How Bucs can get creative with their 5th starter spot

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Over the next couple weeks, the Pirates are going to have to exercise a little bit of creativity.

The Pirates optioned right-hander Osvaldo Bido to Triple-A Indianapolis on Tuesday, leaving the team with a four-man rotation composed of Mitch Keller, Johan Oviedo, Quinn Priester and Bailey Falter. With no immediate option to fill out the fifth spot in the rotation, the Pirates will have to figure out exactly how they cover innings every five days.

“I think you'll probably see us be a little more creative as we move forward,” said manager Derek Shelton. “You saw it [on Monday], essentially, where we got really aggressive with how we used our bullpen and we're essentially down to our last guy to win a game. So, I think any way that we feel we can be creative to get matchups or get the right leverage, we will do that.”

While the Pirates still have a couple days to game plan, right-handers Andre Jackson and Thomas Hatch, the latter of whom was called up on Tuesday, are the Pirates' best bets to eat innings during Pittsburgh’s bullpen games given their background as starters.

Jackson, selected in the 12th round of the 2017 MLB Draft out of the University of Utah, made 84 starts (102 total games) in the Minors from 2018 to 2023. During his stints with the Dodgers in ‘21, ‘22 and ‘23, Jackson pitched exclusively out of the bullpen in a multi-inning role. Of Jackson’s 15 games with Los Angeles, he pitched at least two innings on 13 occasions and at least three innings on 10 occasions.

This season, Jackson moved away from starting and embraced a variety of roles for Triple-A Oklahoma City, having started, opened, closed and just about everything in between. With the Pirates, Jackson, who has retired all 15 batters that he’s faced for Pittsburgh across two outings, may once again find himself playing a variety of parts.

Hatch, selected in the third round of the 2016 MLB Draft out of Oklahoma State University, made 118 starts across six seasons in the Minors, as well as four starts with the Blue Jays during his brief time in the Majors. Of Hatch's 27 Major League appearances, nine have been at least two innings. Similar to Jackson, Hatch transitioned into a multi-inning relief role this season, starting in just three of his 30 appearances with Triple-A Buffalo.

“It’s exciting that there’s a lot of opportunity,” Hatch said. “With the Blue Jays, it was a little bit more predictable when I would be in the game. So, it’s exciting, a little bit more adrenaline for it to be unpredictable. Phone rings, be ready. I’m excited for that.”

With uncertainty surrounding the fifth spot in the rotation, as well as the fact that Priester is still getting his feet wet, the Pirates will be relying on Keller and Oviedo to provide as much length as possible during their start days and preserve the bullpen.

Keller (143 2/3 innings) and Oviedo (131 1/3 innings) have unquestionably been the Pirates’ workhorses this season, accounting for roughly 28 percent of the team’s innings this year. The more length they can provide, the fresher that Jackson, Hatch and the rest of the relievers will be for the bullpen games.

"The security of those two spots is very important for us,” Shelton said. “Oviedo's start the other day of seven innings, that's important because of the fact that not only are we running a little non-traditional in a couple of those other spots, but we're also dealing with some youth there, too. In Quinn's case, just how much length he gives us and where he's at is another factor. But with those two spots, I think it's the two of the traditional spots of how you would view starters."