7-30-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter
You can think it’s flawed, I certainly do, but early on Ben Cherington said the team was going to look at all avenues of improvement. There’s no secret the Pirates struggle to score runs and have pitching, but in theory, a run saved is as good as a run scored or so they say. Either way, I can’t discount, this is a talented pitcher who gives them more options from the left side…for now.
I say for now, because the deadline isn’t until tonight at 6, and this move smells an awful lot like preparing to offload Aroldis Chapman to me.
Before we go down that road too far, let’s assume this is just an addition and talk about the players involved.
Lefty Luis Peralta, who happens to be the younger brother of Freddy in Milwaukee, entered this season staring down the barrel at being 23 having never pitched beyond low-A. He was walking close to 15% of the batters he faced and in general wasn’t getting it.
Really good stuff, really spotty control. Probably describes 70% of pitchers that ever exist in any system.
The Pirates moved him to Greensboro this year, and decided to make him a full time bullpen arm instead of continuing to have him start. In 19 games there he’s been electric. A 0.60 ERA in 30 IP with a 0.900 WHIP. He has 50 K’s vs 15 Walks, the turnaround was stark.
And all that being said, he’s almost 24 years old in a league where the average age is 20.
Now, Jalen Beeks……
He was Colorado’s set-up guy this year, obviously a role that isn’t coming up as often for them as say the set-up guy for the Dodgers. He sits at 49.1 innings on the season with a 4.74 ERA and a 1.358 WHIP. He’s struck out 38 and walked 18.
Bluntly, this isn’t help for this Pirates team unless they turn him into it. Meaning, if they brought him in here thinking the lower altitude of getting out of Colorado was going to turn him back into the reliever he was in 2022 with Tampa, they have some work to do before we’ll see that.
I’d also add, there’s hardly time to break down what he’s doing poorly vs well in an effort to set this butterfly loose on the league, he’s got to jump right in.
I’ve also learned enough about this pitching instruction and scouting department to admit, they know way more than I do. Dennis Santana for instance has looked like the first thing the Pirates did was dump a bottle of white out on all the bad parts of his story, he’s been crazy good after his introductory outings and in his past 7 outings 10IP, 1 Walk, 16 K’s and a 1.00 WHIP.
You can’t transfer success from one to another, but it’s not unprecedented. On paper, Jalen Beeks doesn’t do much more than be left handed, and possess experience pitching leverage.
Back to the elephant in the room, Aroldis Chapman. This would seem to grease the wheels for a move here, and I won’t deny it could happen, I just don’t see it as a foregone conclusion. This team does a great job identifying and getting the most out of lefty pitchers, so I won’t shut the door on this one, it’s fair to say though, what they hope they can do with him is a lot more attractive than what he currently is.
Steel City Pirates 