Pirates A to Z: Spending a month sidelined forced Joe Musgrove to change his mindset

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 Trevor Williams.

Joe Musgrove

Position: Pitcher

Throws: Right

Age: 27

Height: 6-foot-5

Weight: 235 pounds

2020 MLB statistics: 1-5, 3.86 ERA/1.235 WHIP, 55 strikeouts, 16 walks in 39 2/3 innings over eight starts.

Contract: Second-year eligible for arbitration after agreeing to $2.8 million last season.

Acquired: Traded by the Houston Astros, along with Colin Moran, Michael Feliz and Jason Martin, in exchange for Gerrit Cole in January 2018.

This past season: After leading Pirates starters in wins (11), ERA (4.44), games started (31), innings pitched (170 1/3) and strikeouts (157) in 2019, Musgrove earned his first Opening Day start.

We have baseball at PNC Park, as Joe Musgrove throws the first pitch of the exhibition opener against Cleveland’s Cesar Hernandez ... to cheers from the automated crowd. pic.twitter.com/p8daPWh3fj

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) July 18, 2020

Musgrove allowed three runs on five hits (two home runs) and three walks while striking out seven in a 5-4 loss at St. Louis. He allowed three runs on four hits (two more homers) with three walks and eight strikeouts in his next start, a 3-0 loss to Milwaukee.

#Pirates pitcher Joe Musgrove gives up a triple to Kolten Wong then makes a great play to back up third with a sliding stop-and-throw to get him out at the plate to end the fifth. pic.twitter.com/gdzKiX92Sw

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) July 25, 2020

It was his third start that screwed up Musgrove’s season, as he lasted only 3 1/3 innings on Aug. 4 at Minnesota. Soon after, he went on the injured list with right triceps and ankle injuries and missed a month.

“Anytime you lose your Opening Day starter for multiple starts,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said, “it is a loss for you.”

It was a loss for Musgrove, too, as he struggled to rediscover the edge he brought to the mound. Musgrove had wanted to build off his best season. Instead, he watched from the sidelines. When he returned, Musgrove spent the rest of the season searching for his first victory.

“Yeah, this year was tough for everybody,” Musgrove said. “I’m speaking for myself but I’m sure a lot of guys would be in the same boat as me that, with a really limited amounted of games and the opportunity to have 12 starts, maybe 13, you get off to a tough start and your numbers fall down, there’s a lot of pressure that you put on yourself to get things back to a place that you want. You’ve got a really small window to make things happen.”

It took a change in mentality — as well as pitch selection — for Musgrove to finish strong. As he built up his pitch count and innings, Musgrove took on what he called a “selfish mentality” and registered 29 strikeouts over his final three starts. He had double-digit strikeouts in the last two, striking out 11 with one walk and three hits in a 2-1 loss to the Cardinals before fanning 10 with one walk and three hits in an 8-0 win Sept. 26 at Cleveland.

Joe Musgrove's slider had 13 swings and 9 whiffs. Threw it 29% of the time today, most of any pitch, including his 11th K of the game. pic.twitter.com/N5dqHCmJVL

— Pirates Analytics (@piRatesanalysis) September 20, 2020

“He’s in attack mode,” Shelton said. “The stuff looks really good.”

Shelton pointed to two factors: Musgrove was finally healthy and his stuff was “really good” as he executed pitches, especially his slider. That was true, even when behind in the count and he threw his changeup.

Joe Musgrove, Wicked 83mph Slider. ?

11th K. pic.twitter.com/kS9gsYjRco

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 20, 2020

“I think it’s a combination of both, the fact that the breaking stuff plays and it plays up,” Shelton said, something that both catcher Jacob Stallings and pitching coach Oscar Marin had addressed with Musgrove. “The ability and trust in the execution of the pitch. … I think it’s a testament that his breaking stuff is really good and we have to make sure that he uses it.”

The future: The weight of carrying the Pirates pitching staff became a burden for Musgrove in his third season with the club, as the pressure mounts from the fallout of the lopsided Cole trade.

“I feel like sometimes I get caught up in trying to do things for other people and trying to be the guy on the staff that’s going to turn things around and trying to carry the whole team when I just need to worry about myself,” Musgrove said. “This year hasn’t been what I wanted it to be as a team and individually, and I feel like I went out there with the mentality of this being for me. I needed to prove to myself that I still have that dog in me, that competitive spirit. That’s been my strongest point for my whole career is the ability to go out and compete, and I feel like I let the way that this season’s gone and my performance affect my ability to go out there and compete and leave it all out there.”

After agreeing to play for $2.8 million last season, Musgrove enters his second year of arbitration and should expect a raise to the $4 million range.

Whether Musgrove will do that for the Pirates is another question. He proved in his final two starts that he can be an effective starter, and his 12.9 strikeouts per nine innings were a career best. That makes him a commodity that the Pirates could flip for prospects in a trade. There was some surprise that he wasn’t moved at the trade deadline last August, and Musgrove is expected to attract interest this offseason.

Now, it’s no longer a matter of whether he’ll be the Opening Day starter but whether he’ll be on the Pirates come the opener.