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The Pirates Opening Day Roster is Nearly Complete

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While it hasn’t been announced by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Alex Stumpf broke the news that Ji-hwan Bae, Canaan Smith-Njigba and Jason Delay will be on the Pirates Opening Day roster. Jason Mackey has also confirmed these names. Opening Day is Thursday.

Bae had a slow start to the spring, before picking things up. He came into camp with minimal big league time, so he likely won his spot in the last two weeks. He’s hitting .244/.292/.267 through 49 plate appearances.

Smith-Njigba has played well all spring, putting up a .326/.404/.522 slash line in 52 plate appearances. He also has minimal big league time, though that was due to a mid-season injury costing him more time with the Pirates.

Delay was battling it out for the backup catcher spot with Tyler Heineman, who split the majority of last year’s innings with Delay after Roberto Perez got hurt. Neither Delay nor Heineman did well at the plate this spring, but both are known for their defense. Delay is hitting .150/.261/.300 in 23 plate appearances.

Today is the final Spring Training game. The Pirates are off tomorrow. The open up on the road against the Cincinnati Reds.

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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