The Pittsburgh Pirates traded relievers David Bednar and Caleb Ferguson at the trade deadline. Now, they’re looking to reload the bullpen for the future.
Dennis Santana is the heir-apparent to the closer role, while Isaac Mattson and Carmen Mlodzinski look like effective pieces moving forward. Still, there’s no such thing as too much pitching, and relievers sometimes come out of nowhere.
On Wednesday, the Pirates continued that search when they claimed Jack Little off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Little was added to the 40-man roster and assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis.
Little has thrown three career major league innings and allowed two runs. The sample size is too small to draw conclusions from, but he has intriguing stuff. His fastball, in particular, has the traits of a good one. From a low release, Little gets about 15 inches of vertical movement at 95 mph. These factors combine to create a 1.5 height-adjusted vertical approach angle, which makes the pitch very difficult to square up. The pitch has returned a 15.3% swinging strike rate in the very hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League this season.
He also throws a gyro-slider that he uses in the zone for strikes and features a splitter that shows good depth.
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While Little is a work in progress and may not amount to much, it’s a low-risk, high-reward move for a pitcher with solid stuff. He has options as well, so he can be moved between the majors and minors without being exposed to waivers.
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