A former top prospect with a very high ceiling is headed to the bullpen after a very rough start to the season. 

This time it’s former Yankees’ international signee, Roansy Contreras. After sporting a 3.79 ERA in 95 innings in 2022, the Dominican native fell into a huge funk this year. 

Contreras was sent to the bullpen once before this season after Vince Velasquez returned from his time on the injured list, but after Velasquez re-injured his arm, Contreras was forced back into the rotation and struggled worse than he had all year.

Contreras’ ERA now sits at 5.91 on the season after his last start allowing seven runs in a third of an inning against the Athletics.

It shouldn’t be too tough for them to see the silver lining. The Pirates just watched Mitch Keller go from a pitcher who, at the time, was league-worst in win percentage, ERA, opponent average, WHIP, and ERA+ since 2019 to one of the best pitchers in the National League after a bullpen stint last year.

Keller is now fourth in the league in both strikeouts and innings pitched and top 30 among starters in ERA and WHIP, even after his recent struggles.

Now Pirates fans are hoping the extremely talented Roansy Contreras can make the same transformation. Luckily, one of the things that the Pirates gave to Keller could also have a large impact on Contreras.

The last couple of years the Pirates became known as “Sinker University '' after adding a sinker to the pitch mix of a number of their pitchers, including Keller when he went to the bullpen last year.

Keller isn’t even the most recent example of the Pirates staff adding that pitch to one of their guys’ repertoire. Johan Oviedo debuted his new sinker May 19th of this year in a start against the Diamondbacks. Since he debuted this pitch Oviedo has a 2.76 ERA and opponents are only hitting .181 against him, both of which are the lowest on the pitching staff in that time frame.

Since Contreras’ main fault so far this season has been a lackluster fastball, adding a sinker to his pitch mix should do wonders, if that is in fact what he will be doing.

Now the next question would be about who’s taking Contreras’ spot in the rotation, and that question was recently answered when it was announced that Osvaldo Bido would be called up to the majors.

In 12 appearances in the minors, Bido has a merely average 4.55 ERA for Indianapolis. However with injuries to JT Brubaker, Vince Velasquez, and Mike Burrows, there isn’t too much to choose from for the Pirates.

While there was a lot of buzz around the Pirates calling up former first round pick Quinn Priester, the Pirates decided to go the safe route and call up the 27-year-old. 

Priester also has a poor fastball and a 4.63 ERA in triple-A this year, so it may be best to let him continue to develop to make sure he’s ready when he enters the league.

Bido will likely debut in the Milwaukee series this weekend while Contreras and the pitching staff try to iron out his flaws so he can join Mitch Keller as the future of this Pittsburgh Pirates rotation.