While the Pittsburgh Pirates finished with the second-best record in MLB last season, they still have some question marks heading into 2016. The starting rotation arguably has some holes, but general manager Neal Huntington thinks the organization has some good insurance in case things were to go wrong.
That insurance is prospect pitchers Tyler Glasnow and Jameson Taillon, both of whom are inching closer toward their MLB debuts.
"If we have a need because of injury and/or someone struggles up here later in the season, they're pretty good options to have," Huntington told Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Pittsburgh's rotation lost J.A. Happ to free agency and A.J. Burnett to retirement, in addition to relievers Joakim Soria, Joe Blanton and Antonio Bastardo to free agency, so its pitching staff will look a bit different in 2016. Huntington added Jon Niese and Ryan Vogelsong to the starting rotation and Neftali Feliz, Juan Nicasio and Kyle Lobstein to the bullpen, but it's not entirely known how any of those pitchers will perform in 2016 due to a myriad of issues and question marks.
As a result, this could be a prime opportunity for Glasnow and/or Taillon to make their mark on the MLB roster in the event some of these players don't live up to expectations.
"Huntington and his staff drafted both players, two naturals with raw talent, both tall and right-handed with power fastballs and hammer curves," Brink adds. "He knows what they're capable of."
Glasnow was a candidate for a September call-up last year, but the Pirates opted to keep him in the minors to further develop. The right-hander went 7-5 with a 2.39 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 136 strikeouts in 22 starts (109 and 1/3 innings) between three levels of the minors. He made eight starts with Triple-A Indianapolis and maintained a 2.20 ERA, but saw a big leap in his WHIP (1.34) and a much lower strikeout total (48 Ks in 41 innings). Huntington likely noticed that upon the 22-year-old's promotion to Indy, which weighed heavily on the GM's decision to keep him in the minors.
Glasnow didn't have a good first outing for the Pirates in spring training (1.2 IP, 2 ER, 2 H), but the team expects big things out of him.
As for Taillon, the fellow right-hander hasn't pitched since 2013 due to elbow and hernia surgeries, but he's been regarded as a promising young talent for quite a while now. The 24-year-old will enter 2016 fully healthy with hopes of picking up where he left off over two years ago. He reached Triple-A Indianapolis as a 23-year-old back in 2013 and made six starts before requiring Tommy John surgery.
Overall, he's 16-21 with a 3.72 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 356 strikeouts in 75 games (74 starts), totaling 382 innings in his minor-league career. During his first start of the spring, the former second overall pick in the 2010 MLB Draft allowed one earned run on two hits and a walk in two innings of work.
These two youngsters obviously have some strides to make before getting the call to the bigs, but Huntington likes what he sees thus far and is seemingly optimistic about their potential impact at the MLB level if the Pirates were to run into some issues with their pitching staff.
