Rob Scahill

The Pirates surprisingly gave Scahill a bullpen spot after a strong spring training when he beat out 2014 surprise John Holdzkom. Acquired from Colorado last offseason, the right-hander made all but four of his 28 appearances prior to going on the DL with forearm soreness in June. He compiled a 2.64 ERA but walked 16 batters in 30.2 innings - a 4.57 FIP probably gives a better indication of Scahill’s performance. He throws fairly hard (93.6 mph), but the 29-year-old control struggles limit his upside.

Foiled in his bid to win a relief job with the Rockies out of spring training, Scahill saw the bulk of his duties at Triple-A Colorado Springs for the third straight season, serving primarily as a long man. While there, the 28-year-old did an adequate job of striking out batters and limiting his walks, but was much less impressive across his four callup periods with the Rockies. He yielded a 4.80 ERA (6.27 FIP) over 15 innings, with a drop in control and some untimely home runs allowed serving as the primary culprits. After watching Scahill make little progress in becoming an effective big leaguer, the Rockies dealt him to the Pirates in November. He’ll likely see time in the majors at some point in 2015, but at this stage of his career, Scahill doesn’t look like much more than a replacement-level bullpen talent, which figures to keep him constantly on the fringe of a given team’s 40-man roster.

Scahill split last season between Triple-A Colorado Springs and the parent club, proving to be very hittable at both levels. While Scahill has enjoyed only modest success since transitioning to relief duty to quicken his arrival to the majors, his previous experience as a starter makes him one of the more versatile members of the Rockies’ bullpen. Due to his ability to cover multiple innings, Scahill figures to occupy an unglamorous middle-inning relief role for the Rockies, with much of his work coming in low-leverage situations. In other words, fantasy purgatory.

Scahill was mostly an innings-eater at Triple-A Colorado Springs last season, striking out a career-high 9.4 K/9, but not without giving up an alarming 4.4 BB/9. He did manage to get a callup to the Rockies late in the season and will be angling to break camp this season as a long reliever with the big club. Scahill boasts a mid-90s fastball and a quality sinker, but if he fails to control the strike zone with regularity, he will have little chance at sticking in the majors.