Pirates Acquire Tyler Bashlor From New York Mets
Since taking over as the new Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager, Been Cherrington hasn't been able to pull the trigger on any trades this season. He finally got to make his first move as General Manager over the weekend in a low-profile trade. He acquired relief pitcher Tyler Bashlor from the New York Mets in exchange for cash considerations. It is a move clearly made to help a struggling Pirates bullpen and give the team some depth options after three injuries over the weekend. In a corresponding move, left-handed pitcher Robbie Erlin has also been designated for assignment.
An initial look at Bashlor's numbers is not going to turn heads for anyone. He has appeared in 48 games for the New York Mets and went 0-6 with a 5.33 ERA in 54 innings of work. He does a nice job of limiting hits from the opposition, with a career opponent batting average of .232, but he has struggled with control issues throughout his career. He has a career walk percentage of 12.1% and averages 4.8 walks per innings pitched. Usually, a pitcher could make up for that with great strikeout numbers, but Bashlor falls short in that area too. He struck out 21 batters in 22 innings of work last season and, especially for a reliever, you want to see those numbers higher than that.
However, a look at his pitching arsenal shows he has the talent to be a Major League arm if he can learn to control his pitches. When he started at the big league level, Bashlor was a two-pitch pitcher relying on mostly the four-seamer and the slider. However, last year he started working his change-up more often to add a change of pace from his high-powered fastball. In terms of velocity, Bashlor is in the upper echelon of professional pitchers sitting at an average of 95.3 miles per hour. The Pirates can use that speed as both a middle-reliever or a back-end reliever as they look to further solidify the bridge between the starting pitcher and Nick Burdi/Keone Kela.
His fastball is his money pitch hitting anywhere between 93 and 96 miles per hour, and he uses it just over 62% of the time. It doesn't have very much movement on it, with 13.4 inches of drop and 11.3 inches of break. He throws the fastball early in the count and can get it to both sides of the plate, but he prefers to work up and in yo righties and up and away from left-handers. This gets the batter's eye level raised and makes them more susceptible to pitches low in the zone. It is his best pitch generating 12 of his 20 strikeouts last season while opponents hit just .204 off the pitch in 238 chances on the mound.
After he gets ahead in the count with the fastball, he likes to change the eye level of the opposing batter by dropping in his slider. With almost ten miles an hour difference, it leaves batters desperately trying to slow their swing down. He likes to drop it in late in counts and cuts it down and in to righties and down and away to lefties changing the eye level. It features over 47 inches of drop and is in the top 10 percentile in the league by 8.5 inches. Opponents are hitting just .238 off the pitch and have struck out seven times against it. With movement like that, it could be a devastating pitch if he can learn to control it.
Bashlor's newest pitch is his change-up which he ended up using just about 12% of the time last season. It adds another level of depth to his arsenal and features more if a cutting action that his slider had. Bashlor's change-up averages 87 miles per hour and features 15.2 inches of break, the sharpest break of any of Bashlor's pitches. He rarely used it in his first season in the Big Leagues, but last year he began to use it as a compliment to the slider. He tended to go more inner third with the change-up, especially against left-handed batters, and it is still a work in progress. However, the more he uses it, the more it will develop into a quality MLB pitch.
It is unclear what role Bashlor will fill with the Pirates because he has pitched in both middle-relief and long-relief in the past. With the recent injury to Michael Feliz, it seems likely that Bashlor will step into Middle Relief to help bridge the gap between starters and the back-end of the bullpen. With his velocity alone, he is going to pick up his fair share of strikeouts and add in his developing breaking stuff and you could have a strong option out of the pen. Pitching Coach Oscar Marin will get a chance to work with the 27-year old and mold him into the pitcher he can be.
The Pirates have not yet added Bashlor to the active roster, however, he has been added to the team's 40-man roster with Erlin being designated for assignment. Bashlor has not yet pitched in 2020, so he will likely report to the team's satellite camp in Altoona to ramp up and be ready for regular-season games. The Pirates kick-off a four-game series with the Minnesota Twins tonight at 8:10 pm with Derek Holland (0-0) facing Lewis Thorpe (0-0).
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