The Pittsburgh Pirates were very active at the 2025 trade deadline. One of the trades they made was sending left-handed starting pitcher Bailey Falter to the Kansas City Royals for two players. One of the players the Bucs received was left-handed relief pitching prospect Evan Sisk. The left-hander is off to a strong start to his 2026 season. In fact, it’s been such a promising start to the point where the Pirates should consider giving Sisk some high-leverage innings.
Evan Sisk Deserves a Shot in High Leverage After His Strong Start to 2026
Sisk pitched 17.2 big league innings last year for the Royals and Pirates. He posted a solid 3.57 ERA, 3.08 FIP, and 1.47 WHIP in his first cup of Major League coffee. He had no problems getting batters to strikeout, with a 31.3% K% and 31% whiff rate. The lefty reliever allowed just a single home run, with a strong 4.7% barrel rate. Walks gave Sisk some issues, as he posted a 12.5% BB%, but that was about the only negative from his first look at the big leagues.
Promising Beginning to 2026
Sisk has pitched 14 innings in 2026. In that time, he has only allowed three earned runs. He has gotten 28.8% of batters to go down on strikes, and has cut his walk rate down to just 6.8%. However, Sisk is proving to be outstanding at limiting hard and quality contact. He is in the 95th percentile or better of both exit velocity (85 MPH) and barrel percentage (0%). Although his whiff rate is down to 25.3%, and his chase rate is currently in just the 13th percentile, his called and swinging strike rate is approaching 30%.
Deceptiveness Makes up for the Lack of High-Octane Stuff
Sisk’s velocity does not jump off the page. His four-seam fastball and sinker both have below-average speed, coming in around 90-91 MPH. However, what he lacks in high-octane stuff, he makes up for in deceptiveness. Sisk is in the 90th percentile of extension at seven feet. While his four-seam fastball averages 90.9 MPH on the gun, its perceived velocity out of the hand makes it look more like a 91.8 MPH fastball. He also does that while throwing from a low, 23-degree arm angle. There are currently just 25 relievers with a release point extension of at least seven feet. Of those 25, only seven have an arm angle under 25 degrees.
Sisk also has a wide variety of pitches, more than you typically see from a reliever. He has thrown four different offerings at least 10% of the time this year. That includes a curveball (31.5%), sinker (26.6%), change-up (12%), and four-seamer (10.4%). Of those four offerings, only his change-up grades out below a 100 on FanGraphs’ Stuff+ model (100 is average). Despite the lowly Stuff+ grade, it has still held opponents to just a .283 xwOBA and -7 degree launch angle.
Current Work Hasn’t Challenged Him Enough
The Pirates have mostly used Sisk in low-leverage situations to start the year. His leverage index heading into the first game against the San Francisco Giants was 0.42. 1.0 is considered average, and anything around 2.0 or greater is considered high leverage. Sisk recently pitched in one of his highest leverage situations. He came into the seventh inning of the first game of the series against the Giants with the bases loaded and no out. Although he let the runners who were on base score, the game-deciding hit was only an 84.7 MPH single with a -20 degree launch angle. He still got the other four batters he faced out.
Where Sisk Could Fit Into the Pirates’ Bullpen
The Pirates certainly have the opportunity to use the left-hander in more high-leverage situations. Gregory Soto currently looks like the Pirates’ closer. Although Mason Montgomery could also step into the lefty high-leverage role, Sisk could still take away high-leverage innings from the struggling Justin Lawrence. Dennis Santana has also struggled with red flags surrounding him, giving Sisk another opportunity there. The Pirates have also tasked Yohan Ramirez with more high-leverage situations than expected, and it has led to mixed results. Once again, this is an opportunity for the Pirates to give Sisk some high-leverage innings. Sisk has done just as well as any of them and deserves a shot to see how he handles high leverage.
Main Photo Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images
