The Pittsburgh Pirates made eight cuts to the Spring Training roster following a pair of games on Tuesday. They optioned five 40-man roster players, while reassigning three players to minor league camp.
We have optioned the following players to our Triple-A roster:
RHP Mike Burrows
C Endy Rodriguez
RHP Colin Selby
INF Jared Triolo
OF Ryan ViladeWe have also re-assigned the following players to Minor League Camp:
RHP Wei-Chieh Huang
LHP Caleb Smith
RHP Nate Webb— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) March 14, 2023
Catcher Endy Rodriguez and pitcher Mike Burrows are among the top prospects in the system. Neither was expected to win a Spring Training job this year, as Burrows had minimal success at Triple-A Indianapolis last year, while Rodriguez was still in High-A as of early August last year. Both should see significant time with the Pirates during the 2023 season. Burrows might have a little more trouble, depending on how the rotation works out during the season, but he should still see late season time in Pittsburgh at the least.
Rodriguez went 7-for-17 in ten games this spring. He had three doubles, no walks and two strikeouts. Burrows allowed two runs over five innings in three appearances. He will use the rest of the spring to get stretched out as a starter.
Jared Triolo, Colin Selby and Ryan Vilade should all be with Indianapolis as well, though Vilade could be a fringe player if the Pirates need to add multiple people to the 40-man roster. Triolo struggled this spring by going 1-for-20 with a double and four walks. Vilade went 3-for-18 with three singles and a walk. Selby gave up five runs on seven hits in four innings this spring.
The Pirates cut down the pitching staff with the three reassigned players on minor league deals, sending out right-handed pitchers Nate Webb and Wei-Chieh Huang and lefty Caleb Smith. Smith allowed three runs over 5.1 innings this spring. Webb gave up one run over three innings. Huang tossed three shutout innings.
There are now 50 players in camp, so there are still plenty of roster moves to make ahead of the season opener at the end of the month.
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.
If I’m catching the signals from this site correctly, the title players are the probable first promotions to the show. In the meantime, much remains uncertain. Nobody is stepping forward offensively. First base is a mystery. Second base is waiting for someone to step forward. Oneil is still unknown, and Ke’Bryan got hurt again! The outfield might be ok but none of the ‘extras’ seem to be stepping up, except for Swaggerty but the Pirates don’t seem to be interested. Unbelievably, the pitching may be developing. Are we the Dodgers or Mets?
Pirate spring training recap:
Old players look old
Young players look young
Shelton looks like Shelton
The next Face of the Franchise: Cruz or Endy.
Over the next 5 years, I’d favor Hayes and Gonzales over Cruz and Endy
But Cruz and Endy should both be really good
There’s a larger chance Gonzales is out of baseball in five years then he is the face of the franchise.
NicK over Cruz and Endy. My God
Both
Owings survives, goes 1-1 with a walk today. That’s the OBP that BC is looking for! On to Cincinnati!!
In a surprise move the pirates fired gm Ben cherrington and was replaced with Dennis Eckersly.
bound to be a trade for a left handed reliever any day now
Interesting that Selby was the dark horse candidate for the bullpen, but Mlod, who isn’t even on the roster, is still in camp.
I’m all in on Mlod.
I’m guessing the Pirates are, too, or he’d be at Pirate City.
Same here, his stuff looks really good. Would love for him to be a starter but the pen is probably his future
Wrt the Fangraphs leader board this is great news
https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/2023-prospect-list/farm-ranking?sort=1,1&type=100&filter=&pos=&team=
A good system, but not the best system eh? They’ll be passed by Arizona when that complete list comes out and possibly (but doubtful) the Mets.
They could drop some on that list as many teams don’t have their full top prospects list included yet. Good news is they will still be near the top.
It’s hopeful for Pirates’ fans since the Pirates have rebound players (Davis and Gonzales), breakout candidates, the top pick in a loaded draft class. We’re good now and can improve too.
The headline should be: TRIOLO GETS FIRST HIT OF SPRING! 😵💫😵💫😵💫
#FreeEndy
#StartEndy
#ExtendEndy
And the award for most impatient Pirates fan goes to…this guy!
I would say that they would have a better shot at extending Endy than Cruz right now. Any idea who Endy’s agent is?
Checked Cot’s and no Agent listed for Endy. Cruz is listed as having Republik Sports as his agent. IMO, both are good values for extensions if the Pirates are serious about it.
Do it before he hires Boras.
I think it gets harder every day to extend Cruz. No time like the present, but the Dbacks did Pirates no favors with the deal they gave Carroll. Cruz’s price tag likely just increased.
Increased? I had Cruz pegged at 8 years $180 million and if he gets his 30/30 year he will want tatis money. Carroll was a steal.
Speaking of Tatis, his story is exactly why BN won’t ever sign Cruz. Not hard to see Cruz taking a bad turn from a poor decision or two off the field. Especially if he gets broke off like Tatis did.
Why is it not hard to see Cruz make a “poor decision or two off the field”? Would you say the same of Corbin Carroll? Jack Suwinski? Mitch Keller? Why? Have you made this comment about young players before? What makes Cruz like tatis in your eyes?
I haven’t noticed anything about Cruz that makes me think he isn’t dedicated and serious. His good buddy Rodolpho on the other hand, has put forth some antics. Maybe you’re confusing them. What’s makes them similar in your eyes?
The auto accident resulting in the loss of life is why I made this statement. I know he was exonerated of any blame, but I do feel comfortable saying he’s guilty of poor judgment that evening. Hopefully he has grown from then to now, and you’ll end up right about him.
Carroll put up an fWAR Value of $11.4 mil in his 38 days in MLB last year with almost equal values of Offense and Defense. For instance, +4 DRS. Cruz put up an fWAR Value of $9.6 mil, very heavily offensive.
The Carroll contract is fair if he stays healthy. He can keep adding up defensive numbers in LF/CF, and the bat plays for average and power.