Pirates Finalize Pitching Staff

The Pirates finalized their Opening Day pitching decisions, with Jason Mackey of MLB.com covering the notable details. Carmen Mlodzinski will get a rotation spot while José Urquidy and Hunter Barco will start the season in the bullpen and Mike Clevinger will head to Triple-A. Alex Stumpf reports that Clevinger had an upward mobility clause in his minor league deal but it appears that didn’t lead to a roster spot with any of the 30 clubs in the league.

The Bucs went into the winter with loads of pitching and used that to bolster their position player group. They included Mike Burrows in the three-team trade that netted them Brandon Lowe and Jake Mangum, as well as reliever Mason Montgomery. They flipped Johan Oviedo to the Red Sox in a five-player trade, with the headliner for the Bucs being outfielder Jhostynxon García. They still have a strong front four consisting of Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft. By the end of camp, Mlodzinski, Urquidy, Barco and Clevinger appeared to be battling for the final spot.

Mlodzinski enters the season with a 3.25 earned run average in 185 2/3 innings as a swingman. He has struck out 21.7% of batters faced while giving out walks at an 8.2% clip, both fairly average marks. His 47.1% ground ball rate is a few ticks north of par.

There seems to be some belief he could find a new gear. Mlodzinski tells Mackey that he’s feeling much better now compared to a year ago thanks to the development of his splitter and curveball. He threw both of those pitches at the big league level for the first time last year. It’s hoped that the more diverse arsenal can help him find more success as he turns a lineup over. Mlodzinski has allowed a line of .214/.281/.294 when facing a lineup for the first time as a starter but a massive .381/.422/.607 line the second time through.

For what it’s worth, he had a great camp. Spring performances always need to be taken with a grain of salt but he posted a 2.92 ERA with a 25% strikeout rate, 3.6% walk rate and 56.8% ground ball rate. The Bucs will give him a chance to carry that forward into the regular season.

Jared Jones will be returning from his surgery at some point in the coming months and will need a rotation spot but other injuries will likely pop up between now and then. Mlodzinski does still have an option and could be sent to the minors but that’s also true of Ashcraft, Chandler and Jones. Time will tell how it all shakes out.

For now, there are domino effects for the other guys who were in the mix. Urquidy has had a decent career but missed most of 2024 and 2025 recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Bucs gave him a big league deal but he didn’t have a good camp, allowing 11 earned runs in 10 2/3 innings. He’ll seemingly start the season as a long reliever, presumably for mop-up duty.

As for Barco, it’s a bit of a surprise to see him on the Opening Day roster. He has options and is still expected to be a valuable starter in the long run, so there was an argument for having him stretched out in Triple-A.

Mackey suggests his path forward could mirror that of Ashcraft, who tossed 69 2/3 innings in the majors last year and 48 1/3 in the minors. The major league work was split between eight starts and 18 bullpen appearances, most of which were for more than an inning. Ashcraft went into 2025 having never thrown more than 73 innings in a season. He got to 118 last year, between his minor league starts and that big league hybrid role. That should put him in place to jump to something resembling a full starter’s workload in 2026.

Barco got to 102 1/3 innings last year between the majors and minors, a personal high for him. Ideally, he will push that up this year in order to keep building towards a full starter’s workload. For now, that will be in the big league bullpen. He has options and could be sent down for regular Triple-A work at some point or perhaps injuries will open a rotation role in the majors.

As for Clevinger, it’s been a few years since he was an effective starter in the big leagues, which is why he had to settle for a minor league deal this offseason. His velocity was up this spring, an encouraging sign, but the results weren’t enough to grab a roster spot. He struck out 25% of batters faced in spring games but also gave out walks at a 16.7% clip and posted a 5.02 ERA.

He’ll presumably be in the Triple-A rotation, staying ready for a potential call-up at some point. The fact that he’s not on the 40-man roster could work against him. Thomas Harrington and Wilber Dotel have 40-man spots and will also be making Triple-A starts while on optional assignment.