26-year old lefty starting pitcher Zach Duke has pitched very well for the Pirates this season. He has started 31 games for the Pirates this season and he was 11-15 with a 3.94 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. Duke was outstanding as a rookie during the second half of the 2005 season giving the Pirates high hopes for him but then the roof caved in. From 2006-2008 Duke pitched in 85 games (84 starts) for the Pirates in which he was 18-37 with a 4.82 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP. Hopefully the Pirates don’t trade Duke over the winter so they can see if he has really found himself because he has a nice upside.

27-year old righty reliever Joel Hanrahan has been pretty good since coming over to the Pirates. He has pitched in 31 games (0 starts) for the Pirates this season and he is 0-1 with a 1.84 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. He does need to tighten up his control as he has walked 20 batters in only 29 1/3 innings for the Pirates but he has whiffed 36 batters which shows what kind of stuff he has. He could close down the road for the Pirates if he starts throwing more strikes.

27-year old righty starting pitcher Ross Ohlendorf has taken advantage of his opportunity to win a job in the starting rotation last spring and the Pirates have been benefitting from it. He has started 26 games for the Pirates this season and he is 11-9 with a 4.17 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. Ohlendorf was one of the players that was acquired from the Yankees in the Xavier Nady/Damaso Marte trade which is looking one sided in the Pirates favor so far.

UPDATE: The Pirates have shut down Ohlendorf for the rest of the season. He started 29 games for the Pirates this season and he was 11-10 with a 3.92 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. Usually you only see this kind of move with kids so it’s curious that at 27 years old that Ohlendorf is getting shut down. Maybe he’s hurting a little bit.

The Pirates needed help in the starting rotation in the worst way so that’s why they wanted Karstens back from the Yankees. They figured that he was pitching good enough in AAA ball to step right into the starting rotation for them. He has started 3 games for the Pirates this season and he is 2-1 with a 1.23 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP. Don’t expect those numbers to continue but he could put up decent #4 of #5 starter numbers for the Pirates in the near future.

29-year old lefty reliever John Grabow appears to be the next pitcher in line to close for the Pirates after the departure of Damaso Marte. Grabow has pitched in 46 games (0 starts) for the Pirates this season and he is 5-2 with a 3.02 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP. Grabow might be able to do a decent job for the Pirates as the closer but his name has been coming up in a lot of trade rumors so it’s up in the air as to whether he’ll even be in Pittsburgh after next week.