PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates will need all the starting pitching help that they can get over the course of the next five or so weeks. In the short term, Luis L. Ortiz stands to be part of that equation.

Prior to the Pirates’ 10-1 loss to the Cubs on Sunday at PNC Park, general manager Ben Cherington said on 93.7 The Fan that Ortiz will receive another start with the club, one that will likely be during the team’s three-game series against the Royals in Kansas City.

“We’re seeing better velocity,” Cherington said. “We’re seeing glimpses of that stuff that we all remember from last year.”

Coming into this season, the Pirates were hoping to see more than mere glimpses from Ortiz, who teased legitimate front-of-the-rotation stuff during his short stay in 2022.

In his first three Major League starts, Ortiz allowed two earned runs with 17 strikeouts across 15 1/3 innings. His fastball sat in the high 90s, frequently touching triple digits, and his slider possessed a sharp bite.

In 12 games (11 starts) with the Pirates, Ortiz has a 5.37 ERA and 6.09 FIP. His strikeout rate is drastically down this season (9.56 K/9 in 2022, 6.16 K/9 in ‘23) and his home runs allowed are up (0.56 HR/9 in ‘22, 1.74 HR/9 in ‘23). As far as peripherals, Ortiz ranks in the first percentile of average exit velocity, hard hit percentage, expected batting average and expected slugging percentage.

Ortiz has had flashes of talent this season, throwing 7 2/3 innings of two-run ball against the Rangers and a career-high eight innings of one-run ball against the Marlins. 

“There’s never a point in your baseball career --  this comes from my own playing experience -- where you get it,” said John Baker, the Pirates’ director of coaching and player development. “It's this continuous process of learning, evolving and growing and managing the different circumstances that you find yourself in. 

“He didn't really meet very much adversity until this season. We're seeing him respond in the ways that we want players to respond, which is a driven work ethic to improve and get better and to put himself back in the conversation to pitch in the big leagues consistently and anchor down some of that rotation in the future.”

Along with the results, there’s also the matter of velocity. After averaging 98.4 mph on his fastball last season, Ortiz is down to 96.1 mph this season. In 2022, Ortiz touched 99 mph on 40 occasions and 100 mph on seven occasions. This season, he hasn’t touched 99 mph once, much less triple digits. Ortiz’s delivery has been a point of emphasis. When discussing Ortiz and Roansy Contreras, Dewey Robinson, the Pirates’ senior advisor of pitching development, noted that cleaner mechanics and proper timing can contribute to better velocity.

“When you think about how rapid that ascension was, you're bound to hit roadblocks in the future,” Baker said. “It's a matter of having the right support network around him and the right consistent messaging all the time, and I think we're seeing it. He’s shown it in flashes. … He goes down, velo starts going back up, mechanics start getting a little bit better.

“Both [Contreras] and Luis are in similar positions: When they're on and when they're synced up and the mechanics are right, they’re Major League pitchers. It's a matter of us as the Pirates and [the] player-development relationship [we have] with the big leagues of making sure that we train them in a way that they stay consistent all the time, because when they do, they’re contributors.”