The Pittsburgh Pirates made their third off-season acquisition this morning. The team signed an infielder to a minor league deal.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have been one of the slowest moving teams this off-season. This was mainly because they had so much overhaul in the teams front office right before the off-season officially started. Now that the front office has settled in and has had a chance to fill out the rest of the organization with coaches and front office staff, they are starting to make some moves.
With many Pittsburgh Pirates fans waiting for the team to make the big trade of Starling Marte, or even Adam Frazier, the team has made a couple of minor deals as well. So far they have signed pitcher Hector Noesi to a minor league deal, and catcher Luke Maile.
This morning they added another player on a minor-league deal. According to Andrew Rickli, a former player and current agent, minor league infielder Phillip Evans has signed a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Bucs are bringing Evans in on a minor league deal. Rickli tweeted out the information this morning.
Evans is a primary third baseman who also has experience at second base. He is 27-years-old and bats and throws right-handed. At one point he was considered one of the Mets top 20 prospects but never put it all together. The former 15th round pack has spent time in a number of organizations, primarily with the Mets and most recently the Cubs. Last year with the Cubs Triple-A affiliate, Evans played 130 games and hit a solid .283/.371/.470 with 17 home runs and 30 doubles.
While he did this as a non-prospect at Triple-A. it is still promising to see such strong numbers. Evans will likely serve as infield depth throughout the season, and if he posts any numbers like he did last year, he should serve as strong depth. One thing that hurt the Pirates in the last few years was not only the team’s inability to develop prospects, but also to develop decent depth. Evans could very well help fill that hole for the 2020 season.