BRADENTON, Fla. — The Pirates are banking on their beginning rotation being the power of their workforce in 2025, they usually deepened that beginning 5 Thursday once they inked free-agent starter Andrew Heaney to a one-year, $5.25 million contract with incentives, in response to a supply.
The deal is pending a bodily and has not been confirmed by the membership.
Heaney, who’s coming into his twelfth Main League season, went 5-14 with a 4.28 ERA over 32 video games (31 begins) and 160 innings with Texas final season. The 33-year-old southpaw made 34 appearances (28 begins) for the 2023 World Collection champion Rangers. He is also a two-time nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award.
Heaney has 5 pitches in his repertoire, however he primarily makes use of his four-seam fastball, slider and changeup. He’s used his slider extra in latest seasons, a pitch that induces a wholesome 36.5% whiff fee. Heaney’s four-seamer averaged 91.5 mph and 15.7 inches of vertical break final season — 5.5 inches greater than the anticipated common. His changeup additionally will get good horizontal motion and has an identical motion profile to his fastball, however is, clearly, a lot slower (83.7 mph).
A curveball and two-seamer spherical out Heaney’s pitch combine, however he threw these pitches simply 5% of the time final season. The curveball was once his major breaking ball, however he swapped it out for the slider in 2022.
Heaney has been a roughly league common starter for many of his profession (51-62, 4.45 ERA, 94 ERA+), counting on management and never strolling too many batters — as evidenced by his 5.9% stroll fee in 2024. Not like many southpaws of his ilk, he does get his justifiable share of strikeouts, too, punching out 159 final season to go together with a 22.9% strikeout fee. The one different left-handers with no less than 150 strikeouts every of the previous two seasons are Yusei Kikuchi, Framber Valdez and MacKenzie Gore.
Heaney has been liable to the lengthy ball in his profession. He’s allowed 89 house runs since 2021 — together with 23 final season — and his fee of 1.6 house runs per 9 innings is the ninth highest of any pitcher with no less than 500 innings pitched in that stretch.
The Pirates have a very good observe document with veteran left-handed beginning pitchers — together with jumpstarting mid-career revivals of Tyler Anderson and José Quintana — and their house ballpark performs an element in that success. PNC Park has a cavernous left-center notch, which often helps southpaws towards right-handed hitters. Of the 23 house runs allowed by Heaney final season, Baseball Savant initiatives that solely 18 would have been gone at PNC Park. Going again to 2021, solely 74 of the 89 house runs he is allowed would have been a homer in Pittsburgh.
Heaney is becoming a member of what’s shaping as much as be probably the greatest rotations within the Nationwide League, headed by Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller and Jared Jones. Heaney will be a part of that group, however that leaves a query of who would be the fifth starter. Johan Oviedo is getting back from Tommy John surgical procedure, and whereas he has thrown on the again fields at Pirate Metropolis, his progress is presently behind the opposite pitchers in camp. Bailey Falter went 8-9 with a 4.43 ERA over 28 begins final season, his first full marketing campaign within the Majors. Free-agent left-hander Caleb Ferguson signed with the intention to get a glance as a starter as effectively, although he’s been a reliever for practically all of his Main League profession.
The Pirates even have three of their high six prospects in Main League camp: Bubba Chandler (No. 15 total, per MLB Pipeline), Thomas Harrington (No. 80) and Braxton Ashcraft. All three determine to be on the Main League radar this yr after ending final season with Triple-A Indianapolis.
Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster is full, so a corresponding transfer will have to be made so as to add Heaney. The Pirates’ first Spring Coaching recreation is Saturday towards the Orioles.
