Pirates A to Z: Johan Oviedo was a workhorse but workload leads to Tommy John surgery

During the offseason, the Tribune-Review will offer Pirates A to Z, an alphabetical, player-by-player look at the 40-man roster.

Player: Johan Oviedo

Position: Pitcher

Throws: Right

Age: 25

Height: 6-foot-5

Weight: 245 pounds

2023 MLB statistics: Went 9-14 with a 4.31 ERA and 1.37 WHIP, 158 strikeouts and 83 walks in 177 2/3 innings over 32 starts.

Contract: Not eligible for arbitration until 2025.

Acquired: From the St. Louis Cardinals, along with first baseman Malcom Nunez, in exchange for pitchers Jose Quintana and Chris Stratton.

This past season: Oviedo arrived at spring training intent not only on making the Opening Day roster but earning a spot in a starting rotation that already had Mitch Keller, JT Brubaker, Roansy Contreras and free-agent signees Rich Hill and Vince Velasquez penciled in.

“I’ve always been a starter my whole life. Being a starter is what I want,” Oviedo said. “I’m not trying to think about where I’m going to be in the next months but definitely what I want to do, which is compete. I want to go out there and try to do my best.”

When Oviedo tossed three scoreless innings in a 3-0 win over the New York Yankees in a Grapefruit League game on March 4 at LECOM Park in Bradenton, Fla., he helped his cause. Oviedo threw strikes on 31 of his 41 pitches and was so efficient that he threw a bullpen session just to reach his pitch count. That the Cuban-born Oviedo did it with his parents, Lazaro and Judith, and his 18-year-old sister, Jeanine, in attendance for the first time in the majors only made it more meaningful.

“I can’t say how excited and happy I am for them here and supporting me,” Oviedo said. “They’ve always been part of my life and my career. It’s something I can’t describe.”

Oviedo got his wish for a spot in the starting rotation by default, as Brubaker was lost for the season to Tommy John surgery in April.

What followed was a rollercoaster season that saw Oviedo show signs of becoming a workhorse, albeit an inconsistent one. He allowed four earned runs on six hits and four walks in his first start, at Boston, one of 11 games in which he allowed four or more earned runs.

Oviedo followed by striking out five in 6 2/3 scoreless innings against the Chicago White Sox, the first of 14 quality starts and 15 games in which he allowed one run or fewer. He had a carer-best 10 strikeouts in a 3-0 loss at St. Louis on April 14, a feat he would match in mid-July.

Strong starts that ended in a loss became a regular result for Oviedo, who made 11 starts without a win.

Johan Oviedo with an immaculate inning. ???? pic.twitter.com/mSIyFq1DOO

— MLB (@MLB) May 24, 2023

One of them even saw him throw an immaculate inning.

That came on May 24 against the Texas Rangers, striking out the side on nine pitches in the fourth inning of a 3-2 loss. It marked the fourth immaculate inning by a Pirates pitcher since data started to be tracked by Elias Sports Bureau in 2000, but came three weeks after Pirates reliever Colin Holderman had one in the seventh on May 4 at Tampa Bay.

“It’s amazing,” Oviedo said. “It’s also great that one of my teammates did it first. Now I did it. It’s exciting. It’s really hard to do that in baseball, so I’m excited about that.”

Oviedo got Jonah Heim swinging at a slider, Robbie Grossman swinging at a curveball and Josh H. Smith looking at a called third strike on a 98 mph fastball.

“It’s crazy,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Until this year, I think I only saw two of them ever. I think it just shows the quality of the stuff our guys have.”

Today marks the only time in the modern era that 4 different MLB pitchers struck out 10+ batters but had their team lose the game on the same day (Alec Marsh, Johan Oviedo, Spencer Strider, Framber Valdez). pic.twitter.com/uHoEMNiWyS

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) July 16, 2023

Oviedo had another 10-strikeout performance result in a loss July 16, when the only hit he allowed in seven innings was a Mike Yastrzemski solo home run in a 3-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants at PNC Park.

On July 26, Oviedo finally snapped his eight-game losing streak when he held the San Diego Padres to one run on three hits and three walks in six innings in a 3-2 win.

A turning point came Aug. 6, when Oviedo tossed seven shutout innings in a 4-1 win at Milwaukee. He threw strikes on 62 of his 101 pitches and showed improved fastball command. Until then, Oviedo was leaning more heavily upon his slider, which drew a 32.6% whiff rate and accounted for 88 of his 158 strikeouts on the season.

“It’s been huge for me,” Oviedo said. “Earlier in the year, I was using more sliders than fastballs. Now, I’ve switched that up and using more four-seams so every time the breaking pitches are in the strike zone I have better results. So I’m just trying to keep it that way.”

Johan Oviedo, 2 Hit Shutout. ???? pic.twitter.com/KbZtfWr4ai

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 29, 2023

That was evident when Oviedo had his first career complete game shutout, throwing a two-hitter in a 5-0 win at Kansas City on Aug. 28. He set a career high with 112 pitches (73 for strikes), eclipsing his career mark for innings pitched in a season (154 1/3).

“I can’t really describe it, to be honest,” Oviedo said. “It’s been a crazy year, so I’m really happy the boys and I could complete this game. I just tried to get ahead, not try to think too much. I just tried to execute pitches. This is a really good team, so I tried to keep it simple.”

Oviedo joined All-Star Mitch Keller as the only Pirates to pitch a complete game in the 2023 season, and the fifth Pirates pitcher to allow two hits or fewer in a complete game shutout at PNC Park since it opened in 2001, joining Todd Ritchie, Jeff Karstens, A.J. Burnett and Jameson Taillon.

“It was awesome,” Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes said. “He kept us off the field and on the offensive side for the most part of the game. He attacked. He was able to get ahead early in the count, used all his stuff to kept them off-balance. The thing for me that stood out is he was getting ahead, whereas sometimes he’ll try to be too fine and he’ll fall behind. Tonight, he did a really good job of just attacking and making them hit his stuff. He just looked really good.”

Oviedo won six of his final 12 starts, tying Keller for the team lead with 32 starts in his first full season as a starter in the majors. Oviedo ranked second in innings and strikeouts (158) but led the Pirates in walks (83) and wild pitches (seven).

Johan Oviedo gets another K with his slider and goes 1-2-3 in the 2nd inning

85.1 MPH, 2431 RPM, 35 inVB, 7 inHB pic.twitter.com/pBRsEctS40

— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) September 27, 2023

The future: Where Oviedo proved to be a workhorse, the workload took a toll. He pitched 60 innings more than in 2022, when he threw 56 in the majors and 61 1/3 in the minors.

Oviedo encountered elbow problems and elected to undergo surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament, which will cause him to miss the 2024 season and further deplete a rotation thin on starters.