Pittsburgh Pirates: Three Spring Training Roster Moves

The Pittsburgh Pirates are about three weeks from opening day.  With minor league camp getting underway, the team has started to shuffle their roster.

Spring Training has been underway for about three weeks.  This leaves the team about three weeks away from opening day, which of course is March 29th.  So far this spring, the Pittsburgh Pirates have done a great job of showcasing some of their young prospects in the organization.  However, minor league camp officially started this week, and it is now the time to start getting the major league players more time on the field.  What does that mean?  The team has started to send lower minor players off to minor league camp.

Well, according to Jon Dreker of Pirates Prospects, the Bucs have reassigned pitcher Luis Escobar, pitcher Dario Agrazal, and catcher Jin-De Jhang.  The two pitchers did make appearances this spring, while Jhang sat out with an injury.  Escobar did not fair well in his limited action.  He gave up four earned runs, including two home runs, in his 0.2 innings pitched while also allowing three hits and one walk, all leading to an ERA of 54.00 this spring.   Agrazal, a 23-year-old Panamanian pitcher, also made an appearance this spring, throwing just 0.2 innings.  In the two outs he recorded, he gave up one earned run on a hit and a walk.  Meanwhile, as mentioned earlier, Jin-de Jhang never had a chance to get on the field this Spring.

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Escobar will be headed to Bradenton.  He pitched exclusively for Low-A West Virginia last season, performed relatively well, and earned himself a nod to the All-Star Future’s Game.  Agrazal made a brief appearance in Double-A last year throwing four innings for the Curve, and he was optioned back to Altoona. Jin-de Jhang played in 72 games for the Curve last year, and he will likely head to Triple-A to start the year, but for now has just been reassigned to minor league camp.