How the Pirates used openers in 2023

This story was excerpted from Justice delos Santos’ Pirates Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

On paper, the Pirates had enough starting pitching coming into Spring Training to get them through an entire year. On paper, they wouldn’t really need to entertain the idea of consistently using an opener. How things play out on paper, of course, is often far different from reality.

Over the last month, the Pirates have regularly utilized openers followed by “bulk” pitchers, a strategy necessitated by a combination of injuries and underperformance. There have been 12 instances in which the Pirates have used the strategy. Here are the results:

July 22 (Pirates win, 3-0)

Opener: Ryan Borucki (1.2 IP, 0 ER)
Bulk Guy: Osvaldo Bido (3.0 IP, 0 ER)

Aug. 20 (Pirates lose, 2-0)

Opener: Ryan Borucki (2.0 IP, 0 ER)
Bulk Guy: Osvaldo Bido (3.1 IP, 2 ER)

“I feel like the opener is effective because a lot of relievers pitch how they would during the backend of a game from the first inning,” Borucki said. “Hitters in the first inning are a little bit more passive, so you can get strike one a lot easier compared to the sixth or seventh inning. If you go in pitching like a reliever, it’s a lot tougher for those hitters because you’re coming at them with your backend reliever stuff from pitch one. The whole game, they’re probably seeing a different arm almost every at-bat.”

Aug. 21 (Pirates win, 11-1)

Opener: Thomas Hatch (3.0 IP, 0 ER)
Bulk Guy: Bailey Falter (6.0 IP, 1 ER)

Aug. 24 (Pirates lose, 5-4)

Opener: Rob Zastryzny (1.0 IP, 1 ER)
Bulk Guy: Andre Jackson (6.0 IP, 2 ER)

Aug. 26 (Pirates lose, 10-6)

Opener: Colin Selby (2.0 IP, 0 ER)
Bulk Guy: Osvaldo Bido (2.1 IP, 8 ER)

Aug. 29 (Pirates win, 6-3)

Opener: Colin Selby (2.0 IP, 0 ER)
Bulk Guy: Luis L. Ortiz (5.0 IP, 1 ER)

Sept. 2 (Pirates win, 7-6)

Opener: Thomas Hatch (2.1 IP, 3 ER)
Bulk Guy: Bailey Falter (3.2 IP, 1 ER)

“When you’re in the bullpen, you’re ready for anything. When the phone calls, that buildup is within five minutes. You’re in the game, then you’re out of the game,” Hatch said. “When you’re an opener, the whole day is a buildup of adrenaline and preparation opposed to three or four hitters in a bullpen situation. As an opener, you’ve got one time through the order.”

Sept. 6 (Pirates win, 5-4)

Opener: Colin Selby (1 IP, 3 ER)
Bulk Guy: Bailey Falter (3.2 IP, 0 ER)

Sept. 13 (Pirates win, 7-6)

Opener: Colin Selby (1 IP, 1 ER)
Bulk Guy: Quinn Priester (4 IP, 4 ER)

Sept. 17 (Pirates win, 3-2)

Opener: Colin Selby (2.0 IP, 0 ER)
Bulk Guy: Andre Jackson (4.1 IP, 2 ER)

Sept. 19 (Pirates lose, 14-1)

Opener: Bailey Falter (1.0 IP, 2 ER)
Bulk Guy: Quinn Priester (6.0 IP, 4 ER)

Sept. 22 (Pirates win, 7-5)

Opener: Andre Jackson (1 IP, 0 ER)
Bulk Guy: Luis L. Ortiz (3 2/3 IP, 3 ER)

Total

Record: 8-4
Opener: 20 IP, 10 ER (4.50 ERA)
Bulk Guy: 51 IP, 28 ER (4.94 ERA)

“There’s a lot of matchup thought that goes into it,” said manager Derek Shelton. “The one thing is, you put it out there, then the opposing team can react off of it, depending on how they construct their lineup. Overall I think we’ve been pretty pleased with how the guys we’ve asked to do it have handled it, then what the situation’s been behind it.”

So, is this a viable strategy that the Pirates use next season if they hope to contend? If used rarely, yes, but not to the degree the Pirates have used it these last couple months.

Think back to April when the pitching staff rattled off 11 consecutive quality starts. For that entire month, the Pirates rolled with Mitch Keller, Johan Oviedo, Roansy Contreras, Rich Hill and Vince Velasquez, like clockwork. If the Pirates were playing, one of those five guys was starting. The cast of characters changed as the first half went along, but Pittsburgh still used a standard rotation more often than not by the break. In time, Shelton and company began getting creative to maximize their staff’s effectiveness.

Coming into next year’s Spring Training, Keller and Oviedo will likely be penned into the rotation while Contreras, Luis L. Ortiz, Quinn Priester, Bailey Falter and Andre Jackson should be in the mix. The Pirates’ brass will likely add external arms, free agency and the trade market both being possibilities.

Looking to May and June, Paul Skenes, the first overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft could realistically work his way to the Majors before the first half’s end. Jared Jones (the Pirates’ No. 3 prospect per MLB Pipeline) struggled with Triple-A Indianapolis this season, but he could very well be wearing black and gold next year. There’s also JT Brubaker and Mike Burrows (No. 10), both possibilities to return to game action next year after recovering from reconstruction to the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL).

At this juncture, it’s too difficult to predict how the rotation will shake out because there are too many unanswered questions. Can Contreras re-discover his form from April (3.58 ERA)? Will Priester put it all together? Are Skenes and Jones going to get called up?

Regardless of specifics, the Pirates should have enough options and acquire enough external options to use a five-man rotation throughout 2024. Of course, on paper, that looked like how things were going to shake out this year.

“It would be challenging with only two full starters or traditional starters,” Shelton said. “We have done it in stretches. Last year we did it out of necessity just because of coming out of a shortened Spring Training. I think the fact that we’re exploring it and maybe experimenting with it will give us a better idea of maybe how we can function going into next season.”