Kyle

Nicolas

Nicolas was acquired at the start of March for Tyler Calihan, and the 27-year-old will somewhat surprisingly not open the year as a part of the Cincinnat bullpen. It’s likely he’ll be one of the first arms up when the Reds need reinforcement.

Nicolas fortifies Cincinnati’s middle relief depth in exchange for Callihan, a utility specialist coming off a major injury without a spot on the club’s big-league roster heading into the regular season. The hard-throwing 27-year-old righty is consistently in the upper-90’s with his fastball and has struck out 22 percent of the batters he’s faced in the big leagues since 2023. He posted a pedestrian 4.74 ERA — 4.14 xERA — 1.37 WHIP and 34/18 K/BB ratio across 38 innings over 31 appearances for the Pirates last year.

Nicolas will rejoin the bullpen. He has a 5.14 ERA in 28 innings for the Pirates.

The 26-year-old hurler is expected to miss the team’s entire weekend series against the Red Sox in Boston. Evan Sisk was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis in a corresponding move to take his place in the Pirates’ bullpen.

Nicolas was summoned prior to Friday’s series opener against the Rockies. He’ll occupy a bullpen role for the final two months of the season.

Nicolas has a 7.50 ERA in 12 innings out of the bullpen for Pittsburgh this season. The team will use Carmen Mlodzinski out of the pen instead.

Nicolas will take the bullpen spot of Tanner Rainey, who was DFA’d on Monday. He had a 10.57 ERA over 7 2/3 innings before being sent down a month ago.

Nicolas heads back to the minors to make room for Dennis Santana to return from the bereavement list. The 26-year-old righty has struggled this season in seven relief appearances for the Pirates.

As anticipated, Nicolas gets the call to join the Pirates’ bullpen after Thomas Harrington was optioned out on Thursday. Nicolas made 51 appearances out of the Bucs’ bullpen in 2024, compiling a 3.95 ERA, 1.50 WHIP and a 55/31 K/BB ratio across 54 2/3 innings. He’ll function in a middle relief role for manager Derek Shelton.

The 26-year-old hurler did a nice job out of the Pirates’ bullpen in 2024, compiling a 3.95 ERA, 1.50 WHIP and a 55/31 K/BB ratio over 54 2/3 innings in his 51 appearances, so it was surprising when he was left out of the Opening Day bullpen as spring camp broke. He’ll take the roster spot that was vacated when Thomas Harrington was optioned to Triple-A.