5-30-24 – By Ethan Smith – @mvp_EtHaN on X
I hope you all enjoyed the April edition of Five-Up, Five-Down, it was a fun piece to write and fun to highlight the players who are playing good baseball and giving reasons why the guys who aren’t can come out of their respective funks.
Unlike April, May saw plenty of call-ups, moments we’ll never forget, and some players who didn’t have great starts finally pick up some steam on their 2024 campaigns.
Let’s not delay and get right to the players that were up in and the players that were down in what was a wild month of May for Pirates baseball.
Who’s Up?
Paul Skenes
If I didn’t start this list with Paul Skenes, folks, check my pulse.
May was highlighted by the highly anticipated debut of Paul Skenes, who received the call to make his MLB debut on May 11 versus the Chicago Cubs. I was in attendance, as many of you reading may have been as well, and I am sure you’d all agree that it was an unforgettable moment for Skenes and fans alike.
Skenes was highly regarded by many scouts and MLB pundits as the best pitching prospect since Stephen Strasberg, and so far, he’s looked the part. Through 22.0 IP in his first four career starts, Skenes has a 2.45 ERA, 30 SO, a 0.91 WHIP and a 68-percent strike rate, pairing that strike rate with a 35.7-percent strikeout rate and 33.7-percent whiff rate, so yeah, he’s looked every bit as good as expected.
What’s been ever more impressive for Skenes is the use of his secondary pitches alongside his elite fastball, posting a .067 opponent batting average with the splinker, a pitch he used to strikeout four Detroit Tigers hitters in his final May start on Wednesday.
Skenes has also done a phenomenal job inducing ground-balls through his first four starts, inducing a 52.1-percent ground-ball rate. Pair that with a 6.3-percent barrel rate, and Skenes is not only fanning opposing hitters at an insane pace, but he is also not allowing much hard contact either.
If Skenes can continue to develop the splinker and slider combination, a combination that is already considered above-average at worst, then Skenes will have no issues fooling opposing hitters over the course of his MLB career.
Now it will be difficult to expect Skenes to continue of such a torrid pace over the course of an entire season, but he’s quickly cemented himself among baseball’s best as far as starting pitchers are concerned.
Nick Gonzales
Our first two-timer on the “up” category is here, and his name is Nick Gonzales.
I highlighted the hot start Gonzales was off to in AAA in the April edition of 5-Up, 5-Down, forecasting a potential call-up as Jared Triolo and Alika Williams continued to struggle in the middle infield.
Gonzales received the call-up a day before Skenes would debut, and he’s since become a RBI machine in the middle of the Pirates batting order.
Through 64 at-bats, Gonzales is slashing .313/.375/.547/.922 with three home runs and 16 RBIs, and he’s paired that with a much better walk-to-strikeout ratio, finding the free pass five times while striking out 18 times, an improvement from his six walks and 36 strikeouts from last season.
Speaking of last season, Gonzales has nearly matched his extra base hit total from 2023, tallying eight extra base hits over the course of May while having 11 all of last season. Gonzales was considered one of the best pure hitters of the draft class of 2021, and it seems as though he is finally finding his footing at the plate and what works for him.
Gonzales has also demolished right-handed pitching, having a .988 OPS versus righties and posting 12 of his 16 RBIs versus right-handers. In 16 plate appearances with runners in scoring position, Gonzales has collected 11 RBIs and posted an OPS of .888, so its safe to say he’s taken advantage of the opportunities presented to him.
As long as Gonzales keeps the strikeouts down and continues to plate runners, he’ll be just fine and he’s already become quite the early-to-midseason addition from the minor leagues.
Edward Olivares
Edward Olivares may not get a ton of playing time, but lately, he’s made the most of his time he gets in the lineup.
Olivares has been what I would call a fine addition via a trade with the Kansas City Royals this past offseason, and throughout the offseason, I expressed his xHR rate a ton because I thought it offered some power potential for Olivares heading into 2024.
He homered twice in the month of May in 52 plate appearances, adding three doubles along the way while slashing .250/.286/.423/.709, an although those may not be eye-popping numbers, they are numbers that present exactly what Olivares is for the Pirates, a mostly reliable right-handed fourth outfielder who dominates versus lefties.
Olivares has a .778 OPS versus lefties, with four of his five homers on the season coming against southpaws, and his 12 RBIs with runners in scoring position should impress you as well.
No one, including myself, is asking Olivares to be more than what he is, it would be nice if he became more, but he’s been a fine addition to the outfield mix for Pittsburgh and should continue to get looks moving forward after a solid May.
Mitch Keller
Remember when people were screaming, or well, typing that the Pirates made a mistake extending Mitch Keller this off-season? Well, most of that noise is gone now thanks to an absolutely elite May from Keller.
Keller’s April did not meet standards to be fair, seeing a 4.98 ERA over 34.1 IP, but once the calendar turned to May, so did Keller’s fortunes.
A 1.30 ERA is just the start for the success Keller saw in May, as he struck out 19 over his 27.2 IP, including a five-strikeout evening in a complete game effort versus the LA Angels to begin his May campaign.
Keller allowed four total earned runs the entire month of May, and to highlight how impressive that is, he gave up four earned runs four times in his first six starts, so its safe to say Keller found something that wasn’t working and erased it from his game.
Arguably the biggest reason for his success in May came from opponent batting average, which dropped from .274 in April to .212 in May. His WHIP also dropped from a 1.48 on the season from his final April start to a 1.24 in his final May start, a measure of improvement across the board for Keller.
Along with Jared Jones and Skenes, Keller is very much apart of one of the best pitching trios in baseball, and as long as they stay healthy, there is no reason to see the trio fall from grace anytime soon.
