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Minor Moves: Trey Haley Sent Outright to Indianapolis, Buckner Released

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have sent reliever Trey Haley outright to Indianapolis. Haley was designated for assignment when the Pirates acquired catcher Erik Kratz last week. He cleared waivers and will return to Indianapolis, where he had a devilishly poor 6.66 ERA in 24.1 innings, with 20 walks and 19 strikeouts. Haley has the ability to hit high-90s with his fastball and has looked good on a few occasions, but the poor outings have outweighed the good to this point.

The Pirates also released outfielder Nick Buckner today. He signed an over-slot deal ($135,000) as a 14th round pick in the 2013 draft. Buckner has great raw power and a strong arm, but his long swing led to a lot of strikeouts. He repeated Bristol last year, still just shy of his 20th birthday at the start of the season. He had a .685 OPS, with 53 strikeouts in 167 at-bats, seeing slightly less playing time than in 2014. That OPS was below the .712 mark he had the previous season.

Finally, former pitcher Matt Benedict has moved into the front office for the Pirates, taking a Baseball Operations position. He played five years in the system, topping out at Indianapolis. Benedict was a 30th round draft pick in 2011. He was released as a player at the end of Spring Training this year.

John Dreker
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.

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