Pirates name Chad Kuhl Opening Day starter, Kevin Newman wins SS job as roster shapes up

With the end of spring training in sight, the Pittsburgh Pirates are close to setting a starting lineup. One Opening Day certainty is Chad Kuhl will be on the mound at the Chicago Cubs on Thursday at Wrigley Field.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton named Kuhl the Opening Day starter, capping a whirlwind two weeks for the 28-year-old right-hander. On March 18, he became a father when his wife, Amanda, gave birth to a baby boy named Hudson. Now, Kuhl will start the season opener.

“You never know where they’re going to go with everything, how it’s going to line up,” Kuhl said. “I was just fortunate, obviously, to have a happy, healthy baby and an amazing wife that’s taking care of him right now. Then to be fortunate enough to be on an Opening Day roster and for them to have confidence in me to hand the ball to Game 1. So yeah, it’s been a pretty good stretch of a couple of weeks here.”

The Pirates are in the process of finalizing the rest of their 26-man roster and declaring winners in position battles. Shelton named Kevin Newman the starting shortstop over Erik Gonzalez, thanks to Newman’s .645 batting average (20 for 31) this spring. Shelton also revealed that second baseman Adam Frazier, who is hitting .512 (21 for 41), will bat leadoff.

Shelton declined to name a starting center fielder but said Anthony Alford and Dustin Fowler could share time there after Brian Goodwin was one of five players either optioned or reassigned on Monday.

Gonzalez and Phillip Evans made the team as utility players, edging Todd Frazier and Wilmer Difo. Michael Perez beat out Tony Wolters for the backup job behind catcher Jacob Stallings.

The pitching staff isn’t quite as complete. General manager Ben Cherington said neither left-hander Steven Brault (lat strain) nor righty Cody Ponce (forearm) will be ready to start the season, so both could be headed to the injured list. Reliever Geoff Hartlieb was optioned, and righty Chase De Jong, lefty Chasen Shreve and knuckleballer Steven Wright were reassigned.

Cherington said the Pirates will carry 14 pitchers and 12 position players, which allowed them to keep Rule 5 Draft pick Luis Oviedo in the bullpen. Although Oviedo never has pitched above Class A, Cherington said he was “comfortable” with the 21-year-old Venezuelan right-hander making a jump to the majors after he allowed one run on two hits, one walk, one hit batsman and had two strikeouts in three innings over three appearances this spring.

“He’s shown the ability to throw two really good major league pitches and get his breaking ball in the strike zone,” Cherington said. “We feel good about what we’ve seen even though it was a short amount of time.”

Another big storyline is the Pirates are keeping righty reliever David Bednar, a Mars native who was acquired in January from the San Diego Padres in the Joe Musgrove trade. Bednar hasn’t allowed a run in 8 2/3 innings, and his 18 strikeouts are tied for the lead by Pirates pitchers.

The Pirates, however, have yet to name a closer and still have to decide who will be in their bullpen. If they keep returning relievers Kyle Crick, Michael Feliz, Sam Howard, Richard Rodriguez and Chris Stratton and newly acquired Duane Underwood Jr. along with Bednar and Oviedo, the final spot could come down to Wil Crowe and Clay Holmes.

Crowe, who was acquired from Washington in the Josh Bell trade and is on the 40-man roster, allowed one run on eight hits in 11 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts and four walks this spring. Holmes, who was designated for assignment in the offseason and is in camp as a nonroster invitee, didn’t give up a run in 9 2/3 innings over 10 appearances and allowed seven hits and three walks with eight strikeouts.

While the rotation beyond Kuhl has not been announced, Cherington said he expects right-handers Mitch Keller, JT Brubaker and Trevor Cahill and lefty Tyler Anderson to start games.

“And there will be more than that,” Cherington said. “We know that we’ll be calling on more guys than that.”

Getting the nod for Opening Day is the latest milestone in an incredible journey for Kuhl, who missed the 2019 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He returned to go 2-3 with a 4.27 ERA in 46 1/3 innings in 11 appearances (nine starts) last season, pitching in tandem with Brault to start the shortened season. Kuhl was 2-1 with a 3.38 ERA in eight innings over four Grapefruit League starts.

“No. 1, he’s throwing the ball well. No. 2, excited for a guy that’s been here to be able to do it. And I think that played a little bit of a role in it,” Shelton said. “I feel like we’ve gotten him stretched out enough to do it and feel that he deserves to do it. So that was what it came down to.”

Kuhl threw two extra innings on a backfield after Saturday’s game against the Boston Red Sox, so he is stretched out to pitch at least four innings in his first start. Beyond that, he doesn’t know his pitch count.

“That’s obviously the main thing, I guess,” Kuhl said. “I’m going to go as long as I can until Shelton takes the ball from me.”