Rookie reliever Wilber Dotel. who started his career by giving up a home run to his first MLB batter, is impacting the Pittsburgh Pirates' bullpen.
The Pittsburgh Pirates clearly needed to upgrade their offense in the offseason after finishing last in the major leagues in runs scored, home runs, and OPS last year. Yet there was a sense that the Pirates might have given up too much pitching to acquire hitting.
This offseason saw significant moves: Johan Oviedo was traded to the Boston Red Sox for outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia. Shortly after, Mike Burrows was shipped to the Houston Astros in a three-team trade that brought three players from the Tampa Bay Rays: left-handed reliever Mason Montgomery, second baseman Brandon Lowe, and outfielder Jake Mangun.
These moves have paid off: Pittsburgh's offense is now much improved, ranking 12th in MLB in runs scored. The rotation is equally strong, anchored by the 2025 National League Cy Young winner, Paul Skenes, alongside Mitch Keller, Carmen Mlodzinski, Braxton Ashcraft, and rookie Bubba Chandler.
Despite these improvements, there was still a gnawing feeling that the Pirates had little depth beyond those five starters at the start of the season. Even though the Pirates haven’t yet needed a sixth starter, rookie reliever Wilber Dotel now looks like a promising option.
Dotel opened the season in the Triple-A Indianapolis rotation. He joined Pittsburgh on April 19, following a game a day earlier that overtaxied the bullpen with six relievers over nine innings in a 13-inning loss to the Rays, and made his debut the next afternoon.
The 23-year-old quickly had his welcome to the big leagues moment when the first batter he faced, Rays third baseman Junior Caminero, hit a home run. However, that is the only run and one of just two hits that Dotel has given up in 6 2/3 innings over three appearances.
Although Dotel posted a 1-2 record with a 6.38 ERA in three starts for Indianapolis, the Pirates determined he was prepared for major league competition.
“I think we saw the fastball velo, the arm, being in the strike zone,” Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly said. “When you’re talking about a young guy and what he showed last year in Double-A, and then in spring training and then getting to Triple-A, and then he comes up, and in the first inning, we have a lead in the ninth inning, he gives up a first-batter home run, and then he’s right back in the strike zone, attacking and dominating.
“It’s that mindset that he’s going to have to take and that execution in the zone to continue to succeed at the major league level.”
Dotel has yet to start a major league game, but Monday night’s 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park provided an opportunity to demonstrate his potential in that role. He delivered four perfect innings of bulk relief while Pittsburgh held a 2-0 lead.
"My goal was to go hitter by hitter and just do that," Dotel said. "And that's what I was doing every inning, just concentrating on getting hitter by hitter."
It is an approach that has served Dotel well during his short time in the majors.
“It has felt the same since day one,” Dotel said. “All I do is just control the things that I can control and stay in the moment. That's it.”
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