Who Should Be the Pirates’ Closer?
The Pirates have optioned former All-Star closer David Bednar. Which of their relievers could step up to take the job?
So far this season, the Pittsburgh Pirates have disappointed fans on all fronts. The team has opened the 2025 season by dropping five of their first seven games. From mental lapses and managerial errors to offensive and defensive mistakes, this year’s Pirates team has struggled to find its footing.
Arguably, the most obvious place the team has struggled is in the bullpen. This isn’t a new theme either, as the Pirates finished 2024 tied for the third-most blown saves in the league. Out of the club’s five losses this year, three of them were walk-off victories for the Miami Marlins.
The worst and most persistent struggle has been that of the Pirates’ two-time All-Star closer David Bednar. Bednar was hoping to erase his 2024 season, during which he finished with an ERA just shy of 6.00. However, his struggles continued, as he posted a 27.00 ERA during his first action in 2025.
Because of this, Bednar was demoted to Triple-A, where the club hopes he’ll regain the stuff that made him such an elite closer just a few seasons ago. For the time being, though, the Pirates don’t have a clear option to step into the closer role, leaving them in a tough spot.
Who will be the Pirates’ new closer? Without further ado, let’s try and answer this question.
Dennis Santana
When looking at the remaining arms on the Pirates’ depth chart, the first name that really stands out is right-hander Dennis Santana. Santana joined the Bucs in 2024 after being claimed off waivers from the Yankees, and he’s been a solid piece of the bullpen ever since.
In the 44.1 innings Santana pitched for the Pirates in 2024, he pitched very well. He recorded 50 strikeouts, an ERA of 2.44, and a WHIP under 1.00, all while posting an ERA+ of 173. His numbers on the surface weren’t flukes either, as Santana’s underlying metrics backed up his elite play.
Santana placed himself in the 92nd percentile or better in average exit velocity, chase rate, barrel rate, and hard-hit rate. For a Pirates bullpen that significantly struggled to limit hard contact, finding this level of success in Santana was key. Without him, the Pirates’ bullpen may have fully collapsed.
Fast forward to the first few games of 2025, and Santana appears to be one of the top arms in this bullpen. In limited action, he has posted an ERA of 2.70, alongside three strikeouts in 3.1 innings. This has also been good for a 154 ERA+.
While the Pirates haven’t come out and named a closer just yet, it appears that Santana will be in the mix for the role. He recorded the first save since Bednar was optioned, pitching a scoreless inning in the Pirates’ series-ender versus the Tampa Bay Rays.
As for how the team will use Santana in the future, only time will tell. One thing is for certain, however: Santana will be in the mix for the closer role, given how well he’s pitched for the Bucs.
Justin Lawrence
The second name that jumps out to me on the Pirates’ depth chart is former Rockies closer Justin Lawrence. The right-hander enters the 2025 season looking to recapture his 2023 success and wipe away his 2024 season, and he’s off to a good start.
Lawrence’s 2024 season was one to forget. He pitched just under 60 innings for the Rockies, recording an ERA of 6.49, a WHIP of 1.77, just 45 strikeouts, and an ERA+ of 71. To put it simply, Lawrence struggled, and he struggled badly.
In addition to his surface-level numbers, Lawrence’s underlying metrics were just as poor. His xERA, xBA, chase rate, strikeout rate, and walk rates all finished below the 10th percentile. His barrel rate, hard-hit rate, and average exit velocity were all poor as well, although they were better than the 10th percentile.
The Pirates brought in Lawrence because of his 2023 season, though, where he was the staple of the Rockies’ bullpen. In that season, Lawrence’s ERA+ finished at an impressive 134 mark. In addition to this, he recorded 11 saves and posted a barrel rate in the 85th percentile.
Although it’s still early, Lawrence looks far better in 2025 than he did in 2024. Through three innings, he’s posted an ERA+ of 140, in addition to five strikeouts in the same time frame.
With one of the nastiest sweepers in all of baseball in his arsenal, it’s hard to imagine a hitter having an easy at-bat against him. Given his past success in 2023 and his brief success so far in 2025, Lawrence could be a slam-dunk option for the closer role.
Ryan Borucki
The third option that could work for the Pirates in the closer role is left-hander Ryan Borucki. After missing most of the 2024 season due to injury, Borucki has returned to the team, and he looks as good as ever.
Borucki’s 14-game sample size in 2024 was too small to really get a feel for his successes and failures, but he looked great in his last full season back in 2023.
In 40.1 innings that season, Borucki struck out 33 batters, recorded an ERA of 2.45, a WHIP of under 0.75, and an ERA+ of 184. This already tells the story of his success, but his metrics were solid across the board.
When looking under the hood, we can see that Borucki was truly elite. He limited his opponents to a barrel rate of just 6.3% paired with a hard-hit rate of 29.7%, which were both elite marks. In addition to this, his walk rate was just 2.6%, an astounding number.
So far in 2025, Borucki has been nearly perfect in his 3.1 innings of work, posting an ERA of 0.00, paired with six strikeouts and a WHIP of just 0.60.
If Borucki continues to pitch this well, he certainly has as good of a shot as anyone to succeed as the closer, leaving his ceiling incredibly high.
Other Possible Options
While Dennis Santana, Justin Lawrence, and Ryan Borucki may not be the only options available, they certainly make the most sense overall. However, the Pirates have a few other routes they could take.
The first route is to make the closer role a shared job between a few of their arms and let the responsibility change on a night-to-night basis. This appears to be what the team is doing right now, and with the successes of Santana, Lawrence, and Borucki, sharing this job may be a smart choice.
The Pirates could also turn to another arm in the bullpen to close out ballgames. Although he’s struggled nearly as much as David Bednar since last year’s second half, Colin Holderman has shown flashes of being very good in the last few seasons.
In addition to Holderman, both Tim Mayza and Caleb Ferguson have a shot at the closer role as well. When both arms signed this offseason, the team thought very highly of them, making it very possible they get chances.
The Pirates could also look to promote right-handed flamethrower Kyle Nicolas once again, which wouldn’t be a bad route to take, either. When he was optioned to Triple-A during the final days of spring training, fans were shocked.
Nicolas showed flashes of being a promising young reliever in 2024, as he posted a 3.95 ERA across 54.2 innings. He also nearly touched triple digits on his heater this spring, something that could help him dominate hitters.
The Bucs may also decide to go out and sign a reliever who’s still available on the free agent market, like David Robertson. Robertson is still unsigned despite being one of the game’s best relievers in 2024, recording a 132 ERA+ in 68 appearances in 2024. He could be a perfect option for this vacant closer role.
No matter what Ben Cherington and the Pirates decide to do to fill the closer role, it’s clear that this is a problem that needs to be addressed quickly. If not, any chance they had at competing this season could slip away very fast.
Written by
Jay Staph, a huge baseball fan and stat nerd, founded and ran his own baseball writing website, BSBWrites, at just 16-years-old. With focal points around prospects,…