Pirates prospect Mlodzinski K's 2 in MLB debut out of 'pen

MILWAUKEE -- Carmen Mlodzinski woke up Friday morning in Des Moines, Iowa, as a member of Triple-A Indianapolis -- a Minor Leaguer. When he retires for the evening, he will do so somewhere in Milwaukee as a Major Leaguer.

Mlodzinski made his Major League debut as the Pirates lost to the Brewers, 5-4, Friday night at American Family Field, striking out two batters and allowing a solo home run across 1 1/3 innings. The 24-year-old rookie didn’t arrive in the Majors as originally planned, but he made it here nonetheless.

“It was great,” Mlodzinski said. “I’m just glad to have the opportunity to be at this level and to be able to compete with these guys. I’m very grateful for it.”

Mlodzinski, the Pirates’ No. 23 prospect per MLB Pipeline, received a call from Indianapolis manager Miguel Perez at roughly 10 a.m. The message was blunt and clear: Mlodzinski wasn’t just headed to the Majors, but he was going to be available tonight, too.

Mlodzinski hopped on a flight from Des Moines to Milwaukee and arrived at the ballpark roughly an hour and a half before the game. When Rich Hill's evening ended after just five innings, Mlodzinski’s name was the first one called out of the bullpen.

The right-hander began his career by getting a major milestone out of the way, striking out Milwaukee’s Blake Perkins looking on three pitches, the last being a 96.8 mph four-seam fastball right down the middle. The very next batter, Joey Wiemer, provided Mlodzinski with his first “welcome to The Show” moment, sending Mlodzinski’s middle-middle fastball over the right-center field fence and into the Pirates’ bullpen.

Mlodzinski walked Andruw Monasterio following the home run but regrouped to complete his first Major League inning, striking out Owen Miller swinging with a four-seam fastball and getting William Contreras to ground out. Mlodzinski’s evening came to an end after he retired Christian Yelich via groundout to begin the seventh inning.

“I thought he was really good,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He made one bad pitch. [His slider] was really effective. He missed down with a pitch into a hitter’s sweet spot, but other than that, I thought he threw the ball really well. For it being his first outing in a game like this, in a good environment, I thought he did a really nice job.”

Mlodzinski likely envisioned making his Major League debut as a starter, but after experiencing his ups and downs in Double-A Altoona’s rotation last season, the organization told Mlodzinski at the end of Spring Training that he would be pitching out of the bullpen.

Prior to this season, Mlodzinski hadn’t regularly pitched in relief since his freshman season at South Carolina. Mlodzinski made five relief appearances last season with Altoona, but most of those outings followed an opener. He went at least four innings in four of his five relief appearances in 2022.

Mlodzinski initially struggled upon transitioning into the bullpen full-time. In April, the right-hander allowed five earned runs across 11 innings (4.09 ERA), striking out 10 batters and walking six. Once the calendar flipped to May, however, Mlodzinski began to grow more comfortable in the role.

Over the next month-and-a-half, Mlodzinski allowed just five runs (four earned) across his next 14 2/3 innings (2.45 ERA), striking out 21 batters, walking five batters and allowing just one home run. When left-hander Rob Zastryzny hit the injured list on Friday, Mlodzinski was the next man up.

“I think the transition has been good,” Mlodzinski said. “I’ve definitely had some hiccups at times, but that’s the expectation; you’re going to have a little bit of a struggle in a new role.

"But so far, it’s been pretty clean, for the most part. I think the guys in the organization have been really helpful with just being able to share the things that they've learned with transitional stuff and being able to apply it.”

“We’ve seen the transition going from starter into the bullpen this year and how the pitch mix works,” Shelton said. “We thought by narrowing him up, it was going to expedite his time to the big leagues.”