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Pirates Sign RHP Juan Minaya to a Minor League Deal

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed veteran right-handed pitcher Juan Minaya to a minor league deal. The 32-year-old pitched six games for the Minnesota Twins in 2022, his sixth season in the majors.

Minaya originally signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2008. It took him eight years to make his big league debut with the 2016 Chicago White Sox. In four seasons with Chicago, he compiled a 6-4, 3.93 record in 128.1 innings, with 142 strikeouts and a 1.43 WHIP. He saw some work as a closer during that time, picking up ten saves.

Minaya didn’t pitch during the 2020 season, though he played winter ball before and after that shortened season. He spent half of 2021 in the majors with the Twins, where he had a 2.48 ERA, 43 strikeouts and a 1.18 WHIP in 40 innings over 29 appearances. His big league time in 2022 was limited to 9.2 innings over six games in the middle of the year. 

Minaya had an outstanding winter performance this year. He had a 1.26 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 14.1 innings over 15 appearances in the Dominican, where the league was loaded with talent this off-season.

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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