Dotel's Debut: Pirates' Bullpen Lifeline?

0:00On April 22nd, Pittsburgh pirates been battling a weak spot in their bullpen, especially that middle relief roll for eating up multiple innings. They called up Prospect Wilbur D'Otel on April 19th, and the young right-hander already jumped into the last two games, handling high leverage, bots, right away. D'Otel is a starter by trade from the minors, with over 80 starts in his pro career, but he's ramped up his workload big time, last year he threw one. 125.1 innings at AA. He's sharp in his control, too, dropping walks per 9 from 4.57 to 3.08 while boosting strikeouts, and his. Four seam fastball touches 100 miles per hour. The team loves their late inning crew. Dennis Santana closing with a sub 1 ERA, Gregory Soto setting up in the 8th, plus guys like Isaac Matson, on a 12 outing scoreless streak, but they lack that reliable bulk arm. An earlier tries with Hunter Barco in Jose Erquady, bombed out with ERAs over 6 and 8. In his debut, D'Otel closed the 9th and a 6 to 3 win over Tampa Bay, then tossed 1.2 innings against Texas, giving up a solo homer, and three walks by keeping the game from blowing open after a rough starter outing.

1:15If D'Otel keeps getting keyouts without the big damage, he could lock down that gap and steady the pirates' pen for the long haul. That wraps MLB news today, brought to you with AI.