Pirates Rule 5 pick Luis Oviedo confident he can make leap from Class A to major leagues

Luis Oviedo can laugh now, but on that December day, it was mostly confusing.

His agent called to tell the right-hander the New York Mets had selected him from the Cleveland Indians in the Rule 5 Draft, telling Oviedo he was free to contact family and share the news.

“And here I am, contacting my family, everyone’s rejoicing with me, and then all of a sudden I get another phone call to tell me that I just got traded to the Pirates,” Oviedo said. “A little bit weird, but when I look back on it, a little funny moment as well. But all is well.”

Oviedo shared the story in Spanish, translated through Pirates team interpreter Mike Gonzalez on Tuesday. A day earlier, Oviedo made his Grapefruit League debut, earning his first save for the Pirates in a 6-5 win over the Baltimore Orioles at LECOM Park in Bradenton, Fla.

The 21-year-old Oviedo threw only seven pitches, but six of them were strikes. Two of them were fastballs that went for hits, a single by Stevie Wilkerson followed by a run-scoring double by Rio Ruiz, who was thrown out at third. Recognizing that hitters were being aggressive against his fastball, Oviedo turned to his breaking pitch and threw three consecutive curveballs to Chris Shaw, who struck out looking, before going back to the four-seamer to get Chance Sisco to ground out.

“It’s good. I mean, he threw strikes,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I think when you have young players after you throw three or four pitches — a hit and a double and a run — sometimes they can get scattered and lose themselves, and he didn’t. He bounced right back. Got a punchout. Ended the game. So that was an encouraging thing to see.”

That’s something Oviedo takes pride in. Despite being a starter for the majority of his career — he has 51 starts in 58 appearances — he vows to bring a bulldog mentality to the bullpen.

“In baseball, (they are) good hitters, and they can either get the best of you, or you’re going to get the best of yourself,” Oviedo said. “For me, one of my greatest characteristics is I’m a huge competitor. I love to compete. So if someone hits a home run off of me, or if someone gets a hit off of me, that’s fine. I’ll flush it right away, and I’m going after the next hitter.”

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington called Oviedo “one of the better prospects in short-season baseball in 2018 into the Midwest League in 2019.” Scouts watched Oviedo grow from a lanky 6-foot-4, 168-pounder into a 235-pounder with a five-pitch repertoire that includes two- and four-seam fastballs, the curveball, a changeup and a new slider Cherington said can resemble a curve.

After going 5-2 with a 2.05 ERA and 0.982 WHIP with 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings between low-A and Single-A in 2018, Oviedo battled back issues in 2019.

What the Pirates saw in Venezuelan winter ball was Oviedo’s back was no longer bothering him, and the velocity on his fastball had returned, throwing in the high 90s again. He twice touched 96 mph against the Orioles on Monday.

Although the Pirates project Oviedo as a future starter, his best chance to make the 26-man Opening Day roster — a Rule 5 Draft requirement — is as a reliever. It’s possible they will carry an extra pitcher, just to protect Oviedo.

“He has the pitches to be a starter. He certainly has the pitches to be a multi-inning reliever,” Cherington said of Oviedo in December. “If he’s doing what he’s capable of doing, we think he has a case to do that in the major leagues in 2021.”

Oviedo is embracing the opportunity with his new team, even if it’s in a new role. He worked out of the bullpen in winter ball and is confident he is ready to make a major jump from Single-A to the big leagues.

“To be honest with you, I do recognize that, to many people, it could look like a large leap,” Oviedo said. “But if I can be very authentic and genuine with you, I feel very equipped, mentally and physically. I feel prepared. … Being able to see that I not only competed, but competed well, also brought more confidence and more assurity that I am not only physically but also mentally equipped to be able to take that leap.”