MIAMI — The latest meltdown by the Pirates' bullpen has prompted a change, as the club announced Friday it recalled right-handed reliever Kyle Crick and purchased the contract of right-hander Richard Rodriguez from Triple-A Indianapolis. To make room on the roster, left-hander Josh Smoker and right-hander Clay Holmes were optioned to Triple-A.
Although the move leaves the Pirates with only one left-handed reliever, they added two arms with different skillsets. Crick, 25, was acquired from the Giants in the Andrew McCutchen trade; however, he did not make the opening day roster after recording a 5.73 ERA and 1.55 WHIP in 11 innings during spring training. Crick allowed one run with five strikeouts, no walks and one save in five appearances at Indianapolis.
Rodriguez, a 28-year-old signed as a minor-league free agent this offseason, had two multi-inning appearances at Triple-A, pitching a total of five scoreless innings with nine strikeouts to two walks and only one hit allowed. He had a 0.95 WHIP in 7 1/3 innings during Grapefruit League play before being optioned to minor-league camp.
Smoker, who was acquired from the Mets this offseason, has struggled in each of his five appearances. He had a 9.00 ERA and a 2.75 WHIP in four innings. Opponents batted .474 against him and 60 percent of his inherited runners scored. His struggles, along with the ineffectiveness of Dovydas Neverauskas, led to the Pirates' bullpen having an ERA of 6.97 and 1.67 WHIP in 41 1/3 innings.
Clint Hurdle said prior to Friday's first pitch against the Marlins at Marlins Park that Smoker was struggling to repeat his delivery and was focusing on the process of pitching, particularly mechanics on the mound, rather than execution.
"There’s extra effort going on that we want him to go compete and pitch and not try to make sure everything is aligned," Hurdle said. "There are times we get in this game we want to make sure our hands are in the right place, we’re on this part of the rubber. Once we get in a game we need to compete and pitch. More touches, more reps, more consistency should help everything come along because the opportunities here were sporadic based on performance and some other guys doing some things."
With Kevin Siegrist declining his minor-league assignment, the Pirates did not have a left-hander at Triple-A, which made Crick the logical choice to be recalled. After all, he had success with the Giants last season with a 3.06 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in 32 1/3 innings, averaging 7.8 strikeouts per nine innings. Only 14 percent of his inherited runners scored and opponents batted only .191 against him with a .301 on-base percentage. His four-seam fastball averaged 95 mph, complementing an 82 mph slider and 87 mph changeup.
Crick seemed be a favorite to start the season in the Pirates' bullpen, but his best secondary pitch, the slider, was ineffective throughout the spring and his four-seam fastball was inconsistent, according to Ray Searage.
"It definitely served as motivation," Crick said. "You can easily do the opposite with it, but if you turn it to motivate you I think you're going to have more positives than negatives. When I got sent down initially I wasn't that worried about it because I have confidence in my stuff, so it's not like I hadn't done it before. ... It was something I had done before, so I had the confidence to do it again. It's not the way you want it to happen per se, but it is what it is and it happened and now we're here."
It wasn't long ago, though, that Crick was viewed as a potential top-of-the-rotation starter.
A supplemental first-round pick in 2011, he averaged 12.5 strikeouts per nine innings in 14 starts at High-A in 2013 and was ranked by Baseball America as the game’s No. 33 prospect entering 2014. Then he stayed at Double-A for three seasons, averaging 6.1, 9.4 and 5.5 walks per nine innings.
His command became such a problem that he was moved to the bullpen in 2015, only to be returned to the rotation in 2016. Crick allowed 9.1 hits per nine innings in 23 starts at Double-A in 2016, and he didn’t reach Triple-A until last season.
Crick’s emergence began last spring, when he allowed just one run in 8 2/3 innings during spring training, but it wasn’t enough to earn a spot in the Giants’ bullpen. He finally reached Triple-A at the beginning of the season, and his call to San Francisco came in June.
Rodriguez's ascent began this winter, when he had a 1.29 WHIP in 21 1/3 innings in the Dominican Winter League. The Pirates signed him to a minor-league contract in January, and Rodriguez credited Searage with helping him clean up his mechanics, placing an emphasis on lowering his arm slot.
"Ray was able to identify [the problem]," Rodriguez said through team interpreter Mike Gonzalez. "From there on, I was able to fix and tweak, and fix some of my mechanics. He was able to fix and identify those things, and I noticed a great leap in helping make sure I was hitting the zone. ... Not very big issues but body issues. Leaving my arm too high and making sure I adjust the arm angle to produce hitting the zone where I need to hit it."
He'll now be asked to serve in both a long- and middle-relief role for the Pirates. Rodriguez pitched 2 1/3 innings with five strikeouts last Saturday for Indianapolis and 2 2/3 scoreless innings with four strikeouts on Tuesday.
He made 42 relief appearances for a total of 70 2/3 innings at Triple-A Norfolk last season, posting a 2.42 ERA with 80 strikeouts to 18 walks. But Rodriguez struggled once he was recalled by the Orioles in September, allowing nine runs in 5 2/3 innings. It took him nearly two full seasons in Triple-A to finally make his major league debut.
Holmes, a former ninth-round pick who made 24 starts at Triple-A last season, gave up one run in two innings in his major league debut last Friday against the Reds. He'll now rejoin an Indianapolis rotation that includes Nick Kingham and Tyler Eppler.
"It’s invaluable experience," Hurdle said of Holmes. "He made his major league debut. He got to post up with the major-league club that he’s grown up with. It will make the transition easier next time. There will be a next time, and he understood the fact he needs to touch the ball more than once in two weeks. That’s not helping his development and his growth."