{"id":121887,"date":"2026-05-14T23:03:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T03:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=121887"},"modified":"2026-05-14T23:03:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T03:03:57","slug":"matt-ager-pirates-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/05\/14\/matt-ager-pirates-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Ager Becoming Another Pirates Pitching Success Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Pirates have become known for their ability to develop pitching. Aside from obvious names like Paul Skenes<\/a>, Mitch Keller<\/a>, and Braxton Ashcraft<\/a>, the Bucs have found legitimate upside in low-cost pickups<\/a> and late-round picks. One mid-round selection who is off to a strong start to 2026 is right-hander Matt Ager<\/a>. He looks like another success story for the Pirates\u2019 pitching factory.<\/p>\n

Matt Ager Is Starting the Year off on the Right Foot<\/h2>\n

Low Expectations Going Into 2026<\/h3>\n

Ager certainly wasn\u2019t coming into 2026 with very high expectations. A sixth-round draft pick from 2024, Ager posted a respectable 4.02 ERA, 20.8% strikeout rate, and 9.9% walk rate through 62.2 innings pitched for UC Santa Barbara. They used him both as a starter and closer, starting nine games and saving 11. He ranked just outside Baseball America\u2019s top 100 draft prospects<\/a> at #104. MLB Pipeline<\/a> was slightly less bullish, ranking him at #135 on their top draft prospects list.<\/p>\n

Ager spent all of 2025 at A-Ball Bradenton, but the results were nothing to be very proud of. In 76 innings, he posted a poor 4.86 ERA, 5.64 FIP, and 1.64 WHIP. He only got 14% of the batters he faced to strikeout with a whiff rate of just 19.5%. He also nearly walked the same number of opponents, with a 13.2% BB%. The only positive to come from Ager\u2019s season was his 0.83 HR\/9 ratio and 4.4% barrel rate.<\/p>\n

Stronger Start to 2026 Than Surface-Level Stats Tell You<\/h3>\n

Despite his unimpressive season at A-Ball, the Pirates promoted Ager to High-A Greensboro to start 2026. His 4.67 ERA over his first 17.1 innings pitched is misleading. For one, his ERA- was 89, indicating his ERA was still about 11% better than the league average after including park and league factors. The main reason his ERA is misleading is that a 2.60 HR\/9 ratio inflates it. His HR: FB ratio of 27.8% was unsustainably high.<\/p>\n

For reference, Cal Raleigh\u2019s<\/a> HR: FB ratio last season, when he hit 60 home runs, was 25.3%. Ager also struck out a third of opponents and only walked them at a 6.9% rate. That hot start already earned him another promotion, this time to Double-A Altoona. While he has only appeared in one game so far for the Curve, he made a great first impression. He pitched four shutout innings, striking out four, and allowing just one walk. He also allowed only three base hits.<\/p>\n

Ager Can Thank Increased Velocity<\/h3>\n

Ager hit 95 MPH during his start at Altoona. He only hit 95+ MPH once all last season. The young right-hander also did plenty of training and working out at Driveline this past offseason. According to Driveline, Ager clocked in around 95 MPH during his bullpen sessions. He has yet to start a game and has been utilized as a multi-inning arm out of the bullpen. Maintaining his velocity gains as the season wears on and his workload increases will be important for Ager\u2019s development.<\/p>\n

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The Matt Ager Project pic.twitter.com\/4w8aUvtdQN<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Brice Crider (@Brice_Crider) January 17, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n