The Pittsburgh Pirates have released both Drew and Beau Maggi. Drew was the 15th round draft in 2010, who signed for a $468,000 bonus. His younger brother Beau was signed as catching depth early last month.
The move to release Drew Maggi is an interesting one based on how well he performed last year and the bonus the Pirates paid to sign him as a draft-eligible sophomore out of Arizona State. Last year for Altoona, Drew played 110 games for Altoona and put up a .382 OBP, along with 37 stolen bases. He showed strong plate patience and contact skills, posting a 50:58 BB/SO ratio. He also played all four infield positions and both corner outfield spots.
Beau was a 24th round pick of the Royals and played just 70 games over three seasons. He looked like he would be catching depth at any level from AA down, basically wherever they needed him.
We pointed out earlier in the off-season that there was at least 150 players for the 100 roster spots from Indianapolis down to West Virginia(Power). There was bound to be some players released and while Drew Maggi seems like a tough player to let go, there are a lot of AAA-type position players in the organization, so he would have likely returned to Altoona as a super utility player if he stuck around. There are players like Andy Vasquez and Kelson Brown that could also fill that same role. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him latch on to another team soon.
