished product and became one of the game’s dominant pitchers, so he’s not the only concern.

Combined with returning starters Mitch Keller, Carmen Mlodzinski and Johan Oviedo, the Pirates have an enviable amount of starting pitching depth at the major-league level that could create some serious competition in spring training for the five rotation spots.

Although Ashcraft, Barco, Burrows, Chandler, Harrington and Mlodzinski have also pitched out of the bullpen, Cherington said he expects all of them to prepare to be starters in 2026.

“Doesn’t mean they all will be because there are only five spots,” Cherington said, “but I’d expect they’d all go into spring training in that way.”

Of course, the Pirates could parlay their pitching depth into offensive help through trades, which team president Travis Williams indicated was a strong possibility.

“We’ve given ourselves the flexibility at the trade deadline in terms of payroll, and we believe that we have the ability to go out and add,” Williams said. “And we have pitching depth that we can use in order to turn that into hitting depth.”

The Miami Marlins, for example, dealt left-handed starter Trevor Rogers to the Baltimore Orioles at the 2024 trade deadline for infielder Connor Norby and outfielder Kyle Stowers, who developed into an All-Star by hitting 25 homers and 73 RBIs this season.

The most attractive trade chip is the 29-year-old Keller (6-15, 4.19 ERA) who is coming off a season in which he made 17 quality starts in 32 outings. With three years and $55 million remaining on his contract, he has an affordable salary for a middle-of-the-rotation starter and has proven to be a workhorse by making 31 or more starts and pitching at least 175 innings in each of the past three seasons.

The Pirates could opt to trade the 6-foot-6, 275-pound Oviedo, whose return from Tommy John surgery was delayed by a lat strain that limited him to 40 1/3 innings over nine starts. Oviedo, 27, enters his first year of arbitration eligibility, so he should expect a raise on his $850,000 salary.

Or the Pirates could deal one of their young arms, with Skenes and Chandler being the only two considered untouchable and Jones recovering from surgery on his right elbow.

But Kelly made it clear that, following a 91-loss season, the focus for the Pirates this offseason will be maximizing the potential of the pitching staff, creating a stronger foundation for a playoff push next year.

“From a pitching standpoint, how do we clean up some of the mechanical stuff to be able to dominate the pillars we have of being in the strike zone, getting ahead in the count and putting guys away?” Kelly said during the final homestand. “Honestly, it never stops. That’s the mindset that I want our staff to take, our players to take, is that you can never stop getting better.”