The Pittsburgh Pirates announced on Sunday night that they have acquired 1B/OF Connor Joe from the Colorado Rockies for right-handed pitcher Nick Garcia. To make room on the 40-man roster, right-handed pitcher Nick Mears has been designated for assignment.
Joe was originally drafted by the Pirates 39th overall in the 2014 draft. He was traded away in 2017 when they acquired Sean Rodriguez from the Atlanta Braves.
The 30-year-old Joe didn’t debut in the majors until 2019, and he didn’t stick in the majors until 2021. He played eight games for the 2019 San Diego Padres, didn’t play in 2020, then signed with the Rockies for the 2021 season.
Joe hit .285/.379/.469 in 65 games in 2021. He saw much more time in 2022, finishing with a .238/.338/.359 slash line in 111 games.
As you would expect, he was helped a great deal by playing in Colorado, putting up a career .823 OPS at home and .649 on the road. The right-handed hitting Joe has also had more success against lefty pitchers, though not as big of a split as his home/road numbers.
Most of his time on defense in the majors has been spent in left field, but he has also played first base each of the last two years, and he added right field to his resume in 2022. He was given an -0.1 dWAR in 2022, but he’s been credited with 0.4 dWAR over his big league time.
Nick Garcia had a strong season for Greensboro this year, putting together a 3.66 ERA, a 1.20 WHIP and 109 strikeouts in 113 innings. He made 12 of his 23 starts at a high-offense home park. The 23-year-old was a third round pick of the Pirates in the 2020 draft. Anthony Murphy wrote about him last month.
Mears was injured and/or rehabbing for most of 2022. His big league time was limited to two late-season games. The 26-year-old has a 4.75 ERA, a 5.71 FIP, a 1.68 WHIP and 32 strikeouts in 30.1 innings over three seasons with the Pirates.
