Carmen Alexander Mlodzinski (ma-JINSK-ee)...Grew up playing shortstop before beginning to pitch during his junior year of high school...Is a 2017 graduate of Hilton Head (S.C.) High School...Was a Rawlings-Perfect Game honorable mention All-American and Atlantic All-Region first-team selection in 2017...Was ranked as the top prep player in the state of South Carolina by Perfect Game and was the South Carolina 4A Player-of-the-Year in 2017...Was also ranked as a Baseball America Top 500 prospect for the 2017 MLB Draft...Was rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 21 prospect in the 2020 First-Year Player Draft...Went 2-0 with a 2.15 ERA (29.1ip/7er) and 40 strikeouts in six starts while pitching for the Falmouth Commodores in the Cape Cod League in 2019... Was tabbed as the top pitching prospect in the Cape Cod League in 2019 by Baseball America... Pitched at the University of South Carolina... Made three starts in 2019 as the No. 1 starter before suffering a broken left foot that ended his season on March 1...Went 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA (25.1ip/8er) and 22 strikeouts in four starts as a redshirt sophomore in 2020... Was one of 55 players named to the 2020 pre-season Golden Spikes Award (nation’s top amateur player) watch list...Became the highest member of the University of South Carolina selected in the draft since Clarke Schmidt went 16th overall to the Yankees in 2017... Signed by Pirates scout Cam Murphy.
2024
Began season on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation...Began a rehab assignment with Bradenton on 4/5...Had rehab transferred to Indianapolis on 4/9...Was returned from rehab, reinstated from the I.L. and optioned to Indianapolis on 4/10...Went 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA (17.1ip/13er) in 13 games (including two on rehab) before being recalled on 5/15...Made his season debut with the Pirates on 5/17 at Chicago (NL) and gave up two runs in 1.2ip (threw a career-high 48 pitches)…Started the game on 6/8 vs. Minnesota and tossed 1.2 scoreless innings...Retired all five betters he faced in relief on 6/16 at Colorado and picked up his first win of the season...Made six straight scoreless outings from 6/25 thru 7/12 (8.1ip)…Was placed on the 15- day injured list on 7/30 with a right shoulder strain...Made three rehab appearances (3.1ip/3er) with Indy between 8/20- 25 before being returned from rehab and reinstated from the I.L. on 8/27...Posted a 1.98 ERA (13.2ip/3er) over his final 12 appearances with the Pirates, beginning on 9/3...Won three games in his 12 outings in September...Went 0-1 with a 1.42 ERA (6.1ip/1er) in four games while serving as the “opener”.
2023
Began season in the bullpen with Indianapolis...Went 2-1 with a 2.53 ERA (10.2ip/3er) and 14 strikeouts in eight appearances during the month of May…Picked up his first professional save on 6/13 at Iowa… Was scored upon just once in eight games from 5/14 thru 6/13 (10.2ip/1er)…Posted a 3.16 ERA (25.2ip/9er) and 31 strikeouts in 19 relief appearances thru 6/13…Was selected to the Major League roster on 6/16…Made his Major League debut on 6/16 at Milwaukee; struck out two batters and gave up one run in 1.1ip…Retired all four batters he faced on 6/18 at Milwaukee…Pitched the final 2.0 scoreless innings in the 8-7 walk-off win vs. Milwaukee on 6/30 and won his first Major League game…Made his first big league start on 7/9 at Arizona and was charged with one unearned run in 1.1ip (29 pitches)…Struck out three batters while pitching 1.2 scoreless frames on 7/22 at Los Angeles (AL)…Threw just one pitch on 7/28 vs. Philadelphia; entered the game with the bases loaded and two outs and induced Bryce Harper to line out to end the inning…Posted a 0.82 ERA (11.0ip/1er) and .158 batting average against (6-for-38) in 10 games during the month of July…Was placed on the 15- day injured list on 8/12 (retro to 8/10) with right elbow soreness…Began a rehab assignment with Indianapolis on 8/29; allowed an unearned run in 1.0ip that night at Buffalo…Returned from rehab and was reinstated from the I.L. on 9/1; tossed a scoreless inning that night at St. Louis… Made six straight scoreless appearances - and five straight hitless outings - from 9/12-22 (5.1ip)…Earned his first Major League save on 9/23 at Cincinnati in Pittsburgh’s historic 13-12 comeback win…Posted a 1.88 ERA (24.0ip/5er) over his last 24 appearances, dating back to 7/18…Made a team-high 14 appearances during the month of September/ October and posted a 2.19 ERA (12.1ip/3er).
2022
Attended spring training as a non-roster invitee before going on to spend the entire season with Double-A Altoona…Finished the season tied for 11th among Pirates Minor Leaguers in strikeouts along with Mike Burrows…Was one of eight Pirates Minor Leaguers to throw 100 innings and one of three members of Altoona’s pitching staff with at least 100 strikeouts along with Kyle Nicolas and Luis Ortiz…Allowed two earned runs or fewer in 18 of his 27 outings…Was Altoona’s Opening Day starter on 4/8 vs. Harrisburg, suffering the loss while allowing five runs in 3.1 innings…Was placed on the injured list (shoulder) on 5/12 (retro to 5/11) before returning to action on 5/19… Allowed one run or fewer in five of his eight starts from 4/28 to 6/11, posting a 3.18 ERA (31.0ip/11er) during the stretch…Made the shortest start of his career (0.2ip) on 6/17 vs. Erie, throwing 36 pitches (23 strikes)…Matched the longest start of his career with 6.0 innings on 6/29 vs. Harrisburg while earning his first win of the season (also matched his career-high with eight strikeouts)…Posted a 2.81 ERA (25.2ip/8er) over six appearances (five starts) from 6/5 to 7/6.
2021
Entered season ranked by MLB Pipeline as Pittsburgh’s 10th-best prospect...Began season with High-A Greensboro, where he had a 1.72 ERA (31.1ip/6er), a .186 batting average against and a 0.96 WHIP after his first seven starts...Struck out four batters while not allowing a hit in 3.0 scoreless innings in his professional debut on 5/9 vs. Hickory...Struck out eight batters over 5.0 scoreless innings while earning his first career win on 5/30 vs. Wilmington...Lowered his ERA to 0.55 (16.1ip/1er) after tossing 5.0 scoreless innings on 6/6 vs. Winston-Salem... Recorded second and final win on 6/26 vs. Greenville (6.0ip/1er)...Was placed on the seven-day injured list on 7/12 due to right shoulder soreness...Was activated from the injured list on 8/14 and worked 2.0 scoreless innings in his start on 8/15 vs. Winston-Salem (game 1)... Was promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis on 9/30...Made first professional relief appearance and allowed two runs (1er) in his final outing on 10/3 vs. Nashville...Struck out in lone plate appearance on 10/3 vs. Nashville...Went 1-0 with one save and a 4.91 ERA (11.0ip/6er) in seven relief appearances for Peoria in the Arizona Fall League.
