One-on-one: Rule 5 pick Oviedo aims to 'just keep attacking' taken at PNC Park (Pirates)

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Luis Oviedo.

For many professional pitchers, the prospect of skipping two levels and being tasked with getting Major League hitters would be intimidating.

Luis Oviedo hasn’t back down from that challenge.

“I’ve been pitching since I was four years old,” Oviedo was telling me. “I’ve [had] that confidence since I was a little kid.”

That confidence was one of the things that drew the Pirates to the 22-year-old right-hander. While he was technically picked by the Mets in the Rule 5 draft last December, the Pirates quickly swung a trade to acquire one of the Indians’ best pitching prospects.

Going into the 2019 season, some evaluators believed that Oviedo could break out and be the latest in a long-line of stud Indians pitchers. Back soreness derailed his season, and during the shutdown in 2020, he was not invited to the Indians’ alternate site. The Pirates scouted him in winter ball in Venezuela, and after seeing that his stuff had rebounded from his 2019 down year, decided to target him.

While he is pitching out of the bullpen this year because of his Rule 5 status, the Pirates envision Oviedo as a starting pitcher in the future. With a mid-90s fastball, two breaking pitches that are already giving Major-League hitters troubles and that confidence on the mound, it seems like a real possibility.

“This kid's got no fear,” Derek Shelton said. “He's going to be really good. Really good. We just continue to take strides forward with him."

There have been some growing pains in 2021. Oviedo has an 8.10 ERA through his first 11 games and 16 ⅔ innings in the Majors, though there are positive signs. While batters have caught up to his fastball, they have not been able to square up his slider and curveball.

Batters are just 5-for-28 against his breaking pitches this year, and 12 of his 15 strikeouts have come via those pitches. Half of the swings against his curve have resulted in a whiff, and hitters have not been able to barrel up a slider, either.

The fastball execution has been less consistent, and if a hitter has done any damage against Oviedo this year, it has almost certainly been against his heater. Oviedo has learned the hard way that a 95 mph fastball that hangs over the plate doesn’t get the same results in the Majors as in Class A.

“There are really good hitters here,” Oviedo said. “They can make adjustments, and quickly. That’s the biggest jump.”

Oviedo has had to make adjustments, too, and not just for his new reliever role.

“I mean, I didn’t pitch in AA, AAA,” Oviedo said. “I’m learning.”

Oviedo has picked the brains of Duane Underwood Jr. and Chris Stratton, two pitchers who have made successful adjustments from the rotation to the Pirates’ bullpen. Those two have been go-to middle relievers for Shelton this year. Oviedo is still working towards earning that role.

Shelton has been careful with how he has used his rookie, which with a nine-man bullpen, has resulted in long stretches between outings. Oviedo did not appear in a game from April 16 until May 2. Before his last appearance Monday in Kansas City, he last pitched in a game on May 22. 

That means most of Oviedo’s development with pitching coach Oscar Marin and bullpen coach Justin Meccage has been behind the scenes. That includes some work on tunneling, making sure his fastball and breaking pitches play well off each other. 

In his last outing Monday, Oviedo got a potential inning-ending double-play ground ball that bounced off the plate. The ball bounced high in the air and Erik González couldn’t turn two in time. Oviedo allowed two runs in the extended frame, but after the layoff between game competition, Shelton was most encouraged by how he attacked the zone.

“It would have been different if he came in and scattered the ball. He didn't,” Shelton said. “He came in, threw strikes [and] went after guys.”

That’s what Oviedo wants to do. Every time he gets the ball, he is looking to compete. His status in 2022 is still up in the air, whether he will be starting or relieving, or still in the majors or back in the minors. Whatever it ends up being, the goal remains the same.

“Being more consistent and just keep attacking to try to get outs,” he said.

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