Breakdown: A slow pitching coach slow to show any worth
I have something of a personal policy, in the commentating role, of avoiding any crushing criticism of a coach within a first year on the job. It takes time to install processes, to follow them through, and even to get a feel for the athletes involved.
So I'll be slow to go at Bill Murphy.
Almost as slow as Murphy himself when he makes one of his disrespectful, deliberate, delaying strolls for a mound visit:
Yeah, that's 19:32 on the timer, from dugout to dirt. All it'll take someday is for one ump to roll out of bed in a bad mood, and he'll be tossed for that.
Maybe someday, too, he'll be tossed from his job as pitching coach, though, again, I won't tread too far on this topic, as the man remains in his first season, and there's still nearly half of this one ahead of us.
I'm comfortable saying this much in the moment: He's off to a terrible start.
The main mission of any coach at any level of any sport, I'd imagine we'd agree, is to improve the athletes under their tutelage. No one should expect magic. There are infinite variables at hand. But wherever that athlete happens to be ... yeah, just make them better.
And optimally, not worse.
In 2025, Paul Skenes was the National League's Cy Young Award winner, well on his way not only toward a parade of those but also bona fide greatness. He's still having a very strong year -- 0.97 WHIP, 11.03 K/9, 1.94 BB/9 -- but nobody, includes Skenes himself, would argue against these past couple months having represented a regression. Even beyond the Pirates as a team not winning any of his past eight starts.
Is that the pitching coach's fault?
Hell, no. That'd be absurd, if only because it's too simplistic.
But has Murphy made Skenes better? Has he helped him through whatever's responsible for the drop in velocity, the reduced usage of an arsenal that once had as many as seven offerings, that excruciating 38-pitch inning that ended up with four Cincinnati runs the other night, the consistently high pitch counts and all else that's visibly and audibly frustrated Skenes?
If he has, I'm not seeing it.
Not with Mitch Keller, either. Or, really, anyone on this entire staff, bullpen included.
Let's use ERA for starters and WHIP for relievers to compare 2025 to 2026 for all pitchers who've spent parts of both seasons in Pittsburgh:
• Skenes: 1.97 ERA in 2025, 3.10 in 2026 • Keller: 4.19 ERA in 2025, 4.87 in 2026 • Braxton Ashcraft: 2.71 ERA in 2025, 3.33 in 2026 • Bubba Chandler: 4.02 ERA in 2025, 4.62 in 2026
Now, I'll offer up a big mulligan for Ashcraft, who's been dynamite throughout and who's made 17 starts this season vs. eight last season. No negatives with him.
But the rest?
Taking into account the entirety of the starting pitching, the Pirates' ERA has swelled year-over-year from 3.71 to 4.06, from sixth to 11th spanning Major League Baseball. From the towering strength of the team to a rotation that's failed to last as long as six full innings in 53 of the 85 games to date.
The relievers now:
• Dennis Santana: 0.87 WHIP in 2025, 1.43 in 2026 • Isaac Mattson: 1.13 WHIP in 2025, 1.29 in 2026 • Evan Sisk: 1.47 WHIP in 2025, 1.18 in 2026 • Yohan Ramirez: 1.47 WHIP in 2025, 1.32 in 2026 • Justin Lawrence: 0.96 WHIP in 2025, 1.55 in 2026
The good: Sisk's been wonderful. Santana really hasn't, beyond having recovered of late, though that's better than the reverse.
The bad: Lawrence was so brutal he's already been designated for assignment by the Pirates AND the Twins. Santana's plunge has been so precipitous that it's probably at least partly to blame for Gregory Soto wearing down after replacing him as closer. And Mattson's own plunge kept Don Kelly from having a go-to fireman in close-and-late situations.
No full answers for either yet. And none, for that matter, for Soto over the past month.
All taken together, the Pirates' pitching staff under Murphy has gone backward in nearly every relevant category: ERA (3.76 to 4.22), WHIP (1.22 to 1.30), BB/9 (2.98 to 3.65), HR/9 (.962 to .994) and pitches thrown per inning (16.27 to 16.75).
Which is to say nothing of the bullpen's near-historic blowing 17 -- half! -- of 34 save opportunities.
Look at all the discipline I'm exhibiting, speaking not a syllable about any of it.
