Marin: Bullpen gets better each time out

There are two ways of looking at the Pirates bullpen for pitching coach Oscar Marin.

On one hand, it has been decimated. Because of suspension ( Edgar Santana) or injury, the Pirates have missed many of their best back- end options.

The need to plug holes has been frustrating, but it also has created opportunity for others. Surprisingly, it has yielded better year- over- year results; after finishing 23rd with a 4.91 ERA in 2019, Pirates relievers are 19th with a 4.72 ERA in 2020.

“That’s been a big part of the season, especially because of maybe not having the bullpen we thought we were going to have earlier on and some other guys stepping up,” Marin said. “It’s been a bunch of teaching points, and because of those teaching points, these guys are getting better each time out.”

Here’s a look at some important developments in the bullpen.

Clarity matters

The biggest bright spot might be Geoff Hartlieb, who going into Sunday had stranded 16 of 18 inherited runners. The right- handed sinker- baller has routinely extracted the Pirates from jams.

Marin and bullpen coach Justin Meccage sat down with Hartlieb before the season and convinced him to use his sinker exclusively, pairing it with his slider and ditching his four- seam fastball.

“He got to the big leagues with a heavy, power sinker,” Marin said. “Just showing him different ways of using it, different locations where he was getting beat and also identifying what we wanted to do with his slider.”

Hartlieb has cut his ERA from 9.00 to 2.20, while his ground- ball rate has jumped from 46.5% in 2019 to 57.1% this season. Opponents are hitting just .211 off him versus .340 last summer.

“I think clarity for him of what makes him good has been the biggest differencemaker,” Marin said.

Maximizing strengths

Few observers had Sam Howard pegged to make 14 appearances in a 162- game season let alone 14 so far in a shortened one. But the lefthander has been one of the Pirates’ more reliable options.

He has a 2.45 ERA with 18 strikeouts against just 7 walks in 14⅔ innings. Especially important for Howard has been his slider, which he throws 62.8% of the time. Opponents are hitting just .154 and slugging .269 off the pitch, while Howard is generating a 41.7% whiff rate with it.

“Throwing the breaking ball a lot more, that’s been [ Howard’s] development,” Marin said with a laugh. “One of the things we try to do with our guys, right from the beginning, you want to maximize somebody’s strength, even if they don’t know they have it.”

Buying in

Dovydas Neverauskas probably isn’t the Pirates pitcher many think of when talking about development and key steps forward for the bullpen, but he has strung together four consecutive scoreless appearances. Marin said a key point for Neverauskas has been slowing down his delivery, which has him more in sync. The righthander from Lithuania also is throwing his curveball about 10% more this season. “He’s been doing a good job of buying into using more than just his fastball,” Marin said. “That’s helped him.”

Coming soon

It sounds as if it won’t be long before we see hardthrowing relief prospect Blake Cederlind, who recently was on the taxi squad, and Marin watched him throw a couple of times, including a live batting practice session. “We’re excited to see him at some point and see what he’s going to do against [ big league] competition,” Marin said. “He looked pretty crisp when we saw him in the live BP.”

Crick is fine

Marin insists he’s not worried about Kyle Crick, whose average fastball velocity is down about 4 mph from last year. “Maybe it’s the layoff, maybe it’s the small injury he came back from, we don’t really know,” Marin said. “I think it will [ come back]. The spin on the slider is still there. The spin on his four- seam is relatively close to what it has been before.”

Check the video

The Pirates have had to bring plenty of guys up from Altoona, where they’ve struggled to recreate actual games due to logistical issues. The good news is that Marin said they’re keeping numbers on guys and do not feel as if they’re losing out on valuable development time.

“Every live BP, every side that they’re doing on the mound, we get to see on video,” Marin said. “It’s been awesome doing that. That’s why it’s been better for the guys that come over from Altoona to transition to what we’re doing here. The constant communication within that group is probably the most beneficial for those young guys, as well.”