CHICAGO — Say this about Williams Jerez, the left-handed reliever the Pirates claimed off waivers from the San Francisco Giants on Friday: There’s likely a pretty good opportunity here.
For a variety of reasons, too.
The Pirates bullpen has struggled, for one, with that unit pitching to a 4.81 ERA prior to Saturday’s game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, the ninth-highest in baseball. There will also likely be a need for a left-handed option in 2020 assuming Francisco Liriano — who’s 35 with a 5.04 ERA over his past 32 appearances — does not return.
It looks like, for the final two weeks of the 2019 season, Jerez will compete with Wei-Chung Wang for a left-handed setup role in 2020.
“We think he has a chance to be more effective, especially a left-on-left option as well,” said manager Clint Hurdle, who will try and give Jerez a chance to face lefties and right-handed hitters the rest of the way. “Like the arm. Like the age. There’s a lot of things we liked. We’ve followed him for a while.”
Jerez spent the majority of the season with Class AAA Sacramento, where he went 4-4 with two saves and a 3.86 ERA in 47 games. In six appearances with the Giants this season, Jerez had a 2.70 ERA, though he had a 1.950 WHIP and more walks (6) than strikeouts (4).
Whenever he does pitch — Jerez said he expects to make his first appearance Sunday — Hurdle said the southpaw’s changeup in an undervalued pitch the Pirates might try to rely more on.
“The fastball playing at the top of the zone, the slider usage ... he has a changeup that we probably like a little bit better than what it’s been used in his career,” Hurdle said. “The left-handed option is good.”
Jerez, 27, was a second-round pick of the Red Sox in 2011. He appeared in 17 games with the Angels last season before he was traded to San Francisco for current Pirates reliever Chris Stratton on March 25.
“I’m thankful for the opportunity,” Jerez said. “I’m excited to go out there and compete.”
Expect to see a lot of Jerez the rest of the way, as the Pirates sort through what they have with him and Wang, who has held left-handed hitters to a .196 (9-for-46) average this season.
“We do want to find ways to try and get [Jerez] the ball,” Hurdle said.
Coffee time
Around 2 o’clock on Friday, roughly an hour before first pitch, three Pirates rookies left the clubhouse and ventured across the street to Starbucks, coffee order in hand.
Not their own, mind you.
For some good-natured, rookie-based fun, Alex McRae, Geoff Hartlieb and Mitch Keller handed the Starbucks employee working the register a piece of white paper with 15 coffee orders scribbled down by Joe Musgrove.
McRae, Hartlieb and Keller split the bill three ways.
“Some people wanted some pictures, so we took some pictures while we were sitting there waiting for coffee then walked back,” McRae said. “People were having a good time with it. You could hear in the background, ‘Ha, rookies!’ It was fun.”
Short-handed situation
The Pirates were three players short for Saturday’s game, as Josh Bell, Starling Marte and Jacob Stallings were all unavailable because of minor injuries.
Bell is day-to-day with left-groin discomfort; Marte is dealing with a sprained left wrist; and Stallings is shelved for a day or so with back tightness, something that has been bothering him for the past few weeks.
That meant that Adam Frazier was bumped up to the No. 5 spot in the batting order for Saturday’s game, while Hurdle’s pinch-hitting options off the bench were … not great. Those included Cole Tucker, Erik Gonzalez, Melky Cabrera and Stephen Baron.
Hit the road
With a 3-for-5 effort Saturday during a 14-1 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field, Kevin Newman raised his batting average in road games this season to .366 (83-for-227).
That leads all National League players and ranks second all-time among major league rookies behind Charlie Keller’s .372 with the Yankees in 1939.
“I try to do the same thing every day and get my body feeling right,” said Newman, who has hit safely in 19 consecutive road contests. “I think in doing that it’s kind of provided a little bit of comfort and maybe some success.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: September 14, 2019, 6:29 p.m.