Colin Holderman
You liking that Daniel Vogelbach Mets trade yet?
Colin Holderman has been the most consistent reliever the Pirates have had thus far in 2024 and honestly, its not even close. Holderman began the season on the IL after an impressive 2023, but he’s picked up right where he left off last season and some, currently sitting with a 0.52 ERA and 0.98 WHIP on the season.
May was just a continuation of his brilliance out of the bullpen, as he didn’t allowed an earned run over 10.2 innings, striking out 15 hitters while allowing only four hits. An opposing batting average of .111 also helped his performance, and an opposing batting average of .176 with runners in scoring on the position suggests Holderman will continue to be used in high leverage situations late in ballgames.
Holderman continues to remain around the top of multiple statistical categories for relievers in the National League, and with his play as of late, especially in May, there’s no reason to expect that to change anytime soon.
Who’s Down?
Jack Suwinski
The Jack Suwinski experience has surely been well, something.
Suwinski was optioned to AAA Indianapolis on May 23 and truly, it was no surprise after his performance in May, which saw him slash .170/.264/.319/.583 with 20 strikeouts over the course of the month, so a reset was much needed for him.
Suwinski’s struggles can boil down to a multitude of things, but his struggles hitting fastballs are arguably the biggest of the struggles. Suwinski’s batting average versus fastballs in a measly .147, and you’d like to think that means he obliterating off-speed offerings, but a .129 average would suggest otherwise.
Much like Henry Davis, who was also optioned to AAA Indianapolis for his struggles at the plate, its all about getting his bearings back for Suwinski, who has shown 20-plus home run potential and has the light tower power to hit 30 homers at some point in his career, its just a matter of adjusting when needed, and we just haven’t seen that from Suwinski just yet in 2024.
Michael A. Taylor
Taylor, much like Olivares, was an off-season addition for Pittsburgh, acquired via free agency during Spring Training this year.
The veteran center fielder got off to a great start for the Pirates, flashing some power along with his above-average defense, and although the defense has remained solid, and always will, his bat has seen better days.
Taylor hit .125 in the month of May, including starting the month on a five-game hitless streak and ending the month with only one hit in his final eight appearances. His lone home run came during Skenes debut versus the Cubs on May 11, and since that moment, he’s only had one extra-base hit.
Going into it, we knew Taylor’s bat would never be the most important part of his game, but he’s become a dead spot in the lineup when he’s in, and with offensive struggles as a team seeming to flare up at random moments, and I mean as an entire team, having guys like Taylor in the lineup won’t help things.
It will be interesting to see if Taylor can pick up his offensive production at least a little bit as we head into June, but it will be interesting to see how the Pirates handle Taylor if it doesn’t.
Jared Triolo
Jared Triolo was already seeing tons of playing time at second base this season after winning the Spring battle for the position, but once Ke’Bryan Hayes went to the injured list, Triolo was thrust into the third base role again, but outside of his defensive efforts, much like Taylor, his bat hasn’t come anywhere close to matching his defensive production.
The glove will always be there for Triolo, who of course won a Minor League Gold Glove Award, but since his solid 2023 hitting the baseball, which was a bit of a smokescreen thanks to advanced analytics, his offensive output just hasn’t been there.
Triolo is hitting just over the Mendoza Line on the season right now at .205, including a .188 average over his past 30 appearances. His BABIP has also dropped from .440 in 2023 to .260 in 2024, which highlights that smokescreen thanks to advanced analytics I just mentioned.
Off-speed offerings have given Triolo fits all season, as his .083 average would suggest, and although he’s still hitting fastballs at a below-average clip of .220, he isn’t seeing much else expect off-speed as teams have scouted him enough to know his struggles with those offerings.
Triolo’s glove will keep him around for quite awhile, but his offensive struggles could warrant discussions of how many more opportunities he’ll get at the plate for the Pirates moving forward, especially with Gonzales tearing the cover off the ball.
Aroldis Chapman
With how bad the bullpen was in May, it might be unfair to single out one reliever out of the mix, but with Aroldis Chapman’s role, its not all unfair to criticize him and his performance from the month.
Chapman has been placed in plenty of opportunities late in ballgames, and although his ERA in May(3.86) is much improved from April(7.71), his downfalls have flat out lost the Pirates a couple of games, and yes, it is the in the nature of being a reliever, but when the entire group is struggling, a player like Chapman has to be the guiding light late in games.
Although that ERA improved month-to-month, what hasn’t is Champan’s opposing batting average, which increased from .185 in April to .242 in May, a clear indication he’s been getting hit around a ton more than we’d like to see from him.
As I have said on Locked On Pirates plenty of times, the bullpen’s funk will end eventually, much like what we saw from the offense as of late, and Chapman will likely follow suit, but he has to fulfill his role as a holding reliever late in games, and in May, he struggled in doing so and one has to hope that his fortunes change with the turn of the month.
Martin Perez
Martin Perez had been a solid addition to the starting pitch staff to begin the 2024 campaign, but a 7.54 ERA in May saw his fortunes change considerably.
That ERA is inflated of course from a blow-up start in Milwaukee in which he gave up nine earned runs and a career-high five home runs against the Brewers, but he failed to reach six or more innings of work over the course the entire month, a milestone he met three times in April.
Perez also allowed eight or more hits in three of his five May starts, while his strikeout number also saw a dip as well from 25 to 19.
The veteran southpaw was placed on the IL after leaving his final May start versus the Atlanta Braves due to a groin injury, and the severity of the injury isn’t yet known, but when Perez returns, you’d like to hope his April form returns with him.
Steel City Pirates 
I like what NGonzo is doing except for the 28% K rate. The league will adjust. He needs to improve that to be effective.
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