After Long Road in Minor Leagues, Sam Howard is Ready to Break Through in MLB
Entering camp as one of the few lefties on the Pittsburgh Pirates pitching staff, Sam Howard is fighting for a spot in the 2020 bullpen. After spending the last six years in the minor leagues, Howard made his debut for the Colorado Rockies last season, appearing in 20 games. However, his effort wasn't good enough and the Rockies ended up designating him for assignment. With very little left-handed relief options at their disposal, the Pirates swooped in and claimed Howard off waivers on October 30th 2019.
In his first true run in the Major Leagues, Howard pitched to a 6.63 ERA in 19 innings of work while striking out 23 and walking 10. You have to take some of those numbers with a grain of salt, as Howard pitched in one of the most hitter friendly ball parks in the Majors. He was able to keep a perfect 2-0 record and now that he has reached the big leagues, he wants to be back in "The Show" with the Bucs. However, his spring training numbers were shaky at best as he gave up five runs in 5.2 innings of work while walking seven and striking out seven. He was moved off the Pirates active roster, but still has a shot at making an impact this season.
Howard was drafted in the third round of the 2014 draft by the Colorado Rockies and was optioned to the Gulf Coast League Grand Junction Rockies. Howard started his professional career as a starter appearing in 14 games, 13 starts, for Grand Junction but went 1-3 with a 5.43 ERA in his first professional season. In 2015, he played his first full professional season with the Class Low A Asheville Tourists. He showed some spark that year dropping his ERA to 3.43 in 25 starts. He threw in 134 innings of work while striking out 122 and walking just 32 batters while posting an 11-9 record.
After a short stint in advanced A ball in 2016, Howard made the jump to Double A still on the path of being a starting pitcher. He appeared in 16 games that season and while his ERA stayed in a good place, 3.99, his strikeout numbers dropped as he only struck out 67 batters in 90.1 innings of work. His effectiveness as a starter seemed to drop and he allowed 40 earned runs, only 11 fewer than the season before and he pitched in 44 fewer innings. He would start 2017 once again in Double A and made nine starts going 1-4, but seeing a career low 2.33 ERA in 46.1 innings of work.
He seemed to have once again found his effectiveness and made the move to Triple A Albequerque. He would make 15 starts to end 2017 and went 4-4 with a 3.89 ERA in his first run with the Isotopes. His walk numbers skyrocketed to 33 in 81 innings of work and he started to lose effectiveness once again. He continued making starts in 2018 for Albequerque, but his ERA shot to 5.06 and he allowed a career high 13 home runs in 26 starts. Despite the struggles, Howard would be called up to the Colorado Rockies and made his Major League Debut on June 10th 2018.
He appeared in four games that season out of the bullpen and only allowed one run in four innings of work. This began his transition to the bullpen, as the next year he appeared exclusively out of the pen in Triple A. This did wonders for his ERA dropping it to 3.91 in 50.1 innings of work. He also saw his strikeout numbers go higher than ever before as he struck out 64 batters in 50.1 innings of work. When he returned to the Big Leagues last season, he was ready for what he was going to face out of the pen. Of his 20 appearances out of the bullpen, he picked up 12 scoreless outings and allowed just one run or less 17 times. He got beat up early in his Major League season leading to the inflated ERA.
The fact that Howard is a left-handed option out of the bullpen immediately drives up his value for the Pirates. Every other option for the bullpen is right-handed and Howard would provide that change of pace that the bullpen needs. Howard relies more on his movement than his velocity as he tries to out finesse opposing hitters. His fastball only averages 92.1 mph, which won't blow anyone aways, so he relies on movement and location to get opposing hitters out.
Howard has a two-pitch attack that he uses and he likes to pitch both of them inside to left-handed batters. His most used pitch is his slider, 55.9%, which he works down and in to lefties. With 34.9 inches of drop, opposing hitters can't get good extension on the pitch and, as a result, Howard gave up just one extra base hit against the pitch while striking out nine batters. His fastball comes next at 44.1% of the time and Howard uses it mostly on the upper inside corner. This is his strikeout pitch as he generated 14 of his 23 strikeouts from the pitch while opponents hit just .255. While it won't blow you away, it will deceive you with 6.6 inches of break.
Howard showed improvement at the Major League level in 2019 with his hard hit percentage dropping and his strikeout percentage went up. After allowing a hard hit% of just over 40% last season, he was able to drop that number to 32.7% in 2019. His strikeout percentage jumped nearly 20 percent goinf from just 5% in 2018 to 25.3% in 2019. Both of these improvements were results of better movement on Howard's pitches and his ability to better deceive opposing hitters.
Good left-handed relievers are hard to come by an Howard could benefit from this. Pitching in a new ballpark might help Howard's numbers as well as he is going from one of the most hitter friendly stadiums in the league, to pitcher friendly PNC Park. He would have the challenge of keeping hitters from peppering the right field wall, but he also has a spacious outfield and three speedy outfielders at his disposal on defense.
Prediction: 3-2 3.10 ERA (33 Games MLB)
While I feel Howard will start the season at Triple A Indianapolis, I do not think it will be long before he sees Major League action. If Dovydas Neverauskas were not out of options, I think Howard would be on the Opening Day roster, but because of team control it makes more sense to send Howard down. I think pitching in PNC Park is going to help Howard's numbers as he gets out of the boom box that is Coors Field. I don't see him starting anymore but he could be a handy left-handed option out of the pen for Derek Shelton.
As of now, the season is expected to begin somewhere around May 25th. Until then, we will continue to look at the men who make up this year's team and their contributions in 2020.
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