The Pittsburgh Pirates have acquired first baseman Hunter Morris from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for a player to be named, the team announced. Morris spent most of the 2014 season in Triple-A, putting up a .772 OPS in the PCL over 356 plate appearances. That was during his age 25 season. He wasn’t on the 40-man roster for the Brewers, so no corresponding move will need to be made. He also wasn’t rated among Baseball America’s top 30 prospects in the Milwaukee farm system, and that’s one of the weakest systems in the game.
My guess is that Morris will play first base for Indianapolis this year. I may be reading into things too much, but that could signal what the Pirates will be doing with their MLB roster. Their current plans are to go with Deibinson Romero and Brent Morel at first and third base in Triple-A. Morris would join that mix. However, if Andrew Lambo is sent down, there would be no reason to have Morris on the roster at all. Without Lambo, the Pirates just have two third basemen splitting time at first base. My initial thought here is that this is in preparation for Lambo making the team, while giving Indianapolis a true first baseman.
