Position Report Card: Relif Pitcher

Today I am going to focus on relif pitchers, but not the closer, stay tuned for my take on the Pirates 9th inning situation in my next post. Middle relievers, or 'bridge' guys are very important to have as a ball club. I have a little bit of experience with this position myself as well. This summer I was the 8th inning guy for the Mat-Su Miners of Palmer, Alaska in the Alaska Baseball League.

This year's bridge or set-up guys for the Buccos were lefties Tony Watson and Justin Wilson as well as righty ground ball specialist Jared Hughes. It was a new thing in 2014 for these guys becuase Mark Melancon (the current closer) had that role last year while former Pirate and current Angel Jason Grilli was in charge of the 9th inning.

Tony Watson had an incredible career year in 2014. He was selected to represent the Pirates in the All-Star Game which is extremly rare for a middle reliever. Watson racked up 77 1/3 innings pitched while holding a 1.63 era. He also only surrendered 64 hits in those innings while striking out 81 batters. A very, very soild 8th inning guy.

Pirates pitcher Tony Watson
photo courtsey:  mlb.com

Justin Wilson came back down to earth this year after a great 2013 season. Although he will not get a chance to retain form with the Pirates, as he was traded to the Yankees this offseason. The Yankess are going to be very pleased with the young flamethrowing lefty. I think he will definitley succeed in the AL East. Wilson ended the year with a 4.20 era. His problem was with the strike zone. He walked 30 batters in 60 innings pitched, which is not good.

Lastly is Jared Hughes. I have always liked Hughes, he is a ground ball pitcher like myself. He pitches with a lot of passion and it was great to see him really come into his own and succeed this year. Hughes had an impressive 1.96 era in 64 1/3 innings pitched this year.

***Overall Grade B+