Despite continued defiance from both Mlodzinski and the organization, he’s back in the Pirates bullpen
The Pittsburgh Pirates made a surprising yet encouraging move on Wednesday regarding their bullpen, which may be beneficial not only in the short term but also in the long term. After a short stint back up with the team, Kyle Nicolas was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis for the return of Carmen Mlodzinski.
Nicolas showed signs of improvement, only allowing one run in 4.1 IP over the last week, but needs to show that he can pitch in higher leverage situations in Triple-A, as his early-season numbers down there are almost as bad (1.81 WHIP) as they are in the 12 innings he’s pitched in the big leagues. Nicolas not picking up where he left off last season is one of the many things that’ve hurt this bullpen, although not making the Opening Day roster to begin with could have affected his confidence (Joey Wentz, who was recently designated for assignment and is now giving up homers in blowout losses with the Twins, was apparently more of a priority).
But the most glaring debacle of all has been the handling of Mlodzinski. Despite the Pirates’ depth of starting pitching throughout the organization, they gave Mlodzinski what he wanted: a chance to be a major league starting pitcher. After all, he was a former first-round pick who started through a majority of his development in the minor leagues.
However, this would not benefit the team, which desperately needed to win in 2025. Even if Mlodzinski was an average fifth starter, he was going to be much more valuable as an already proven high-leverage reliever when David Bednar and Colin Holderman were unknowns regarding reliability after their performances last season.
It was clear from his first start that his transition back to being a starter would not be anywhere near smooth. The results were what you would expect when you throw a high-end reliever into a starter role unprepared: dominance first time through the order, and then exhaustion that sometimes leads to a decrease in velocity and being hit around so much to be pulled before getting through five innings. Mlodzinski’s start to the season was a prime example of why professional starters get turned into relievers so often; hitters can adjust to one’s particular pitch arsenal too quickly.
So instead of transitioning him to the bullpen, the Pirates still showed their belief in Mlodzinski as a starter by sending him to Indianapolis, where he dominated (2-0 and a 1.15 ERA) in three starts. With Mlodzinski’s high-level stuff, this isn’t surprising, but it also proves nothing as far as him being a productive Major League starter. Just days ago, General Manager Ben Cherington was firm that Mlodzinski’s focus would be as a starting pitcher. But all of a sudden, this stance from both Mlodzinski and Cherington has softened.
With the recall back to the Pirates, Mlodzinski is now back to being a “bulk reliever” (he often would pitch two innings in relief for the Pirates, but he came into a lot of high-leverage situations, so I always considered him a later-innings, high-leverage reliever out of the bullpen). They are viewing Mlodzinski’s role similarly to the one Braxton Ashcraft currently has, and the Pirates aren’t necessarily committing to either being future starters or relievers.
The Pirates would probably be wise to keep both in the bullpen for the long term, regardless of their wishes (looking at you, Mlodzinski). There won’t be much room in the rotation in the future anyway. This bullpen needs retooled for 2026, because outside of David Bednar’s mini-revival and Dennis Santana, who is a free agent after next year, there aren’t a lot of special arms (who knows, despite good stuff, if Nicolas or Holderman will return to form in a Pirate uniform, and how Dauri Moreta will look when he returns from his Tommy John rehab assignments).
If the Pirates truly want Mlodzinski to “help the team” anyway he can, they’ll realize that he needs to stay in the bullpen the rest of his Pirates career. If he desperately wants to be a most likely failed starter, he can do so somewhere else, either through trade or when he becomes a free agent down the line (he’s only in his age-26 season). Although the Pirates may have an epiphany too late for 2025, the Skenes window hasn’t closed just yet, and Mlodzinski can still play a huge role in a Pirates bullpen that could play in meaningful games in future seasons.