WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES

1998
AA:  7-10-0, 3.79 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 123.1 IP, 2.7 BB/9, 7.3 K/9
AAA:  2-3-0, 5.14 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 42 IP, 3.9 BB/9, 7.9 K/9 

Not surprisingly, given that he was the 4th overall pick in the 1997 draft, Grilli ranked 54th on Baseball America’s top 100 prospect list in 1998.  He went straight to AA and pitched well there at age 21.  He did less well in eight AAA starts, partly a result of allowing a HR every six innings.

1999
AAA (SF):  7-5-0, 5.54 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, 100.2 IP, 3.5 BB/9, 6.8 K/9
AAA (Fla):  1-5-0, 7.68 ERA, 1.93 WHIP, 41 IP, 5.0 BB/9, 5.9 K/9 

BA rated Grilli 44th on the top 100 list in 1999, but he didn’t have a good year in AAA.  He got hit hard and had a lot of trouble with HRs, allowing 29 in 141.2 IP.  The Giants traded him in a deadline deal to Florida for Livan Hernandez.

2000
AAA:  1-4-0, 7.19 ERA, 1.96 WHIP, 41.1 IP, 5.0 BB/9, 4.6 K/9
MLB:  1-0-0, 5.40 ERA, 1.95 WHIP, 6.2 IP, 2.7 BB/9, 4.1 K/9 

Grilli struggled badly in AAA over eight starts, but still reached the majors for one start in May.  He missed most of the year, though, with elbow problems.

2001
R:  0-0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.50 WHIP, 4 IP, 0.0 BB/9, 13.5 K/9
A+:  2-0-0, 1.98 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 13.2 IP, 3.3 BB/9, 9.2 K/9
AA:  0-1-0, 2.25 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 4 IP, 0.0 BB/9, 6.8 K/9
AAA:  1-2-0, 4.02 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 47 IP, 3.8 BB/9, 6.7 K/9
MLB:  2-2-0, 6.08 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 26.2 IP, 3.7 BB/9, 5.7 K/9 

Grilli opened the season with Florida and pitched well in his first three starts, then got hit hard twice and went out with more elbow problems.  He eventually went through a rehab and returned to the majors for one relief appearance in September, but then he had Tommy John surgery and missed all of 2002.

2002
Did not play 

Missed the season and was removed from the 40-man roster.

2003
A+:  4-2-0, 2.53 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 42.2 IP, 1.3 BB/9, 6.3 K/9
AAA:  6-2-0, 3.38 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 66.2 IP, 4.0 BB/9, 5.1 K/9

Grilli had his recovery year in 2003, pitching reasonably well in the minors.  After the season, he was selected by the White Sox in the December 2003 Rule 5 draft.

2004
AAA:  9-9-0, 4.83 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 152.2 IP, 3.4 BB/9, 6.0 K/9
MLB:  2-3-0, 7.40 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 45 IP, 4.0 BB/9, 5.2 K/9

The White Sox evidently reached some sort of deal with the Marlins, because they optioned Grilli to AAA at the start of the season.  Still a starter, he didn’t pitch well there, giving up a lot of hits, not fanning many and allowing a HR every seven innings.  The Sox brought him up in late August and he made eight starts in the majors, getting hammered in most of them.  He allowed a HR every four innings.

2005
AAA:  12-9-0, 4.09 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 167.1 IP, 3.1 BB/9, 6.5 K/9
MLB:  1-1-0, 3.38 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 16 IP, 3.4 BB/9, 2.8 K/9

Grilli moved on to Detroit as a minor league free agent and spent most of the season with the Tigers’ AAA affiliate.  He made modest improvements in every area, still pitching as a starter.  The Tigers called Grilli in mid-September and he pitched well in three games, including two starts, although he hardly struck out anybody.

