Pirates A to Z: Chris Stratton puts a positive spin on his first full season in a relief role

During the offseason, the Tribune-Review will offer Pirates A to Z, an alphabetical player-by-player look at the 40-man roster, from outfielder Anthony Alford to pitcher Nik Turley.

Chris Stratton

Position: Pitcher

Throws: Right

Age: 30

Height: 6-foot-2

Weight: 210 pounds

2020 MLB statistics: 2-1 with a 3.90 ERA/1.30 WHIP in 30 innings over 27 appearances.

Contract: Eligible for arbitration for the first time.

Acquired: Traded by the Los Angeles Angels to the Pirates for cash considerations in May 2019.

This past season: After starting 41 games in his first four years in the majors, Stratton put a positive spin on his first full season in the bullpen.

You could even call it elite.

After joining the Pirates in May 2019, Stratton embraced his role as a middle reliever while pitching exclusively out of the bullpen. And the tweaks he made showed up in his statistics.

According to Statcast, the spin rate on Stratton’s four-seam fastball (2,267 rpms) ranked in the 98th percentile and his curve (3,088) ranked in the 97th percentile. It’s no coincidence that Stratton produced the highest chase rate (29.5%) and whiff rate (35.3%) of his career.

Chris Stratton’s curveball to end the 13th had some nice, tight spin to it. Looks like some late glove side sweep. Schoop just swings over the top of it. pic.twitter.com/uAgtXoV7r4

— Pirates Analytics (@piRatesanalysis) August 9, 2020

“I feel like I am a different pitcher now than I was two years ago,” Stratton said. “I’ve always enjoyed starting. If ever given the chance again, I’d love to start. Just any way I can help get outs. It’s weird pitching one inning to me, at times, just because I’ve never really done it in my life. It’s something that being able to do it every day, helps you feel a little bit more of a part of the team. Feels like you contribute more. I really enjoy that as well.”

No wonder Stratton was thrilled about pitching piggyback with Steven Brault against the Detroit Tigers on Aug. 9. Brault threw two scoreless innings, and Stratton pitched the next three. He gave up one run on three hits but didn’t allow a walk and had six strikeouts. The Pirates eventually lost 2-1 when Richard Rodriguez threw a wild pitch toward the dugout in the eighth that put a runner in scoring position.

“I felt good,” Stratton said. “It’s just one of those days where the ‘pen is kinda depleted, so just tried to go out there and get as many as I could.”

Pirates reliever Chris Stratton met with reporters and addressed a new rule for MLB in 2020 - the three-batter minimum. Take a quick listen. -RI pic.twitter.com/CENIKrnZJx

— AT&T SportsNet™ PIT (@ATTSportsNetPIT) July 15, 2020

When Pirates manager Derek Shelton and pitching coach Oscar Marin asked Stratton to go back out for the fifth inning, he didn’t hesitate.

“They asked me how I felt,” Stratton said. “I always want to go another one. I’m sure they’re not surprised I was saying yes, but any time I’m pitching, I always want to go the extra one. He shot me down pretty quick earlier this season. So I’m glad he gave me one more.”

One of Stratton’s biggest changes was when he switched to pitching solely out of the stretch with the Pirates, which he believes helped improve his timing. But Stratton also credited watching video of how he fared against previous opponents before every series.

“In my time with the Giants and Angels, I don’t like to watch it, to be honest with you,” said Stratton, a 2012 first-round pick for San Francisco who was traded to Los Angeles in March 2019 and designated for assignment two months later. “I feel like my body is moving really slow, I feel like my arsenal is a little bit different of how I attack hitters, so I only like to watch stuff from the Pirates because of my delivery, the speed of my delivery. I used to be a lot slower. Now I feel like I’ve sped up a little bit. It’s helped increase the velocity and shape of pitches.”

One Stratton won’t want to watch is his ninth inning Sept. 25 at Cleveland, when he entered with a 3-1 lead only to give up a leadoff walk, an RBI double, a game-tying single and throw a wild pitch that put the winning run in scoring position for a Cesar Hernandez walk-off double in the 4-3 loss.

Perhaps it was proof that Stratton is better suited for middle relief than the closer’s role.

The future: Stratton enters his first year of arbitration eligibility, which should come with a raise.

But his success also makes him more marketable as a trade commodity so it’s possible the Pirates could flip Stratton for prospects at some point this offseason or by the trade deadline.

Stratton is one of the few relievers who has carved out a role with the Pirates, which makes him invaluable to their bullpen and an example for other former starters — former first-rounder Carson Fulmer comes to mind — to become reclamation projects as relievers.

“One of the things we feel we were able to do was adding some — even going back to last offseason and this season — bullpen depth, controllable bullpen depth and taking a chance on some arms that we think have a chance to continue to develop and get better and be part of a good bullpen,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said. “We need to continue to do that into next year and give ourselves as many options as we can. So I’d expect we’d continue to look for those kinds of opportunities.”