Pirates End of the Year Awards: Newcomer of the Year Sam Howard
When the Pittsburgh Pirates fired General Manager Neil Huntington on October 28th, 2019, assistant Kevan Graves stepped in as interim. He was running the baseball operations department before Ben Cherrington was hired, and ended up making the first move of the 2019 - 2020 off-season. It came two days after he was appointed interim GM, when he claimed left-handed reliever Sam Howard from the Colorado Rockies. It was a move that didn't receive much press as Howard had pitched just 24 games before coming to Pittsburgh. He was expected to be sent down to the Minor Leagues and be used as bullpen relief later in the season.
However, he turned out to be one of the better reliever in the bullpen, and found ways to get outs on a consistent basis. Once he was taken out of the bam box that is Coors Field, he got a better feel for his pitches and started getting outs more consistently. He finished the year 2-3 with a 3.86 ERA in 22 games for the Pirates over 21 innings of work. In a bullpen that had struggled all season, Howard showed he can be a consistent pitcher and has made a strong case to return to the bullpen during the 2021 season. He is our Buccos Cove Pittsburgh Pirates newcomer of the year and looks to continue his success into year two with the Pirates.
Mile High to Three Rivers
When Howard started his Major League career, he wasn't dealt the best hand. He had to begin his career in the most hitter friendly ballpark in the MLB at Coors Field. As a result, in his first full season in the Big Leagues, Howard struggled posting a 6.60 ERA in 20 games with the Rockies but went a perfect 2-0. Howard moved to PNC Park, which tends to swing more towards a pitchers park and he began to thrive. He didn't allow an earned run over his first three appearances with the Pirates and was dominant on the mound striking out five batters and walking just two in those appearances. He continued his success throughout the month of August and had a 2.77 ERA through his first month with the Pirates, striking out 17 batters in 13 innings of work.
Being that Howard is a left-handed pitcher, that made him that much more valuable to a Pirates bullpen that didn't have a lefty at the start of the season. He finished August and early September with 8.1 straight scoreless innings and dropped his ERA to 2.25, which at the time was the lowest ERA of anyone in the Pirates bullpen. His September stretch didn't go as well as he posted a 5.63 ERA in the month of September. He continued to strike batters out at a high rate, but hitters were finding a way to make more contact with his pitches. Because of this, balls were finding holes and Howard was dealing with more traffic on the base paths.
Howard's strikeout ability seemed to be his biggest weapon and the thing that made him a big part of the Pirates bullpen. He struck out 30% of the batters he faced last season, which was the highest mark of any Pirates reliever during the season. He was pretty good at keeping the ball in the yard, allowing just four home runs in 27 innings last season and held opponents to just right extra-base hits all season. Howard has made a pretty good case for himself to return to the Pirates bullpen again in 2021, and as one of only three left-handed options on the current roster, there is a good chance he will make his first Big League Opening Day Roster.
Howard in 2021
As Howard returns for the 2021 season, he looks to once again factor into the middle portion of the Pirates bullpen. He works best in one to two inning spurts, as well as to come on when the Pirates need to get a tough out. Surprisingly, Howard performed better against right-handed batters last season, holding them to a .200 average while lefties hit .259 off Howard. However, he showed an ability to get hitters out on both sides of the plate, which is key due to the three batter role. Howard will be a key piece to the bridge between the starting pitchers and the back-end of the bullpen. If he does his job right, it should put the Pirates in better position late in games.
Howard was one of those moves that normally goes by the way side when the off-season is over. However, his pick-up has quickly become one of the better moves the Pirates tws made last off-season. If it wasn't for Howard, the Pirates wouldn't have had a left-handed option in their bullpen, and wouldn't have had a young controllable player who can be there for a while. Despite a slow stretch at the end of August and middle of May, Howard showed he has what it takes to compete at the Big League level. Getting into a more hitter friendly ball park will certainly help his confidence and hopefully he will become a dominant bullpen piece that the team can rely on for years to come.
Comments
Post a Comment