Pittsburgh Pirates: Team Set to Promote Dario Agrazal

(Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)
(Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) /
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The Pittsburgh Pirates are apparently calling up another pitching prospect to help fill out the rotation.  The new call-up will start on Saturday against the Miami Marlins.

Over the years, if one looked at the Pittsburgh Pirates Top 30 prospects, at the bottom of the list a pitcher by the name of Dario Agrazal would be there.  Agrazal has long been one of the team’s top 30 prospects but has never really gotten inside the top 20 prospects.  Still, he obviously has had a pretty solid minor league career and could be on the brink of making his Major League début.

According to John Dreker of Pirates Prospects, the Pittsburgh Pirates will be calling up Dario Agrazal to start this Saturday.  Dreker is reporting this on twitter, and apparently he got the information from a source in Panama, where Agrazal is from.  Here is what Dreker said:

As Dreker pointed out in his tweet, Agrazal has pitched very well in Triple-A this year.  He has made eight starts at the level and has given up two runs or less in six of those eight starts. Also, Agrazal has continued to do what he does best, inducing ground ball outs.  This year in Triple-A, the right-handed pitcher has a strong 54 percent groundball rate.

Agrazal has really had a lengthy, but solid minor league career.  Through his years in the Bucs system, the 24-year-old owns an ERA of 3.45 ERA in 949 total innings.  While he only has 378 strikeouts, he has only allowed 86 free passes.  Agrazal is a groundball pitcher, he is not going to blow anyone away with a fastball that sits in the low 90s, but he has had success inducing weak contact.  This is something that the Pittsburgh Pirates pitching coach likes his pitchers to do.

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If the Bucs are calling up Agrazal it is another step in the right direction.  He has been one of their best starters at Triple-A this year, and at this point represents a better option than other pitchers on the current roster.  At least with Agrazal, there is upside and potential for him as a prospect to do well at the major league level.  It looks like he will get his first chance this Saturday against the Miami Marlins.

*Groundball rate is courtesy of FanGraphs