THE ASYLUM
Breakdown: A slow pitching coach slow to show any worth
I have something of a personal policy, in the commentating role, of avoiding any crushing criticism of a coach within a first year on the job. It takes time to install processes, to follow them through, and even to get a feel for the athletes involved.
So I'll be slow to go at Bill Murphy.
Almost as slow as Murphy himself when he makes one of his disrespectful, deliberate, delaying strolls for a mound visit:
Yeah, that's 19:32 on the timer, from dugout to dirt. All it'll take someday is for one ump to roll out of bed in a bad mood, and he'll be tossed for that.
Maybe someday, too, he'll be tossed from his job as pitching coach, though, again, I won't tread too far on this topic, as the man remains in his first season, and there's still nearly half of this one ahead of us.
I'm comfortable saying this much in the moment: He's off to a terrible start.
The main mission of any coach at any level of any sport, I'd imagine we'd agree, is to improve the athletes under their tutelage. No one should expect magic. There are infinite variables at hand. But wherever that athlete happens to be ... yeah, just make them better.
And optimally, not worse.
In 2025, Paul Skenes was the National League's Cy Young Award winner, well on his way not only toward a parade of those but also bona fide greatness. He's still having a very strong year -- 0.97 WHIP, 11.03 K/9, 1.94 BB/9 -- but nobody, includes Skenes himself, would argue against these past couple months having represented a regression. Even beyond the Pirates as a team not winning any of his past eight starts.
Is that the pitching coach's fault?
Hell, no. That'd be absurd, if only because it's too simplistic.
But has Murphy made Skenes better? Has he helped him through whatever's responsible for the drop in velocity, the reduced usage of an arsenal that once had as many as seven offerings, that excruciating 38-pitch inning that ended up with four Cincinnati runs the other night, the consistently high pitch counts and all else that's visibly and audibly frustrated Skenes?
If he has, I'm not seeing it.
Not with Mitch Keller, either. Or, really, anyone on this entire staff, bullpen included.
Let's use ERA for starters and WHIP for relievers to compare 2025 to 2026 for all pitchers who've spent parts of both seasons in Pittsburgh:
• Skenes: 1.97 ERA in 2025, 3.10 in 2026
• Keller: 4.19 ERA in 2025, 4.87 in 2026
• Braxton Ashcraft: 2.71 ERA in 2025, 3.33 in 2026
• Bubba Chandler: 4.02 ERA in 2025, 4.62 in 2026
Now, I'll offer up a big mulligan for Ashcraft, who's been dynamite throughout and who's made 17 starts this season vs. eight last season. No negatives with him.
But the rest?
Taking into account the entirety of the starting pitching, the Pirates' ERA has swelled year-over-year from 3.71 to 4.06, from sixth to 11th spanning Major League Baseball. From the towering strength of the team to a rotation that's failed to last as long as six full innings in 53 of the 85 games to date.
The relievers now:
• Dennis Santana: 0.87 WHIP in 2025, 1.43 in 2026
• Isaac Mattson: 1.13 WHIP in 2025, 1.29 in 2026
• Evan Sisk: 1.47 WHIP in 2025, 1.18 in 2026
• Yohan Ramirez: 1.47 WHIP in 2025, 1.32 in 2026
• Justin Lawrence: 0.96 WHIP in 2025, 1.55 in 2026
The good: Sisk's been wonderful. Santana really hasn't, beyond having recovered of late, though that's better than the reverse.
The bad: Lawrence was so brutal he's already been designated for assignment by the Pirates AND the Twins. Santana's plunge has been so precipitous that it's probably at least partly to blame for Gregory Soto wearing down after replacing him as closer. And Mattson's own plunge kept Don Kelly from having a go-to fireman in close-and-late situations.
No full answers for either yet. And none, for that matter, for Soto over the past month.
All taken together, the Pirates' pitching staff under Murphy has gone backward in nearly every relevant category: ERA (3.76 to 4.22), WHIP (1.22 to 1.30), BB/9 (2.98 to 3.65), HR/9 (.962 to .994) and pitches thrown per inning (16.27 to 16.75).
Which is to say nothing of the bullpen's near-historic blowing 17 -- half! -- of 34 save opportunities.
Look at all the discipline I'm exhibiting, speaking not a syllable about any of it.
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