SARASOTA — When Carmen Mlodzinski moved to the bullpen two years ago, the Pittsburgh Pirates told him they weren’t closing the door on his chances of being a starting pitcher in the major leagues.
In his exit interview last fall, Mlodzinski made it clear it was an avenue he wanted to revisit. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound right-hander knew he needed to back it up with new pitches to his arsenal, so he added a splitter, curveball and two-seam fastball this offseason.
“It’s definitely something I’m pursuing as a career,” Mlodzinski said. “I think that’s something I want to be able to do long-term and ultimately be able to help the team, as well.”
Mlodzinski got the first start of spring training and allowed two runs on four hits with one strikeout and a wild pitch in the Pirates’ 10-5 win in the Grapefruit League opener against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday afternoon before a sellout crowd of 7,628 at Ed Smith Stadium.
The Pirates took 2-0 lead in the first inning as Henry Davis hit a two-out double to left, Nick Yorke drew a four-pitch walk against Albert Suarez and DJ Stewart drove in both with a double to right.
Mlodzinski’s first inning was smooth as he got All-Star Gunnar Henderson to fly out to center and struck out Cedric Mullins before giving up a single to Jordan Westburg and getting O’Hearn to ground out. The Orioles tied it with three singles in the bottom of the second, when Mlodzinski got behind in counts.
Ryan Mountcastle scored on a wild pitch when Mlodzinski yanked a fastball. Ramon Laureano smoked a single to center to score Jackson Holliday as Billy Cook’s throw went off the tip of Davis’ mitt.
“He’s got an unbelievable pitch mix and is super athletic,” Davis said. “He’s started his whole life. Anything he puts his mind to I wouldn’t bet against him doing so. It’s good to see from him.
“It’s very impressive, how he can manipulate the ball and consistently get the shapes that he wants. Obviously, being a little bit more aggressive with the breaking balls in the zone early is something we talked about. When he’s ahead in the count, hitters don’t really have a chance.”
The Pirates got big games from a pair of outfielders who could be in the mix at first base this spring.
Stewart, a non-roster invitee who came up through the Orioles system but spent the last two seasons with the New York Mets, made a positive first impression by going 2 for 3 with three RBIs after hitting a solo home run in the third inning.
Matt Gorski went 2 for 3 with six RBIs on a pair of homers, a two-run shot in the sixth and a grand slam in the top of the ninth. Oneil Cruz was the only Pirates player to have six RBIs in a game last spring.
But the biggest development was Mlodzinski stretching out to be a starter again. Drafted in the first round (No. 31) as a starter out of South Carolina in 2020, Mlodzinski was moved to a relief role in 2023. In two seasons out of the bullpen, he was 8-8 with a 2.91 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and one save in 86 2/3 innings over 75 appearances.
No stranger to serving as an opener or pitching more than one inning — he has five career starts — Mlodzinski said the Pirates promised to stretch him out to three innings and see how he fared. He threw 23 of his 38 pitches for strikes over two innings against the Orioles.
“I feel comfortable honestly in any role that they’ve thrown at me,” Mlodzinski said. “I’ve done quite a few different things, like opening games the past few years, closing games — only one — but I’ve been kind of in that middle relief role. So, I’m comfortable doing everything at this point. I think this is more just, this is what I want to do with my career and they’re giving me an opportunity to kind of show that I can do it.”
Note: Mitch Keller will start for the Pirates against David Fest of the Minnesota Twins in their Grapefruit League home opener at 1:05 p.m. Sunday at LECOM Park in Bradenton. The game will be televised on SportsNet Pittsburgh.