WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES

2007
A-:  6-1-0, 2.52 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 53.2 IP, 1.2 BB/9, 6.7 K/9
A:  1-1-0, 3.86 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 14 IP, 0.6 BB/9, 11.6 K/9

Pitched well in ten starts at State College, although his K rate was well below league average.  He was almost unhittable against left-handed batters, holding them to an OPS well under .500.  Watson moved up to Hickory for three starts and pitched well in two of them.

2008
A+:  8-12-0, 3.56 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 151.2 IP, 2.1 BB/9, 6.2 K/9

The Pirates pushed him up to Lynchburg and he had a good, but erratic, season.  He was an extreme flyball pitcher, with a ground out to air out ratio of 0.54, and remained much tougher against LH batters.  Watson had an odd tendency to bounce back and forth between outstanding and poor outings.  For instance, in his last eight starts, he had three in which he allowed only three hits in 21 innings, including one in which he allowed no hits over seven innings.  He also had three starts in the same span in which he allowed either five or six earned runs.

2009
AA:  0-3-0, 8.22 ERA, 2.15 WHIP, 15.1 IP, 6.5 BB/9, 8.2 K/9

Watson was throwing only 83-87 when I saw him in spring training, which makes me wonder whether he was healthy then.  He was the opening day starter for Altoona, but struggled through five bad starts and then went on the DL for the rest of the year with a strained elbow.  The injury may explain the struggles before he went out; for one thing, Watson had uncharacteristic control problems.  He was healthy in time to go to the Arizona Fall League, where he pitched only in short stints.

2010
AA:  6-4-2, 2.67 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 111.1 IP, 1.9 BB/9, 8.5 K/9

Went back to Altoona and made a successful move to the bullpen.  In 25 relief outings, he had an ERA of 1.84, with a measly 0.80 WHIP and a K/9 of 10.4.  He moved back to the rotation late in the season and got hammered in his first two starts.  In his last seven, however, he had an ERA of 2.25.  That included three scoreless outings of six or seven innings each.  Also importantly, he stayed healthy.  Watson was nearly unhittable against left-handed batters, who batted only .131 against him in 2010.

2011
AAA:  3-3-0, 2.36 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 34.1 IP, 2.9 BB/9, 9.2 K/9
MLB:  2-2-0, 3.95 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 41 IP, 4.4 BB/9, 8.1 K/9

Watson opened the season in AAA, but ended up spending over half of it in Pittsburgh.  He pitched well during his time at Indianapolis and was effective against both right- and left-handed batters.  The Pirates called him up in early June and he stayed in Pittsburgh except for a brief stretch in August.  With Joe Beimel turning out to be a flop and Dan Moskos struggling with his control when he was in the majors, Watson was the closest thing the Pirates had to an effective left-handed reliever.  He pitched well at times, but often struggled to throw strikes.  Opponents hit only .228 against him, but he walked too many and also had some trouble with gopher balls, allowing one every seven innings.  He was a fairly strong flyball pitcher overall.  Left-handed hitters got a lot more hits against him (279/348/361), while he was more apt to walk right-handed hitters or allow longballs to them (193/304/409).

2012
MLB:  5-2-0, 3.38 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 53.1 IP, 3.9 BB/9, 8.9 K/9

Watson spent the season as the primary, often the only, LHP in the Pirates’ bullpen.  He led the team in relief appearances and improved over the course of the season.  While the rest of the team was collapsing at the end of the year, Watson allowed an opponents’ OPS of just .475 in August and .367 in September.  He held left-handed batters to a 183/252/301 line, while right-handed hitters managed a line of 213/318/372.  Watson’s fastball velocity jumped from 91.2 on average (in the majors) in 2011 to 93.6.  He largely scrapped his changeup and went with his slider a quarter of the time.  He benefited from a low BABIP of .241, but his BABIP was .255 in the majors in 2011 and in the .240s in the minors in 2010-11.  He made progress with his control, but it still was weak at times.  It’s ironic that Clint Hurdle generally tried to use Watson heavily against left-handed hitters; slightly under half the plate appearances against him were by lefties.  Joe Beimel and Doug Slaten were far less effective than Watson against right-handed batters, yet Hurdle insisted on using them strictly as one-inning pitchers.

Watson won’t be eligible for arbitration for another two years, so he figures to be a mainstay in the Pirates’ bullpen for quite some time.  During spring training, he had some issues with shoulder stiffness, which caused him to be shut down for a while.  He struggled when he first returned and starting the season on the disabled list seemed a possibility, but he pitched well his last couple times out.  Along with Justin Wilson, he’ll give Clint Hurdle his much-desired pair of bullpen lefties.