Pittsburgh Pirates right-handed pitcher Johan Oviedo will make $850,000 in 2025 as a result of the first salary arbitration hearing of the year.
Oviedo, who sought a raise from $765,000 to $1.15 million, had his case heard Tuesday.
Arbitrators ruled Wednesday in favor of the Pirates, who counter-offered at $850,000.
Oviedo, who turns 27 on March 2, missed all of last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in February.
Before requiring surgery, Oviedo was a strong candidate to earn a rotation spot for the Pirates out of spring training.
In 2023, he showed flashes, going 9-14 with a 4.31 ERA, tying Mitch Keller for most starts (32) and striking out 158 in 1772⁄3 innings.
Oviedo arrived in Pittsburgh in August 2022 as part of the return package from St. Louis for Jose Quintana and quickly got to work as a starter with the Pirates.
Over seven starts in 2022, he went 2-2 with a 3.23 ERA.
While Oviedo’s overall health has yet to be formally determined, spring training will begin during the usual window of Tommy John recovery time (12-18 months) for the 6-foot-5 Havana, Cuba, native.
Should Oviedo be at full health, he likely will be in the midst of competition for a starter’s gig with the Pirates, who return Keller, Jared Jones, Paul Skenes and Bailey Falter from last year’s staff.
Another young hopeful looking to earn a spot in the rotation, as Jones did in 2024, is Bubba Chandler, the Pirates’ top prospect (No. 15 across baseball), per MLB Pipeline.
Before being injured, Oviedo had been utilized exclusively as a starter with the Pirates, though 14 of his 72 career MLB appearances have been out of the bullpen, primarily in 2022 with the Cardinals.
It’s too early to tell how Oviedo might expect to be deployed in spring training and beyond, but a parallel might exist with Luis Ortiz, whom the Pirates traded away in the Spencer Horwitz deal in December.
Ortiz was a candidate for a rotation spot didn’t get one out of spring and instead began last season as a reliever before the Pirates went on to use him in a hybrid role as the season progressed.
