Turning relievers into starting pitchers and vice versa has become a more popular project for pitching departments to take on in past years. All it may take is one simple tweak and an organization may have the latest success story on their hands.
Seemingly every offseason, rumors swirl about relievers and starters making the transition to the other side, and the 2025-26 offseason has given us our first rumor of a pitcher doing so. This rumor, however, comes as quite the surprise, as it’s not a pitcher with a lot of stock at the moment nor one that seems like he has what it takes to make the transition at surface level. Regardless, a number of teams are reportedly in on Ryan Helsley, the former two-time All-Star for the St. Louis Cardinals, and are interested in turning him into a starting pitcher.
Tigers among clubs looking at free-agent pitcher Ryan Helsley as a starter. With @katiejwoo and @CodyStavenhagen: https://t.co/tMANHASyDO
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 23, 2025
Ryan Helsley's free-agent stock could rise with conversion to starting
Helsley is coming off of a disappointing season considering what he did from his breakout season in 2022 through 2024. He made his first 36 appearances of 2025 with the Cardinals before he was dealt to the New York Mets at the trade deadline, where he made 22 more appearances.
Prior to the trade, Helsley looked solid, although he was not on the same level of dominance from years past. He closed 21 games for St. Louis while posting a 3.00 ERA, 3.55 FIP, and a 26.1% strikeout rate. Between his three seasons prior, Helsley had a 1.83 ERA, 2.35 FIP, 34.6% strikeout rate, and 5.7 fWAR for the Cardinals—all of which ranked within the top ten among qualified relievers in that time frame.
Unfortunately for Helsley, his short stint in New York following the trade didn’t leave a pleasant taste in his mouth or the mouth of Mets fans. It was only 20 innings, but his 7.20 ERA suggests the right-hander played a large role in the Mets' collapse as they lost their playoff spot on the final day of the season. There isn’t a whole lot of “bad luck” that can be attributed to the ERA either, as his 5.19 FIP and 1.80 WHIP were career highs, while his strikeout (23.2%) and walk (11.6%) rates both trended in the wrong direction. All of this begs the question: Why are teams interested in Ryan Helsley as a starter?
The easy answer is that he has a history in starting games dating back to his amateur playing days. He spent two years at Northeastern State University where he made 21 starts across his freshman and sophomore years before he was drafted as a starter. He then advanced all the way up to Triple-A as a starter in the Cardinals farm system until he eventually transitioned to a bullpen role in 2019. With that being said, Helsley has started 69 games in his professional career. Although it has been a number of years since, he has the workload experience under his belt and isn’t a stranger to facing lineups multiple times through.
The concern with converting Helsley into a starter comes down to his weaker command and limited arsenal. At no point in his big league career has he shown above-average command, only that which has been necessary in making him successful as a high-strikeout reliever. His career walk rate is 10% compared to the league average of 9.3% for relievers. His command issues that were seemingly worse in 2025 compared to prior years yielded a lot of hard contact as well, as he gave up a career high in home runs while opponents had a 41.7% hard-hit rate and a 91.0 average exit velocity—both career highs as well.
As for the arsenal, Helsley is primarily a two-pitch pitcher, throwing a high-octane fastball and a hard slider. Successful starters that only throw two pitches are far and few between, but it has been done. However, pitching departments aren’t interested in Helsley for what he can provide as a starter with the tools as is, but rather in what they can add to a package that still has a lot of promise. He has flashed a curveball throughout his career that has found some success, and his feel for spin also suggests he could add a cutter to the mix.
Coming off of a down year and entering his age-31 season, Helsley is not going to be a costly free agent. Given the interest of a few organizations as a starter, there might be some untapped potential here that the general public is not aware of. On a one- or two-year deal, there isn’t a whole lot of risk here.
If Helsley can find success as at least an average starter, someone is getting a lot of value on a per-dollar basis. If it doesn’t work, he simply moves back to the bullpen. The biggest risk here is injury, although Helsley has been fairly clean in that department.
The Detroit Tigers are the only team that has been named that are interested in Helsley, but they are reportedly among a number of teams interested.