Kyle Nicolas’ fastball gets help from breaking ball

Kyle Nicolas nearly touched 99 mph in February, yet the Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed reliever wanted to talk not about his fastball but the breaking balls he worked all winter to refine.

Nicolas spent the offseason sharpening his curveball and slider, knowing that they could be the key to success for his four-seamer. That started with softening his curveball, which had a fiveinch break to glove side.

“Last year it was hard and not as big as a normal curveball,” Nicolas said. “It was a little harder to control. I was just trying to throw it as hard as I could. Realizing it now that I want it to be in the zone more. I want to be able to land it whenever I want.”

There was no shortage of motivation for Nicolas to improve his secondary pitches, after he had a 12.8% walk rate and averaged 5.1 walks per nine innings last season. Nicolas knew that he could pair his curveball with his fastball, which plays at the top of the strike zone, and the speed difference would better balance his repertoire.

“You’re always trying to find pitches that play well together,” Nicolas said. “I recognize that my heater at the top and curveball pair well with each other. Even the heaters that I miss three balls above the zone, I can play the curveball off that and have it end up in the zone. It’s just something I wanted to work on to be able to land it in the zone more to be more consistent and limit the free bases.”

First, Nicolas had to get healthy. He finished last season on the 15-day injured list with a left oblique strain, so he was shut down in mid-September and didn’t throw for about a month. He was on the mound by December, getting his arm in shape a few weeks earlier than normal to start pitching again.

That benefited his fastball, which touched 98.8 against the Atlanta Braves in his second appearance of spring training. That’s better than his velocity last season (97.4), which ranked in the 94th percentile per Statcast.

“It’s always good to be throwing hard. It’s good that it doesn’t feel like I’m really pushing for it,” Nicolas said. “It’s coming out of the hand good. I’m not trying to force the velo. If I try to throw harder, it might come out slower. I just think my body and my mechanics are in a good spot. I feel more free on the mound and less robotic, so things are coming out better.”

Nicolas has more walks (four) than strikeouts (three) but has yet to allow an earned run in four Grapefruit League games. He retired the side in order Thursday night against the Baltimore Orioles, sandwiching strikeouts of Daz Cameron and Terrin Vavra around a Nick Gordon groundout to earn the victory in the 9-5 win.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton is impressed with what he’s seen from Nicolas, who went 2-2 with a 3.95 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in 54 2/3 innings over 51 appearances as a rookie last season.

Those numbers were skewed by his 8-plus ERA in both May and September. In between, Nicolas posted a 2.43 ERA and held opponents to a .239 batting average in 32 appearances from June through August.

“I really like where his delivery is at. I know he’s worked really hard at it, and he looks a little more fluid,” Shelton said. “He has the ability to be a leverage back-end reliever with how good his stuff is. We just have to make sure there’s consistency to it. Sometimes, that comes during your next year in the big leagues. Your rookie year, it’s a challenge to stay that consistent, but I think that’s what we’re looking for there.

“Anybody that goes through a full major league season, it’s one of the things that we need guys to finish the year. We need them to feel what it’s like to pitch in September and October because as you continue to do that you have a better idea of how you have to train in the offseason and how you have to take care of your body during the season.”

Nicolas did just that. Now, he’s trying to carve out a role in the bullpen. He finished 20 games last season but Pirates catchers raved about his pitch repertoire, saying that he has closer stuff. For now, Nicolas isn’t worried about what he can’t control.

“I’m going to go out and do the best I can in whatever role that is, I’m going to embrace it,” Nicolas said. “Obviously, we have the dudes that have the experience in the back end of the bullpen. You want to be in that spot, but they have a lot of experience and they know what they’re doing and they do it very well. So, I’m not really worried about the role, as long as we’re winning games and I’m able to contribute. That’s really all that matters.”