On the spot: With Vince Velasquez out, Pirates must find replacement for starting rotation
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When the Pittsburgh Pirates placed Vince Velasquez on the 15-day injured list Friday, it marked the second time they were forced to replace a starting pitcher this season.
The first was an easy decision: Johan Oviedo took the spot of JT Brubaker, who underwent Tommy John surgery.
The second one is on hold, for now.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton offered no medical updates on Velasquez, who was removed from Thursday’s 3-2 loss at the Tampa Bay Rays after experiencing right elbow discomfort and in the third inning. Nor did Shelton divulge who would replace Velasquez (4-3, 3.06 ERA) in the starting rotation.
“We’ll decide as we get to that slot, what we’re going to do there,” Shelton said, “if we’re going to do a traditional (starter), if we’re going to do something non-traditional.”
The traditional – and most likely – move would be to promote top-10 prospect Luis Ortiz from Triple-A Indianapolis. The 6-foot-2, 240-pound right-hander was 2-1 with a 2.45 ERA and 1.02 WHIP and 26 strikeouts against 11 walks while holding opponents to a .181 batting average in 29 1/3 innings over six starts.
Ortiz, 24, made his major league debut last September and went 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA and 1.13 WHIP and 17 strikeouts in 16 innings over four starts for the Pirates last season, touching triple digits six times and averaging 99 mph on his four-seam fastball in his debut.
Ortiz was scheduled to start at Toledo on Friday, which would make him available to start Wednesday against the Colorado Rockies. Velasquez would have been on track to start Tuesday.
“We’ve always talked about pitching depth, how important it is and what we’re going to do with it,” Shelton said. “This is why you try to add as much pitching as possible, because you know you’re not going to go through a season where you’re going to have five starters and you’re going to have (eight) guys in your bullpen. And, I think that’s the thing. We build our depth out as much as possible, then we figure out how we’re going to use it. The other thing we can figure out is when we have off days, what the guy that’s done the day before and what he’s thrown in terms of how we’re going to use and deploy our guys.”
Shelton could get creative by turning to a non-traditional solution. Whether that’s using an opener for the first inning or a piggyback situation like he did in 2020 with Steven Brault and Chad Kuhl remains to be seen.
The Pirates activated right-handed reliever Chase De Jong from his rehabilitation assignment after going on the IL with a lumbar strain on April 14. De Jong has worked in multiple roles out of the bullpen, but has made 19 career starts, including nine for the Pirates in 2021.
“Chase will run back into a length role or a spot where we see we can leverage him, depending on the matchups,” Shelton said.
De Jong is willing to pitch wherever the Pirates need him, joking that he not only ranks second or third in the bullpen in velocity but also in innings pitched last season (71 2/3 over 42 appearances).
“I’m definitely here to do a job. There’s innings that need covered. That’s kind of my specialty, so I need to go out there and do that efficiently,” De Jong said. “I’ve done it in the past. I’m healthy.”
Velasquez, who signed a one-year, $3.15 million contract, was one of the Pirates’ most efficient pitchers this season. The 30-year-old right-hander led the starting rotation in wins (four), ERA (3.06) and WHIP (1.16) and was tied with Mitch Keller for most starts (seven). He had a 19-inning scoreless streak snapped against the Rays.
“He was pitching really well,” Shelton said. “I mean, this is a guy who has really good stuff. It’s been seen in flashes over the last few years. I think (pitching coach) Oscar (Marin) and our group have done a really good job kind of honing it in. And, he was pitching well (Thursday). He was executing. The slider’s been really good. He stayed in attack mode the entire time. All five of our starters have been really significant. You don’t have 18 quality starts in a month if the whole group’s not doing something well, and he was a big part of that.”
Oviedo made a smooth transition to the starting replaced Brubaker was lost to season-ending surgery, going 2-2 with a 4.78 ERA and 1.47 WHIP in 32 innings over six starts.
“As a team we definitely feel the loss of Vinnie, (Oneil) Cruz, (Ji-Man) Choi and all the guys that are hurt right now,” Oviedo said. “It’s always bad to see our teammates go to the IL but we try to keep a positive mentality and keep it moving forward. It’s always a challenge for everyone every time somebody got hurt. We’re all positive that whoever comes will get the job done.”
Source: TribLIVE
