{"id":79317,"date":"2026-01-06T15:43:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T15:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/79317\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T15:43:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T15:43:21","slug":"pirates-all-40-isaac-mattson-emerges-as-key-piece-of-bullpen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/79317\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirates All 40: Isaac Mattson Emerges as Key Piece of Bullpen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1120\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Mattson-1120x630.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium tpd-force-16x9-aspect-ratio wp-post-image\" alt=\"Isaac Mattson, Pittsburgh Pirates\" decoding=\"sync\" loading=\"eager\"   fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>Photo provided by Matt Lynch\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>This is one in a series breaking down players on the Pittsburgh Pirates\u2019 40-man roster.<\/p>\n<p>Isaac Mattson has to wait three years for his second chance in the big leagues.<\/p>\n<p>The right-hander first debuted with the Baltimore Orioles in 2021, when he made made four appearances and allowed three runs. <\/p>\n<p>After making pit stops pitching in the minor leagues for the Orioles, Minnesota Twins and even the Washington Wild Things in the Independent League, Mattson signed a minor-league contract with the Pirates ahead of the 2024 season.<\/p>\n<p>Mattson pitched well with Triple-A Indianapolis and made his awaited return to a big-league mound. He made three appearances with the Pirates that year and allowed three runs on one hit with five walks and six strikeouts.<\/p>\n<p>Mattson remained with the Pirates for the 2025 season and began the year back at Triple-A. But he was promoted to Pittsburgh on May 20, and despite being sent back down briefly later in the month, spent the rest of the season in the big leagues.<\/p>\n<p>Not only did the 30-year-old get used heavily by manager Don Kelly, but he was extremely effective and became an unexpected leverage option late in games and in big spots.<\/p>\n<p>Mattson totaled 44 appearances out of the bullpen for the Pirates on the season and went 3-3 with a 2.45 ERA. He held opponents to a .203 batting average and a .600 OPS, walked 19 and struck out 45. <\/p>\n<p>A product of the University of Pittsburgh, Mattson\u2019s success with the city\u2019s big-leagues team has him poised to once again be a key component of the bullpen in 2026. <\/p>\n<p>The Pirates have added a pair of left-handers into the mix in Gregory Soto (signed as a free agent) and Mason Montgomery (acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays), but could still be looking for a right-handed leverage option. If they are unable to bring another back-end option into the mix, Mattson could be viewed as someone who can be used even more in that role.<\/p>\n<p>Even if the Pirates to add another leverage reliever, Mattson could again find handling the big moments if he\u2019s able to replicate his success this coming season.  <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned in this article: <a href=\"https:\/\/pittsburghbaseballnow.com\/tag\/isaac-mattson\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Isaac Mattson<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/pittsburghbaseballnow.com\/tag\/pittsburgh-pirates\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"categories\">More about: <a href=\"https:\/\/pittsburghbaseballnow.com\/pittsburgh-pirates\/\" rel=\"tag nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pirates<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo provided by Matt Lynch This is one in a series breaking down players on the Pittsburgh Pirates\u2019&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[40353,73,75,74,10997],"class_list":["post-79317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-isaac-mattson","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-pirates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}