The Carmen Mlodzinski saga took an unexpected twist Sunday when the Pittsburgh Pirates placed the right-hander on the restricted list, essentially docking him a day of pay for being unwilling to pitch.
This wasn’t Derek Bell threatening an Operation Shutdown in 2002. And it’s not comparable to the last player the Pirates placed on the restricted list — All-Star closer Felipe Vazquez — after his arrest on felony charges of child solicitation and distributing obscene material to minors in September 2019.
Mlodzinski balked at being bumped from the starting rotation to the bullpen last week, a move made when Jared Jones was activated from the 60-day injured list after recovering from right elbow surgery.
“Not surprisingly, he didn’t agree with that decision,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said during a guest appearance Sunday on radio flagship 93.7 The Fan. “We want players to be honest about how they feel about decisions, then it’s our job to work with them to get them into a spot where, ‘OK, we’ve disagreed on this, we’ve made the decision, let’s go win games.’ That’s a process sometimes. My belief is that Carmen Mlodzinski is going to pitch a lot of meaningful innings for this team this year and he’s going to help us win games. I’m looking forward to that.”
That he had difficulty accepting the move to the bullpen is no surprise. Mlodzinski is 4-3 with a 3.76 ERA, and the Pirates are 8-3 in his 11 appearances (nine starts). A source indicated that the Pirates expect Mlodzinski to rejoin the team Tuesday in Houston.
“He’s a very tough-minded, strong-willed guy. That’s part of what makes him successful,” Cherington said on The Fan. “When you get into situations with decisions that someone like Carmen doesn’t agree with, he’s not going to turn that strong will off. It’s just part of it. It’s part of meeting and managing and communicating, and we’re working towards that. Barring something unforeseen, I expect Carmen to pitch again in a game here very soon.”
What’s troubling is that it’s about “me” instead of “we.”
Following Sunday’s game, Pirates manager Don Kelly also sounded confident that Mlodzinski would be ready the next time called upon and that his initial balk at the bullpen wouldn’t become a distraction inside the clubhouse of a team that is 32-28 and a half-game out of second place in the National League Central.
“I think the guys know that Carmen is a competitor, that he is going to be here to help the team win,” Kelly said. “He’s shown that over the course of his career, and I’m fully confident that he’s going to do that.”
1. Difficult decision: Interesting that Cherington offered that the decision to move Mlodzinski to a relief role fell on Kelly and pitching coach Bill Murphy.
Cherington said “it wasn’t an easy call,” but there’s an organizational belief that Mlodzinski was best suited to handle the bulk relief role the Pirates desperately need in a bullpen that has been their Achilles’ heel this season.
“To be clear, that was the recommendation from Don Kelly and Murph,” Cherington said on The Fan. “When the players are active on the team, in terms of how we’re using them — who’s starting, who’s in the bullpen, when guys are playing — that is the call of the manager. The manager gets input from coaches that might have an opinion. Certainly, I’m aware of those decisions and I supported that recommendation and decision. But this is the call of the manager and pitching coach.”
Mlodzinski posted better numbers than Bubba Chandler, who has a 1-6 record and 4.85 ERA in 11 starts. But Chandler is viewed as having a higher ceiling, as evidenced by how he pitched late last season and his 11-strikeout performance at Toronto on May 22 — a game in which he allowed one earned run on two hits and three walks in five innings.
And the Pirates put Mlodzinski in position to succeed by using openers to avoid opponents stacking left-handed hitters at the top of the batting order against Washington in April and Colorado last month. By pitching five and six innings out of the bullpen, Mlodzinski showed he can effectively cover multiple innings.
“Anytime you are dealing with people that are competitive — Carmen wants to start — right now, the fine line is navigating that where we’re at as a team and how can we win on a daily basis and for us with Carmen,” Kelly said over the weekend. “Not to overuse him, not to abuse him, but to put him into roles that are going to help us in a multi-inning, high leverage spot where that’s out of five days that he could be available for one of those and probably multiple rather than starting every five days. I think its something he provides a lot of value for us out of the ‘pen to help us win a lot of games.”
2. Short stint: The Mlodzinski drama overshadowed what should have been the story of the day, that rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right elbow strain.
It made for an easy roster decision when Ryan O’Hearn returned from the IL, but losing one of their hottest hitters is not a tradeoff the Pirates wanted to make.
Griffin batted .306/.361/.459 with seven doubles, a triple, two home runs, nine RBIs, 20 runs scored and seven stolen bases in May, when Kelly used him in both the leadoff spot and two-hole.
Griffin went 4 for 9 in two games as designated hitter but wasn’t available to play the field, and Cherington said the Pirates couldn’t afford to keep one player in the DH spot with O’Hearn returning and Marcell Ozuna as a right-handed option.
The Pirates have a Gold Glove winner in Jared Triolo to play shortstop but he went 3 for 16 in four games in Griffin’s absence. Nick Gonzales can always shift from third base to shortstop, with Tyler Callihan playing third base. Or the Pirates can recall Nick Yorke, who can play first, second and third base and the outfield.
But the Pirates have to hope that it’s a short stint on the IL for Griffin and he can be ready to return for their next homestand.
3. Hooray for B-Rey: Bryan Reynolds is a man of few words — something that serves as a point of pride for him — but his reaction to his walk-off home run Friday night was priceless.
