The NS9 Report is the start to your week. Posted bright and early every Monday morning, I’ll break down the three things that I’m looking for each week in Pirates land.
Lineup Construction
This is the week where spring training starts to feel long…like we’re still doing this? There’s nine games remaining in Grapefruit League play before the Pirates break camp to head north next week. And there’s still a lot to be decided with this roster. Questions like will Konnor Griffin make the roster? Who’s the 5th starting pitcher for this rotation? Who makes the last couple roster spots? What I’m looking for though still is how this lineup will look come Opening Day. With all the WBC players coming back to Bradenton later this week and more cuts happening, the lineups this week will start looking more and more like the Opening Day lineup.
I want to see if Oneil Cruz is going to be the everyday leadoff hitter. Will Spencer Horwitz, Bryan Reynolds, Brandon Lowe or Ryan O’Hearn bat third? Where will Don Kelly plug Marcell Ozuna and his power bat into the lineup each day? These are some of the answers we’re going to start seeing drop into place as the roster thins out and we inch closer to those last couple spring games. Also, the 15-7 Buccos are one game behind the Braves for first place in the Grapefruit League and that means something! Not really, but I want to see them finish with the best record in the Grapefruit League because why the hell not?
Mlod for Fifth Starter
I wrote about the candidates for the 5th spot in the rotation here at the beginning of spring. Carmen Mlodzinski was the first pitcher I mentioned in that article about him working as a starter this spring, but I had seen that show before. We’ve all seen it, and we’ve also seen him be a really good effective reliever in the second half of 2025. I was good with that as his role, but opinions change and I’m starting to see Mlod as the likely option for the 5th starter. Part of that is how he’s pitching this spring and part is how others aren’t pitching well.
In his second episode of OffBeat, Alex Stumpf talked about how Mlodzinski really changed his pitch mix when he came back from the minors last year and dominated with his new splitter…especially to left-handers. Through four appearances this spring, Mlodzinski has a 2.92 ERA in 12.1 innings and is striking out 10.4 K/9 and has just two walks in 12.1 innings. His last outing on Saturday against the Orioles, he tossed five innings with two runs allowed and five strikeouts and no walks. While I know he can be an effective reliever, if our 5th starter is going five innings with two runs, that’ll do. At least until Jared Jones gets healthy in May or June. It’s becoming increasingly more likely that this is the Pirates plan for Mlod and the rotation. I’m still on the fence about Mlod facing a lineup the second and third time, but I’m willing to give it one more chance with this new and improved pitch mix version of Carmen Mlodzinski. If it doesn’t work, he goes back to the pen when Jones is ready and that’s that. Mlod’s next start will come this week so I’ll be looking to see if he continues to build on his stellar spring to further solidify his hold on this rotation spot.
One of the other reasons for this is…has anyone else stepped up? Veteran arm Jose Urquidy, who was signed to a Major League deal this offseason, has struggled to put it mildly. In three starts this spring, he holds a 9.35 ERA with 12 hits and nine earned runs allowed in 8.2 innings. I was hopeful and high on Urquidy if he showed he was healthy which he has, but he’s just not getting the results. And while spring training stats are mostly meaningless, I think they matter here as Mlod continues to produce and Urquidy continues to flounder. Meanwhile, Mike Clevinger has pitched at times, but also has struggled with command with nine walks in 12.1 innings. Ultimately, I think Clevinger and Urquidy make the team in the bullpen as the bulk relievers or maybe they even use Clevinger to piggyback Mlod until he shows he can face the order 2-3 times. Hunter Barco has pitched well in his 7.1 innings this spring, but with him only getting 3.0 innings in Pittsburgh last season, I think they’ll elect to have Barco start in Triple-A for a little extra seasoning. Make no mistake about it though, Barco will definitely be pitching for the Pirates in big games at some point this season.
Roster Moves
The Pirates made some more moves last week when they reassigned the following players to minor league camp: Catcher Derek Berg, infielders Nick Cimillo, Duce Gourson, Termarr Johnson, Davis Wendzel, OF Ronny Simon and pitchers Nick Dombrowski and Oddanier Mosqueda. And previously they also optioned pitchers Brandan Bidois, Wilber Dotel, Thomas Harrington, Antwone Kelly and OF Esmerlyn Valdez to Triple-A Indy and reassigned C Omar Alfonzo, RHP Khristian Curtis and OF Mitch Jebb to minor league camp. That leaves the team with 46 players in Major League camp. Technically they have until Opening Day to trim this down from 46 to the 26-man active roster but more cuts/reassignments will come this week most likely so stay tuned.
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