Pirates Trade SP JT Brubaker to Yankees

In the last decade, the Pirates have had eight different opening day starting pitchers on the mound. Today, the Pirates traded JT Brubaker, the Opening Day starter from 2022. Brubaker will be heading to the New York Yankees for a player to be named later. The Yankees also received international bonus pool space in this deal.

Brubaker was going to be a solid arm in the rotation in 2023, but during Spring Training, he suffered a torn UCL (Ulnar Collateral Ligament) and needed Tommy John Surgery to repair it. Since then he has been rehabbing to return to full baseball activities. Brubaker is scheduled to be back in the MLB around the All Star Break.

Brubaker was drafted by the Pirates in the sixth round of the 2015 Major League Draft. He emerged as a solid prospect as he was ranked as the 21st best prospect in the Pirates farm system in 2019. In 2020, Brubaker made his debut in St. Louis and pitched two shutout innings. 

In his career with the Pirates, Brubaker has a record of 9-28 with an earned run average of 4.99 in 315.2 innings pitched. He also had 324 strikeouts, a 1.38 WHIP, and a 4.43 FIP. At times Brubaker looked very good and at others, he has looked very bad. His big problem is giving up home runs as he has a career HR/9 of 1.45. 

Brubaker has multiple pitches that are very effective, but in three seasons with Pittsburgh, he could never figure them all out. His slider is very good as it gets hitters to swing and miss 41% of the time. His curveball also has a solid swing and miss percentage at 31.5%. His most thrown pitch was his sinker and opponents had a .282 batting average against it. All of the data on his pitches are from 2022.

Brubaker had no spot on the team for when he would return. With Paul Skenes coming up soon, there are barely any spots in the Pirate rotation to fight for. Brubaker has an opportunity to rebound from his surgery and become a solid starting pitcher in New York. There is no time table on who the Pirates will receive in return, but we know it will be a player at some point.