Healthy Chad Kuhl ready to solidify spot in Pirates' starting rotation

After building up his surgically repaired right arm by pitching piggyback to start the season, Chad Kuhl found a familiar feeling after throwing 78 pitches over five innings last August at Cincinnati.

“I woke up the next day, and I was really, really sore,” Kuhl said on a video conference call from Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla. “It was tough just to brush my teeth. It was just a struggle to get through that.”

After admitting he wasn’t 100% healthy coming out of spring training last year, Kuhl benefited from the sport’s four-month shutdown for covid-19. Once Kuhl crossed that pain threshold, he started to feel “completely normal” again for the first time since his Tommy John surgery in September 2018. Days after its two-year anniversary, Kuhl tossed a two-hitter over seven innings of a 7-0 win over the Chicago Cubs to finish the season strong.

In 11 appearances last season, including nine starts, Kuhl went 2-3 with a 4.27 ERA and 1.36 WHIP in 46 1/3 innings. Subtract the 11-0 loss at Kansas City on Sept. 13 — where Kuhl, bothered by a bleeding blister and cuticle, allowed nine earned runs, four hits and six walks in 2 1/3 innings — and his ERA drops to 2.77.

“Yeah, I think I was super happy with how a lot of it went, with how my body responded, how my arm responded,” Kuhl said. “Obviously, you throw out that one game in Kansas City and we’re looking at a whole different body of work. So the numbers are completely skewed, just from one start. I would say it was a pretty good year. It’s just nice to look back at those, especially the way I finished and build off of that.”

Pirates manager Derek Shelton credited Kuhl with being more consistent with his pitches and for how he conducted himself on the mound, especially after the start against the Royals.

“I thought we saw a much more mature, much more controlled, much more emotionally controlled Chad Kuhl,” Shelton said. “And I think that’s a sign of growth. Sometimes, you have to have starts like that to identify those things. But I think he did that and continued to get better as the season went on.”

Now, with Kuhl and his wife Amanda expecting a baby boy in early April, the Pirates are pumped to see him start the season completely healthy. Pitching with his full repertoire should help. The 28-year-old right-hander struggled with fastball command last season, throwing primarily four-seamers and leaning on breaking balls. This year, he is hoping to be more balanced, which Kuhl believes will make him more dangerous.

If there was a positive last season, Pirates pitching coach Oscar Marin pointed to how Kuhl used his breaking pitches in leverage counts. Getting ahead in counts is a focus for Kuhl this spring, along with fine-tuning his changeup.

“I think anytime you have your full arsenal, it’s much better, especially when you’re talking about fastball weapons and being able to do different things with them,” Shelton said. “You’re able to execute pitches and maybe eliminate within an at-bat, especially if you’re talking about a two-seamer and you’re able to go to it earlier when you’re trying to get a ground ball instead of trying to manipulate it a different way. So the ability to have the full arsenal, I think, is going to be important.”

So is solidifying a spot in the starting rotation, which would be another big step in Kuhl’s comeback. Pitching without pain is a good spot to start, as Kuhl has put the Tommy John surgery behind him and is now looking ahead.

“It’s not even a thought in my mind,” Kuhl said. “This year is completely different. I’m ready to go from Day 1.”