The Pirates are moving left-hander Steven Brault to the bullpen, tweets Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic. For the time being, that means that righty Nick Kingham will remain in the rotation and get another start on Friday on the heels of yesterday’s historic debut, during which he took a perfect game into the seventh inning.
Manager Clint Hurdle told reporters, however, that there are no guarantees for Kingham beyond his second start. The club has a number of off-days on the horizon, and righty Joe Musgrove is expected to return later this month. Of course, Kingham already bought himself a second start after what looked to be a spot start Sunday, and it stands to reason that another strong performance could further force the Pirates’ hand. Ivan Nova, Jameson Taillon, Trevor Williams and Chad Kuhl will continue to hold down the top four spots in the Pittsburgh rotation, with either of Kingham or Musgrove now looking to be the leading candidates for the final spot.
[Related: Updated Pittsburgh Pirates depth chart]
Brault, meanwhile, will give the Pirates a much-needed lefty in a bullpen where closer Felipe Vazquez is the lone southpaw. Josh Smoker opened the season in the ’pen but has since been optioned to Triple-A, leaving Hurdle with a heavily right-handed relief corps.
Even if Kingham is in the Majors to stay, he’s spent enough time in the minor leagues this season to fall shy of a full year of MLB service time. He’ll be controlled through the 2024 season at the very least, though he’s currently on track to qualify as a Super Two player, meaning he’d be eligible for arbitration four times rather than the standard three.
if Kingham keeps pitching well, he should stay in the rotation over Kuhl when Musgrove is ready
Agreed, but it’ll never happen, their in love with Kuhl
Kingham should stay in the rotation permanently. He is better than Kuhl and Musgrove
1 start
Plenty of starts from Kuhl and Musgrove though. Musgrove needs to comeback in the pen
Kingham definitely earned a longer look, hopefully he continues to be dominant.
When Musgrove is ready, I wouldn’t mind them going to a defacto 6 man rotation like the Dodgers have done and rotate the starters to the DL to skip a start and give them a rest every 5 starts. It worked for the Dodgers, why not the Pirates when you have the bodies. Not sure who you would take off the roster right now as the Pen is pitching well and Brault will make it stronger.
Perfect.
Brault is a good long man and a not so good starter.
Kingham did everything you could ask and shouldn’t be rewarded with a bus ticket back to Indy. He’s 26. He’s poised. He’s polished. Give him a real look.
Lost in all the pitching shuffling, though, was that Tyler Glasnow had his best outing a few days ago. If Kingham is for real and Glasnow figures things out, the Pirates will be loaded with good young pitching.
Glasnow back to his old self tonight
Why did it take Kingham 8 years to make it to the bigs? Does he have a long injury history?
Yeah, he was a top 100 prospect in 14 but got TJ early in 15 right before he got the call. By 16 he was recovering but he had a different problem (shoulder I think?). Now he’s out of options.
I really like his tattoo.
I still can’t stand Brault’s tats lol
I was just about to comment on how stupid they are.
Trade Kingham to the Red Sox so we can get free furniture!
The fact that Kingham would qualify for super 2 status guarantees he will be sent back to the minors. The Nutting organization is too cheap to allow an extra year of arbitration!