Kyle Nicolas #7

Pitched collegiately at Ball State University...attended Jackson High School in his hometown of Massillon, Ohio, where as a senior in 2017 was recognized as Prep Baseball Report’s Ohio Player of the Year, a First-Team All-State selection, and the Federal League Co-Player of the Year...his father, Todd, played baseball at Youngstown State University...his uncle, Todd Blackledge, played football at Penn State University and is currently a college football broadcaster for NBC.

2025

Split the year between the Pirates and AAA-Indianapolis...pitched in 31 games with Pittsburgh across three stints...Posted a career-long 11-inning scoreless streak with Pittsburgh from 8/16-9/9...Earned his lone win with the Pirates on 8/8 vs Cin, recording two strikeouts as part of a scoreless eighth inning...Posted six scoreless relief appearances of 2.0+ innings from 8/1 (day of final recall) through the end of the regular season, tied for sixth-most among all Major League pitchers during that time...Ended the year on a 6.1-inning scoreless streak from 9/15-9/26.

2024

Began season with Indianapolis, where he posted a 0.84 ERA (10.2ip/1er), 13 strikeouts and one save in nine appearances...Picked up his lone save (third career) in his second appearance on 3/31 at Louisville...Was recalled on 4/26...Made his first appearance with the Pirates on 4/28 at San Francisco and struck out two of the three batters he faced...Issued three bases-loaded walks (threw 13 straight balls) and was charged with four runs in 0.2ip on 5/11 vs. Chicago (NL)...Suffered his first big-league loss in the 14th inning on 5/31 at Toronto...Struck out five straight batters while tossing 2.0 scoreless innings on 6/12 at St. Louis... Faced one batter in the 10th inning; surrendered a walk-off hit and suffered his second loss on 6/29 at Atlanta...Posted a 2.57 ERA (14.0ip/4er) in 10 appearances during the month of June...Retired all four batters he faced while winning his first Major League game on 7/13 at Chicago (AL)…Posted a 0.84 ERA (10.2ip/1er) in 10 games during the month of July and a 0.51 ERA (17.2ip/1er) in 15 games from 6/23 thru 8/3... Tossed 2.0 scoreless innings and won his second game on 8/3 vs. Arizona...Left the game on 9/16 at St. Louis (0.0ip/1er) with an injury after throwing five pitches and walking the only batter he faced...Was placed on the 15-day injured list on 9/18 (retro to 9/17) with a left oblique strain and missed the remainder of the season.

2023

Went 4-7 with two saves, a 5.20 ERA (98.2ip/57er) and 127 strikeouts in 35 games (18 starts) between Altoona and Indianapolis…Ranked fourth among Pittsburgh farmhands with 127 strikeouts…Began season in the starting rotation with Altoona…Struck out a season-high 10 batters while suffering a loss on 5/2 at Richmond (5.0ip/5er)…Went 2-3 with a 3.86 ERA (28.0ip/13r/12er) and 40 strikeouts in six starts during the month of May...His 40 strikeouts during the month of May led all Eastern League pitchers…Went 3-5 with a 4.36 ERA (53.2ip/34r/26er) and 63 strikeouts in 12 starts with Altoona prior to being promoted to Indianapolis on 6/16…Made his first Triple-A start on 6/17 at Iowa (4.0ip/5er)…Struck out nine batters in relief on 6/30 at Louisville, which tied Osvaldo Bido (April 16) for the most strikeouts by an Indianapolis relief pitcher in Victory Field history (since 1996)…Picked up his first Triple-A win on 8/1 at Gwinnett…Went 1-0 with a 1.76 ERA (15.1ip/3er) and a .118 batting average against (6-for-51) in 10 relief appearances in August…Made seven straight scoreless outings from 8/15-31 (8.1ip)…Closed out a 4-1 win on 9/7 vs. Toledo and picked up his first professional save…Struck out at least one batter in all 17 of his relief appearances (42 strikeouts in 27.0ip) between Altoona and Indianapolis…Was selected to the big league roster on 9/19 and made his Major League debut on 9/19 at Chicago (NL).

2022

Attended spring training as a non-roster invitee before going on to spend the entire season with Double-A Altoona…Finished fourth among all Pirates Minor Leaguers in ERA with at least 90.0 innings pitched and 12th among all Pirates Minor Leaguers in strikeouts…Was one of three Curve pitchers with at least 100 strikeouts along with Carmen Mlodzinski and Luis Ortiz…Tossed 8.2 scoreless innings to begin the season, holding opponents to an .077 batting average against before allowing six runs on six hits in the second inning of his third start on 4/23… Threw 5.0 scoreless innings on 4/29 at Akron pitching in front of dozens of family and friends at Canal Park from his native Massilon, Ohio…Threw 14.2 scoreless innings in road games to start the year…His 31 strikeouts in May were tied for the sixth-most in the Eastern League…Was placed on the injured list on 6/4 (shoulder) and activated on 6/25 (was the first time in his life that he missed a start due to injury)…Was placed on the temporary inactive list on 7/1 to be the best man in his older brother’s wedding…Allowed just two baserunners in a season-best 6.0 inning outing on 8/10 at Binghamton.

2021

Entered season ranked as Miami’s 19th-best prospect according to MLB Pipeline...Attended spring training as a non-roster invitee with Miami...Led all Marlins farmhands in strikeouts (136) during his first professional season...Ranked 13th in strikeouts among all pitchers in MiLB 22-years-old or younger according to FanGraphs... Went 6-4 with a 4.18 ERA (99.0ip/46er) and a .216 batting average against in 21 combined appearances (20 starts) between High-A Beloit and Double-A Pensacola... Allowed one run in 5.0 innings while striking out eight batters to earn the win in his professional debut on 5/6 at Wisconsin...Struck out a career-high 11 batters on 5/28 vs. Peoria...Recorded his second and final double-digit strikeout performance in final start with Beloit on 7/20 (10 Ks)...Was promoted to Pensacola on 7/21...Tossed 5.0 scoreless innings but came away with a no-decision in his Double-A debut on 7/27 vs. Mississippi...Made back-to-back starts of 5.0 innings without allowing a run on 8/17 vs. Biloxi and 8/24 at Mississippi...Went 3-1 with a 2.10 ERA (25.2ip/6er), 31 strikeouts and a .151 batting average against in five starts during the month of August.

2020

Selected by the Marlins in the second round (61st overall) of the 2020 Draft out of Ball State University.