The Pittsburgh Pirates have announced the signing of catcher Omir Santos to a minor league deal that comes with an invite to Spring Training. The 32-year-old has played parts of five seasons in the majors, spending this last year with the Cleveland Indians. He played just one game in the majors last year, spending the rest of the season in AAA, where he had a .639 OPS in 61 games. In his major league career, he has a .248/.280/.363 slash line in 122 games. Twice while in the New York Yankees system(2004/05), Baseball America rated him as the best defensive catcher in their farm system. He has thrown out 25% of attempted base stealers in the majors. Santos gives the Pirates another veteran depth option behind the plate. He will likely start the year at AAA.
Pirates Sign Omir Santos
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
