Pirates Continue to Add Pitching Depth By Inking Steven Wright
If there is one thing the Pittsburgh Pirates are looking for this off-season, it is arms to throw quality innings throughout a 162-game season. Ben Cherington continued that pursuit this weekend when he reunited with one of the arms he acquired while with the Boston Red Sox. On Sunday, the Pirates continued adding to their pitching depth when they signed knuckleballer Steven Wright as a Minor League free agent. They gave him an invite to Major League spring training in a move aimed to add depth to both the starting rotation and the bullpen. Wright has pitched in both roles throughout his Major League career, appearing in 81 games and making 44 starts.
He has had a solid career to this point, going 24-16 with a 3.86 ERA in seven years with the Boston Red Sox. However, he has pitched in just six games over the last two seasons after injuries and off-field problems have kept him off the field. Wright served a 15-game suspension in 2018 for violating MLB's domestic violence policy and served an 80-game suspension in 2019 for violating MLB's Joint Drug Treatment and Prevention Program. To make matters worse, Wright had to miss the entire 2020 season because of Tommy John Surgery in October of 2019. Now, he is looking to show that he is back, and can be an effective pitcher to help the Pirate's young team.
Back on the Wright Path
Even though Steven Wright has pitched just six games over the last two seasons, he has shown that he can be a successful pitcher. He was a swingman for the Boston Red Sox from 2013 to 2019 and uses his knuckleball to have opposing batters generate a lot of soft contact. His prime example of this was during his all-star season in 2016 when he went 13-6 with a 3.33 ERA. During that season, opponents hit just .235 against him and struck out 127 batters in 156.1 innings of work. Since then, he has appeared mostly as a reliever, appearing in 20 games, four starts during the 2018 season. It has been his only full season since the 2016 campaign, and he showed that he can be an effective pitcher.
During the 2018 season, Wright appeared in 20 games for the Red Sox, four starts, and posted a 3-1 record with a 2.68 ERA. It was a rough start to the 2018 season for Wright as he allowed two earned runs in 2.1 innings of work. However, after that, he began to settle in. He allowed two earned runs in 4.2 innings his next time out and then rattled off six straight scoreless appearances, including two starts at the beginning of June. He allowed just six hits over 13.2 innings of work while striking out 11 batters. Opponents were hitting just .152 against him and was the most effective that he has been throughout his career. However, after a rough start at the end of June where he gave up 10 earned runs in 3.1 innings of work, he was sent down to the Minor Leagues.
He got called back up for September and was once again a member of the Red Sox bullpen. He started working shorter stints of one inning at a time and started to find success. He would rattle off nine consecutive scoreless outings in September and allowed nine hits in 12.2 innings of work. He struck out nine batters during the stint and was once again a dominant pitcher for the Red Sox. His opponent batting average dropped down to .205 and his knuckleball was working better than it ever has. He allowed an earned run in his final appearance of the year and didn't realize it would be his last full season for a while. He would end up being suspended 80-games in 2019 and appeared in just six games of relief that season before undergoing Tommy John surgery in October of 2019.
Wright With The Bucs
It is unclear what role Wright will fill with the Bucs, but one thing he does bring with him is Major League experience. His knuckleball is confusing enough for hitters and will help him continue to generate soft contact. He is ranked as one of the best pitchers in terms of Hard Hit contact, allowing a hard hit% of 26.8% during the 2018 season, the best of his career. Most of his success that season came out of the bullpen, and that is the role that Wright will most likely play. He has a three-pitch arsenal, but the pitch he tends to use more often than not is his Knuckleball. He used it 85.5% of the time during the 2019 season and worked it up in the strike zone to get batters to swing under the ball.
The Knuckleball had a WHIFF% of 17.3% and generated a lot of soft contact throughout the season. While he doesn't strike out a lot of batters, he also doesn't give up a lot of hard contact. He only gave up two home runs during the 2019 season and walked four batters over 6.1 innings of work. Now that he is back from Tommy John Surgery, he is looking to show that he can be an effective pitcher once again. He probably won't be stretched out enough to be a starter at the beginning of the season, but he could be a piece in the Pirates bullpen as early as May if everything works out. He still has to go through the inbounding process and will probably be a week away from pitching in any games for the Pirates.
Steven Wright brings with him seven years of experience, all coming in the Boston Red Sox organization. He will most likely be used as a swingman, eating up innings when the starting pitchers can't last long into games. Wright has the ability to help the Pirates change speeds and have opponents swinging out in front. After a guy like Chad Kuhl, who can throw in the mid to upper 90s, Wright will offer a considerable slowdown, with a knuckleball that averages 74.3 miles per hour. As he goes through inbounding procedures he will continue to get ready to be a part of the Pirates bullpen. With his knuckleball in hand, he is hoping that he can still be effective in 2021.
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