After a fantastic start to the season, the Pirates young pitching staff looked ready for the future. Pirates starters threw nine straight quality starts en route to their 12-7 start to the year.

However, there have been more than a few bumps in the road recently, and that all came to a head in a series earlier this week against the Oakland Athletics who may go down as one of the worst teams of all time. 

That series marked the third straight shaky start for Keller, who now in his last three starts holds a 7.79 ERA, a 1.85 WHIP, and a .347 average against. 

Should the fan base be worried about Keller, probably not, but it looks like he may not be at the high level that people thought he may have reached following the complete game shutout against the Rockies and seven shutout innings in his next start against the Orioles.

Keller’s main struggle through those last three games has been his command. He’s been missing off the plate, and right down the middle, forcing him to rely on his stuff to get outs.

When Keller is on, he is one of the toughest pitchers to face, but if he continues to struggle with location, these games may become more of a pattern than an outlier. However, at only 27 years old, Keller should still have plenty of time to completely figure it out.

That brings us to the Pirates biggest question mark, in the Dominican-born Roansy Contreras. Contreras has more than enough talent to become a high-quality starting pitcher in this league, but has run into a wall this season. 

Contreras had struggled enough that when Vince Velasquez returned from the injured list, Pirates manager Derek Shelton sent Contreras to the bullpen. However, after re-injuring his arm, Velasquez was sent back to the injured list, forcing Contreras back into the starting rotation, and it has only gotten worse for the 23-year-old.

In his last three appearances, including his one and only bullpen appearance, Contreras holds a 17.05 ERA, a 2.43 WHIP, and a .347 average against. These appearances have ballooned his season ERA to 5.91, far above the MLB’s 4.23 ERA mark on the 2023 season.

However, because of injuries to a number of pitchers who were supposed to be a part of the rotation this year, including JT Brubaker and prospect Mike Burrows, the team just doesn’t have enough starting pitching depth to send Contreras back to the bullpen to work on his stuff.

Contreras has also struggled a lot with command, but his main downfall is poor fastball that has lost velocity since he joined the Pirates. This has forced him to drop his fastball usage down to 41.6 percent, as opposed to the 63 percent when he first joined the majors.

Luckily for Contreras, the Pirates have a not-so-secret weapon they have given to a number of their pitchers. 

In the last couple of years the Pirates have earned the nickname, “sinker university” since they have added sinkers to a number of their pitchers arsenals, including Keller last year and Johan Oviedo this year.

For Keller, that sinker addition brought him from one of the worst pitchers in baseball last year to a dependable ace and potential superstar despite his recent struggles. And for Oviedo, it gave him a 2.47 ERA in his last four starts since debuting it May 19th against Arizona. This is a big improvement in comparison to the 5.14 ERA he had up to that point.

If Contreras can add that sinker to pair a good fastball up with his great breaking stuff, he looks to have a very bright future.

So while their recent struggles have pushed them to 16th in baseball in starter ERA at 4.41 after a very strong start, their future at the position is still very strong.

Especially when you consider some of the depth pieces they have, including Luis Ortiz who has only started nine games in the majors, Mike Burrows, and Quinn Priester.

Even some lower minors guys like Jared Jones and Anthony Solmento have been pitching at a very high level in double-A and High-A. 

The Pirates future pitching staff is highly dependent on the development of young pitchers, but if they can do it, they may be in a good spot in the future.