BRADENTON, Fla. -- One by one, they came to Pittsburgh from Class AAA Indianapolis, a stream of young and, by many accounts, highly promising right-handed relievers.

And, as quickly as they came, they were sent right back.

Josh Sharpless?

Up in May, back in June.

Brian Rogers?

Up in late May, back five days later.

Jonah Bayliss?

Made the team out of spring training, back in Indianapolis two months later.

Previous management often spoke with pride of its young right-handed relief but, all told, the only one promoted from Indianapolis who made a positive impression was Franquelis Osoria. The other three combined for a 9.00 ERA and, most glaring, 13 home runs allowed in 44 innings.

Pirates pitching coach Jeff Andrews, who last year filled that role with Indianapolis, advised patience.

"Very rarely do you have guys go up to the majors and do well immediately," he said. "All of a sudden, we throw you in front of more people than you've ever seen in a stadium and the best hitters you've ever seen in your life. Now, go get 'em out. You're fighting nerves, fighting those do-I-belong-here thoughts ... what's important is how they come out of it, to see if they still have the fire to go back up and do it again."

New general manager Neal Huntington and everyone in management are adamant that the Pirates have not given up on Sharpless, Rogers or Bayliss. Still, Huntington removed Sharpless and Rogers from the 40-man roster in the offseason -- each cleared waivers -- even as he added a dozen more relievers in their age bracket to restock the pool.

Clearly, all three must push their way back to the front of the line.

"The key for all of us is to maintain mental strength," Bayliss said. "It takes a lot out of you when you come up, then get sent back down. It's a real blow. But what you do almost right away is to get back to thinking, 'OK, what did I do to get there in the first place?' "

Sharpless' fall might have been the hardest.

A 27-year-old Freedom native, he was one of the Pirates' two representatives in the All-Star Futures Game at PNC Park two years ago. He was promoted to Pittsburgh for the first time late that summer and put up a 1.50 ERA in 14 appearances.

He reported to camp last spring widely presumed to have a bullpen spot locked up, but he began spraying his fastball last spring and was among the earliest cuts. In his one brief stint in the majors, he had a 12.46 ERA.

"They tried to change my mechanics in the spring," Sharpless said, referring to previous pitching coach Jim Colborn. "I got away from some of my strengths, and I needed to get that back."

He spent much of this offseason working with Washington & Jefferson College coach Jeff Mountain, his former teammate at Allegheny College, and the results there with the fastball had him encouraged.

"I just need to make sure I'm not falling behind hitters, 2-0," Sharpless said. "Just attack hitters, like Matt Capps."

That approach was far from evident yesterday, when Sharpless was wild in the Pirates' 5-0 exhibition blanking of Manatee Community College at McKechnie Field. He walked the leadoff man, then got some generous, chasing swings from the college batters to bail him out with a scoreless inning.

Rogers, 25, was the prospect acquired two years ago from the Detroit Tigers in the Sean Casey trade, and he has been bumping his head on the Class AAA ceiling since: He had a 1.08 ERA with Indianapolis in 2006, a 3.05 last year. But each of his two promotions has been a bust, with a cumulative 9.28 ERA.

In the last of Rogers' three outings last year, May 26 in Cincinnati, Edwin Encarnacion and Alex Gonzalez took him deep in the ninth inning, prompting then-manager Jim Tracy -- furious that he had to use his closer to protect what now was a 9-5 lead -- to sprint out of the dugout to take the ball. Rogers was driving to Indianapolis the next morning, a 13.50 ERA in tow.

"I probably wasn't ready mentally to go up there because of some issues I had to deal with," Rogers said without specifying. "But I felt like I fought through it as the year went on in Indy, and I was at my best toward the end. I finally shut those bad things out."

Rogers is adding a two-seam fastball to his repertoire this year. His regular fastball cuts in on left-handed batters, and this one, he hopes, will have the same effect on right-handed batters.

"New management, new year," he said. "Let's start over."

Bayliss, 27, had an exemplary spring, then held batters to four hits in 26 at-bats through April. But May brought a 10.13 ERA and a demotion.

He was summoned back in August, but only because the team was running low on options, and wound up with an 8.36 ERA and eight home runs in 38 innings.

"A huge disappointment," Bayliss called it. "I started off all right, but that snowball that got going about midway through, and it just kept going and going. If you don't put that fastball where you want in the majors, someone's going to get a hold of it."

As with the other two, Bayliss' fastball has good movement, which can make it hard to harness. That has been the focus of work he and Andrews have done this spring, and Andrews recently singled out Bayliss for praise in that regard.

Rogers and Bayliss each pitched a scoreless inning yesterday.