2006
MLB:  2-3-0, 4.21 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 62 IP, 3.6 BB/9, 4.5 K/9 

The Tigers moved Grilli to the bullpen and he made 51 appearances.  He pitched decently, although with an extremely low K rate.  He made a lot of progress with his gopher ball problem, allowing one every ten innings.

2007
MLB:  5-3-0, 4.74 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 79.2 IP, 3.6 BB/9, 7.0 K/9

Grilli had a similar season to 2006, pitching just decently, although he did greatly increase his K rate and reduce his HR rate a little further.

2008
MLB (Det):  0-1-0, 3.29 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 13.2 IP, 4.6 BB/9, 6.6 K/9
MLB (Colo):  3-2-1, 2.93 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 61.1 IP, 4.5 BB/9, 8.7 K/9 

The Tigers traded Grilli to Colorado early in the season and he had his best major league season prior to 2011.  Despite the good ERA, though, he pitched only a little better than in 2006-07.  He didn’t get hit as hard and allowed only two HRs all year, and he increased his K rate again, but he walked a lot more than previously.

2009
AAA (Tex):  0-0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 1 IP, 9.0 BB/9, 9.0 K/9
MLB (Colo):  0-1-1, 6.05 ERA, 2.17 WHIP, 19.1 IP, 6.1 BB/9, 19.2 K/9
MLB (Tex):  2-2-0, 4.78 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 26.1 IP, 4.8 BB/9, 9.2 K/9 

Got off to terrible start with Rockies and was traded to Texas in June.  He pitched better there than the ERA indicates.  His walk rate continued higher than it had been early in his career, but he posted a career-high K rate.

2010
Did not play 

Missed the entire season with a knee injury.

2011
AAA (Phi):  4-1-3, 1.93 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 32.2 IP, 3.3 BB/9, 11.8 K/9
MLB (Pgh):  2-1-1, 2.48 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 32.2 IP, 4.1 BB/9, 10.2 K/9

Signed minor league deal with the Phillies and went to AAA, where he put up good numbers across the board.  His contract allowed him to request a release if another team offered him a major league deal and Phillies did not promote him to the majors.  When the Pirates made such an offer, the Phillies granted his release.  He did probably the best pitching of his career, usually coming into difficult situations in the 7th and 8th innings.  About half his pitching was done in what Baseball Reference classifies as high-leverage situations and he allowed just a .525 OPS in those situations.  He was deadly against right-handed batters, holding them to a .508 OPS, compared to .766 by left-handed batters.  He had an extremely high K rate and improved his walk rate over 2008-09, although it remained high.  He was helped by a batting average on balls in play (.268) and a strand rate (82.1%) that were both unrealistic, but not drastically so.  His walk and K rates show he was a better pitcher than before the knee injury and his FIP (fielding independent pitching) was 3.30.

2012
MLB:  1-6-2, 2.91 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 58.2 IP, 3.4 BB/9, 13.8 K/9

Grilli was eligible for arbitration in the off-season, but the Pirates signed him to a one-year contract for $1.1M.  He then had a career year at age 35.  His average fastball velocity increased by over one mph, from 92.4 to 93.6, and he produced significantly more swings and misses.  The result was the 4th highest K rate in MLB among pitchers who threw 50 innings or more.  Grilli served as the Pirates’ 8th inning pitcher all year and largely dominated until September, when he fell apart with the rest of the bullpen.  That month he got lit up for a .941 OPS and 6.52 ERA.  Oddly, he was nearly unhittable against left-handed batters, who managed just a .485 OPS against him.  Right-handed hitters had an OPS of .767.  He allowed dramatically fewer groundballs than in the past.

Grilli became a free agent after the 2012 season, but signed a two-year deal, worth a reported $6.75M, to return to Pittsburgh.  In doing so, he reportedly passed up more money elsewhere.  With the Pirates having traded Joel Hanrahan, Grilli will take over as closer.  Giving him a two-year deal isn’t risk-free considering that his performance in late 2011 and in 2012 was considerably better than what he’d done in significant major league opportunities previously.