On Monday, the Pittsburgh Pirates re-signed left-handed relief pitcher Ryan Borucki to a minor league deal, according to Jon Heyman in the New York Post. The deal reportedly includes an invite to spring training and additional incentives if he makes the team. Aside from the Pirates, Borucki, 30, also previously pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners during his seven-year major league career. For his career, he’s pitched in 148 games, including 21 starts. He’s 14-9 with no saves, 22 holds, a 4.23 ERA, and 1.292 WHIP. Thanks to Toronto competing in the 2020 American League Wild Card Series, he also has postseason experience. (Then again, in this time of expanded postseasons, who doesn’t?)
Ryan Borucki to Pirates. Minors deal. $1.15M plus incentives if in majors. Invite to majors spring camp. (Corrected: Pirates is right)
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 28, 2025
A left triceps injury limited Borucki to 14 major league games and 11 innings pitched for the Pirates in 2024. This small sample resulted in a 7.36 ERA and 1.636 WHIP. More encouraging was his 4.53 FIP, which indicates he may have been the victim of bad luck and poor support in the field.
Lefty Reliever Ryan Borucki Re-Signs with Pirates, Looking to Rebound
In any event, Pittsburgh will be hoping to get the Borucki of 2023. He signed with the Chicago Cubs in January of that year and broke spring training camp with them. However, before he got into a game with the Cubs, they sent him to the minors and later released him in May. The Pirates signed him two days later.
It was in Pittsburgh where Borucki had the best season of his career. With more usage of his slider and less reliance on his sinker, he was 4-0 with a 2.45 ERA and major-league-leading 0.744 WHIP, an 8.25 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and a 184 ERA+. All were career bests for the left-hander. He worked his way into high-leverage situations. He was effective against both left- and right-handed hitters in 2023. Left-handed hitters hit .149/.230/.254 against him, while right-handed swingers did just a little better at .213/.224/.373. Entering 2024 as a free agent, the Pirates thought enough of him to give him a one-year, $1.6 million contract to return.
Despite the sequel not living up to the predecessor, inking the free agent Borucki to a contract is a reasonable gamble for the Bucs. A left-handed pitcher who’s effective against right-handed batters and can deliver more than one inning of pitching on a given night is invaluable. Anything close to the Borucki of 2023 could make this the steal of the year.
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