LOS ANGELES -- It has been about a month since Roansy Contreras moved out of the Pirates' rotation and into the bullpen in what has always been billed as a temporary move. The team views him as a starter in the long term, but the demotion was a way to try to get him on track.
And a little more than a month in, it's hard to see exactly how, or if, the right-hander is making strides to getting back to the rotation.
Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium was one of the tougher outings to watch for the Pirates' struggling 23-year-old right-hander, not just because he allowed a pair of home runs in his lone inning pitched that played a huge part in the team's 6-4 loss to the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, but because the pure stuff he possessed a year ago has just not been there, especially the fastball.
"I was just trying to find myself on the mound," a somber Contreras said via interpreter Stephen Morales. "I’m trying to find control of my fastball."
Tasked with trying to protect a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning, Contreras walked a pair to set up J.D. Martinez with a chance to put the Dodgers out in front. After fouling off the first two pitches he saw, Contreras went for a slider that Austin Hedges called for low and away, where the pitch usually gets the most whiffs and weakest contact. It didn't break, though, and was left down the center for Martinez, who didn't miss it:
"I wanted to throw it lower, but it stayed down the middle," Contreras said.
Two pitches later, Contreras came in with a 92.9 mph fastball to David Peralta. Hedges called for it high and away. This time, the pitch did cut to Contreras' glove side, albeit unintentionally and right into Peralta's wheelhouse:
The Dodgers would not surrender the lead from there, even if they needed to wriggle out of bases loaded, nobody out jams in the seventh and ninth innings to escape with the win.
Take your pick on what's worse on that second homer: The velocity or the location.
Going by FanGraphs' data, Peralta does not have a hit this year on any pitch in the part of the zone Hedges wanted the pitch. Instead, Contreras' pitch moved into Peralta's damage zone, where he has the highest slugging percentage of all pitches he's seen:
FanGraphs
Then there's the velocity. Contreras was consistently pumping 95-97 mph heaters during the first half of last season. On Wednesday, he averaged just 93 mph on his fastball, the lowest of his career in any major-league game.
Contreras' velocity has been trending down for some time now, especially since he returned from his planned midseason shutdown last season:
When asked about his decreased velocity, Contreras presented the drop in his fastball as somewhat of a personal choice.
"Right now, I’m trying to focus on controlling my fastball instead of throwing too hard," Contreras said. "My main focus is to control my fastball in the strike zone."
He didn't have that control Wednesday, as only five of his 15 fastballs thrown were in the strike zone.
And when it did catch the zone?
"It's just too much in the middle of the plate," Derek Shelton said. "Just inconsistency of the fastball is what's really standing out."
And the velocity?
"I think that's the inconsistency of the fastball that I mentioned," Shelton answered. "We have to make sure we're trying to figure out [how] to get back to not only the velo, but the execution."
When it comes to bettering that execution, the mechanics are the first area to look. It's been a work in progress for most of the season, and the reason why Contreras has stuck in the majors this long through this slump is they want him to stay with the major-league staff to try to work through those issues.
"It's in his delivery, just making sure his delivery works fast," Shelton said. "That [velocity] would be one of the things that comes out of it."
Talking with media in Dodger Stadium's visitor clubhouse postgame, Contreras talked about finding himself again. When asked if that's more mechanical or mental, he opted for the former.
"I have to continue to feel confidence with my mechanics and trust my pitches and throw them in the strike zone to get good results," Contreras said.
How does he get right? Well, it's not so simple. There's the Mitch Keller example, where he rediscovered his velocity ahead of the 2022 season, giving him a foundation for a rebound season that year and an All-Star campaign in 2023. Bringing in an outside facility could be a first step for Contreras like it was for Keller, though the team has tried that briefly.
During the Pirates' road series in Seattle in May -- right when Contreras was initially planned to be taken out of the rotation -- the team took him to Driveline Baseball, arguably the premier baseball facility around, especially when it comes to analytics and mechanics. The Pirates were trying to find out more about his delivery, especially how he was coming off the mound. How much pressure is he pushing off the pitching rubber, how is he landing. Stuff that can't necessarily be perceived by just watching the delivery.
His first outing after the trip went well. Contreras tossed two scoreless innings in his sole appearance against the Mariners with only one base runner allowed. He averaged a season-high 95.8 mph on the gun, the same speed he averaged in June and July before his shutdown last season.
Things have not gone well since. He's allowed 25 runs -- including six home runs -- over 16 1/3 innings since that outing. As a reliever, he's allowed 13 runs across 12 innings. Contreras has appeared in 14 games since the start of May, and the Pirates have lost 12 of them. He took the loss in six of them.
It can get demoralizing after a while. It's why Contreras is trying to keep his head up.
"Not lose confidence in myself and trust the work that I’ve been doing so far," Contreras said.
But this could have potentially been an outing to help Contreras back into the rotation after Luis Ortiz was optioned to the minors before the game. It would be hard to justify that at this point.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 10-day injured list: 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes (back), 2B Ji Hwan Bae (ankle)
• 15-day injured list: LHP Jose Hernandez (calf), LHP Rob Zastryzny (forearm)
• 60-day injured list: SS Oneil Cruz (ankle), 1B Ji-Man Choi (Achilles), RHP Wil Crowe (shoulder), RHP JT Brubaker (elbow), LHP Jarlin Garcia (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), RHP Vince Velasquez (elbow)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Andrew McCutchen, DH
2. Bryan Reynolds, LF
3. Henry Davis, RF
4. Carlos Santana, 1B
5. Jack Suwinski, CF
6. Nick Gonzales, 2B
7. Tucupita Marcano, SS
8. Jared Triolo, 3B
9. Austin Hedges, C
And for Dave Robert's Dodgers:
1. Mookie Betts, 2B
2. Freddie Freeman, 1B
3. Will Smith, C
4. Max Muncy, 3B
5. J.D. Martinez, DH
6. David Peralta, LF
7. Jason Heyward, RF
8. James Outman, CF
9. Miguel Rojas, SS
THE SCHEDULE
Johan Oviedo (3-9, 4.61) will try to break his five-game losing streak Thursday. The Dodgers will send Julio Urias (5-5, 4.94) to try to take the four-game series. I'll have you covered.
THE MULTIMEDIA
THE CONTENT
Visit our team feed for all the latest around the clock and our team page for everything else.