After connecting on a 2-2 slider from Minnesota Twins lefty Taylor Rogers, Reynolds stopped and dropped his bat to watch as the ball sailed 422 feet for a two-run homer to clinch a 6-5 win. Reynolds broke into a big smile as he rounded third base and was congratulated by Tony Beasley, then flipped off his batting helmet and jumped onto home plate, where he was mobbed by teammates.
BRYAN REYNOLDS. BALLGAME. pic.twitter.com/W8TuU7dJbn
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) May 30, 2026
It was the most animated we’ve seen from Reynolds in some time, yet his reaction was mostly understated other than allowing that he “got every bit of it” and calling it a “sick” way to end the game.
Reynolds went 8 for 31 (.478) with four doubles, two homers — one from each side of the plate — six RBIs, eight runs scored and twice as many walks (six) than strikeouts in the seven-game homestand.
“I’ve had some good drill work the past three or four days,” Reynolds said. “Just building on that and getting good pitches to hit.”
Although Reynolds has a reputation as a great June hitter — backed up by his career .326 average and .946 OPS in the month — he had a monster May. Reynolds posted a .313/.422/.510 slash line with eight doubles, a triple, three homers, 19 RBIs and 18 runs scored. As impressive, he had as many walks (17) as strikeouts.
“I know that they’ve been working hard on some different adjustments, and he is on,” Kelly said. “It’s nice when he’s on time. He’s definitely been in a really good spot. When you see him driving the ball to the gap, and then to be able to hit — and those home runs that he hit this week, lefty and righty, they weren’t front row. They were driven. And the doubles were line drives and driven in the gap. Really good to see him in the spot he’s in.”
4. Oneil is on: Oneil Cruz also had a strong homestand at the plate, going 7 for 23 (.304) with two homers, seven RBIs, five runs scored and five walks with seven strikeouts.
Much has been made of Cruz’s MLB-leading 91 strikeouts, as he’s on pace to smash the single-season record of 223 that was set by Arizona’s Mark Reynolds in 2009.
Cruz has the highest strikeout rate (35%) and second-highest whiff rate (37.6%), per Statcast, but he also has the power to hit one ball into the Allegheny River on the fly and another into the bullpen in left-center at PNC Park.
HEADS UP ON THE RIVER WALK!
450 ft. 110.8 mph exit velo pic.twitter.com/KQXz4gtuE1
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) May 29, 2026
Hey bullpen, INCOMING! ???? pic.twitter.com/yUarODsDyw
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) May 30, 2026
“There’s no doubt. Oneil is 6-7, we’re going to deal with strikeouts,” Kelly said. “There’s long levers, there’s going to be chase, and it’s the process of him continuing to work, continuing to get better, continuing to do the things that he needs to do on a daily basis to have success. Just really proud of him, the way that he’s gone about it and continues to work at it.
“And again, when you strike out as a player, you can’t hide. Everybody knows what happened, and most importantly, the player knows. He’s not going up there trying to strike out, he’s going up there trying to hit the ball into the river and continue to compete.”
Again, per Statcast, Cruz also has the best hard-hit rate (60.8%) and average exit velocity (96.2 mph) and ranks among the leaders in bat speed and barrel percentage.
After hitting .200 with 20 home runs and 61 RBIs last season, Cruz is batting .255 with 13 home runs and 41 RBIs through 58 games. He’s on a 162-game pace for 254 strikeouts but also to hit 36 homers and 115 RBIs.
Something to consider: Reynolds had 44 homers and 102 RBIs in 2009. Chris Davis hit 38 homers with 84 RBIs when he struck out 219 times in 2016, a year after he had 47 homers and 117 RBIs with 208 strikeouts for Baltimore. Adam Dunn was an All-Star with 41 homers and 96 RBIs in 2012, when he led the majors with 212 strikeouts and 105 walks for the Chicago White Sox. Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz was an All-Star in 2024, when he had 218 strikeouts but hit 25 homers with 76 RBIs. And Washington’s James Wood was an All-Star last season, when he had 221 strikeouts but hit 31 homers with 94 RBIs.
Is that a fair tradeoff for the high strikeout count?
“Yeah, they are worth it and I think the thing we always try to look at is what’s going on behind the scenes,” Kelly said. “How are we getting after it? How are we working? How are we trying to get better? And Oneil is working hard every single day and he’s going up there and you do know that there’s the opportunity for the big hit, the big home run for the production and he’s working hard and he’s going to strike out at times. How are we getting after it? Are we competing, are we working, are we doing the things that we need to do? And he certainly is.”
5. Final word: It will be interesting to hear what Mlodzinski has to say when he returns to pitching for the Pirates. He’s very cerebral and typically answers questions with refreshing candor but kept his thoughts mostly to himself this past week.
Mlodzinski doesn’t deserve to be vilified for his role in this decision, even if he acted selfishly on Sunday. He was stung, if not stunned by how the Pirates handled moving him to the bullpen, both personally and professionally.
Yes, Mlodzinski had pitched better than Chandler. But he needed to pitch like Braxton Ashcraft, who is making a case to be an All-Star with a 5-2 record and team-leading 2.77 ERA, 81 strikeouts and 74 2/3 innings pitched, to keep his spot in the rotation.
And the splits show that Mlodzinski is better in the bullpen than he is in the starting rotation, which made a difficult decision the obvious one for Kelly, Murphy and Cherington. If Mlodzinski performs at previous levels, he could be the perfect complement to rookie Wilber Dotel in the bulk relief role and help solve their bullpen woes.