The Pirates are off to a hot start, with a current record of 13-9. The team made multiple moves on offense in the offseason, like trading for Brandon Lowe and Jake Mangum, along with signing Ryan O’Hearn and Marcell Ozuna.

The bats have been good, but the standout players on the team are in the starting rotation: Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Carmen Mlodzinski, Braxton Ashcraft, and Bubba Chandler. 

All five of them have been lights out to begin the season. Surprisingly, Skenes has the highest ERA, at 3.27, but that is just because of his opening day start against the Mets. Skenes and Ashcraft average more than a strikeout an inning, and all five of them average less than a hit per inning. 

Mlodzinski has been one of the best in the rotation. Last year, he was mostly a bullpen arm, but due to Jared Jones starting the year on the injured list, Mlodzinski had to step up. Throughout four games and 20.1 innings, he has only given up four earned runs and has struck out 20 batters. 

But not having Mlodzinski in the bullpen has hurt the Pirates. He was one of the better middle relievers last year, but now there is a hole. Yohan Ramirez and Isaac Mattson have been decent in the middle reliever role, but the rest have been poor. 

Hunter Barco and Jose Urquidy, who were on the opening day roster, got optioned to Triple-A for Evan Sisk and Cam Sanders. Sisk has not been bad, but Sanders gave up four earned runs in 0.2 innings in his season debut. The next day, Sanders got sent back down and Wilber Dotel got called up. Dotel did give up a home run to his first MLB batter, but then finished the inning without giving up another hit.

Overall, the Pirates are looking good. Having a good rotation is a lot more important than having good middle relievers. The Pirates are currently in third place in the NL Central, but they are only a game out of first place.