Options Pirates Could Consider For Closer Role

Things fell apart for Bednar in 2024. He was 3-8 with a 5.77 ERA, 23 saves, 1.422 WHIP, and seven blown saves. Injuries may have been partly to blame. They prevented Bednar from having much of a spring training. In June, he landed on the injured list.

Bednar Continues to Struggle, Giving Pirates a Closer Problem

It’s not going much better for Bednar in the 2025 exhibition season. After retiring all three batters he faced in Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Bednar has surrendered eight earned runs on 10 hits and three walks in six innings pitched. He’s also struck out eight.

At least in his public statements, Bednar is unconcerned. Same with manager Derek Shelton and pitching coach Oscar Marin. Then again, they won’t say that their player stinks. That’s what Facebook groups are for.

Even so, Shelton has declined to anoint Bednar as the Pirates closer for 2025. He hasn’t named anybody else for the role, either. Unlike 2024, there’s no Aroldis Chapman to take the reins, as he signed with the Boston Red Sox last December. If Shelton decides Bednar needs to step back to lower-leverage situations, he has many other candidates for the closer role. Let’s look at three of them.

The Eighth-Inning Man

Promoting the eight-inning specialist seems natural for a team looking to replace its closer. That would be right-hander Colin Holderman. He’s been a reliable bullpen option since joining the Pirates in 2022 from the New York Mets in a trade for Daniel Vogelbach, who’s now back in the organization as a special assistant. Bednar owes at least part of his success as a closer to the work Holderman has done with the Pirates. Last year, Holderman was 3-6 with a 3.16 ERA, a 1.305 WHIP, and 21 “holds.”

These figures belie the fact that Holderman had struggles of his own. From July 28 through August 7, his ERA shot up from 1.67 to 3.43. Over that five-game stretch, he was 0-4 and gave up nine earned runs, including four homers, in 4 1/3 innings. He then revealed that he was pitching through an injury and was placed on the IL. He returned in September and had a 1.93 ERA and six holds during the month. So far, he’s having a good spring. At the close of Wednesday’s action, he’s given up just one run on six hits in 6 2/3 innings. He has yet to walk a batter.

The knock against Holderman is that he doesn’t have “closer stuff.” His hardest pitch is a sinking fastball that averages between 96 and 97.6 mph, placing the pitch in the 93rd percentile among relievers. Yet, over the last three seasons, on average, it generated a low 5.73 percent whiff rate, which is only in the 37th percentile. He relied increasingly on a sweeper that he developed in 2023. The pitch was thrown 47.6 percent of the time in 2024.

Going with the Best Reliever

That’s what Shelton called Dennis Santana during a testy exchange with a reporter last year. It didn’t get much attention when Santana was picked up on waivers from the New York Yankees last June. With New York, Santana had a 6.26 ERA and 1.354 WHIP. Had general manager Ben Cherington lost his mind?

However, the Pirates unlocked whatever Santana had in him. In 39 games with Pittsburgh, he had a 2.44 ERA, 11 holds, and a 0.925 WHIP. This, despite a rough start that saw him surrender six runs in one inning during his second outing for the Pirates. Soon enough, he had an eight-game streak in July without allowing a run, followed by a 21-game streak without an unearned run from August 8 to September 27.

During the latter streak, Santana played Pirates closer for one day instead of Bednar, earning a save in Chicago. His 2024 success has carried over to the spring games thus far. He’s given up two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings this spring. The resulting 2.70 ERA from this small sample doesn’t begin to tell the story of how well he’s pitched, though. Facing 23 batters, he’s held them to a 0.600 WHIP and a .095 batting average. One of the runs came on a silly wind-blown homer in Monday’s game against the Minnesota Twins.

Why Not a Left-Hander?

Left-handed closers are rarely seen. It can work if the left-hander is effective against right-handed batters. The Pirates have had three left-handed ninth-inning men in the 21st century: Mike González, Tony Watson, and Felipe Vázquez. The fourth could be Ryan Borucki.

After a so-so career with the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners, Borucki was one of the best relief pitchers in baseball for the Pirates in 2023. In 38 games, he held opponents to a 2.45 ERA and a major league-best 0.744 WHIP. For that, the Pirates rewarded him in 2024 with a $1.6 million contract. Unfortunately, Borucki spent most of 2024 on the IL. When he returned, the results weren’t great. He gave up nine earned runs in 11 innings with Pittsburgh in 2024.

The Pirates returned him for 2025 on a “prove it” minor league deal. So far in spring training, he’s proving it, with “it” being that he’s back to his 2023 form. In eight innings, he’s given up just one run. He’s also surrendered four hits and five walks while striking out 11. He’s a non-roster invitee but looks like a lock to make the team, even though it will mean dropping somebody from the 40-man roster.

Most importantly, in 2023, he held right-handed batters to a .213/.244/.373 slash line while left-handed swingers mustered only .149/.230/.254 against him. An argument against Borucki as the Pirates closer in place of Bednar is that he’s never had a save in the majors. He’s had just one save in professional baseball in 2014 in Low-A.

The Last Word

But do the Pirates need to designate anybody as their closer, whether Bednar or anybody else? The Pirates won NL East Division titles from 1990-92 without a regular closer. Nine pitchers recorded saves for Pittsburgh in 1990, seven in 1991 and 1992. A committee approach based on matchups has often proven to be effective. Analytics have determined that the best use of a team’s top reliever is whenever the game is on the line. That might not be the ninth inning. Shelton was using that approach as recently as 2022. One thing is for sure. There’s no record of a team-leading after eight innings and surrendering because they didn’t have a closer.