Pittsburgh Pirates Release 39 Minor Leauge Players

In recent breaking news, the Pittsburgh Pirates have become the most recent team in releasing minor league players in mass, letting go 39 players. Some of which were very notable names.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have announced that they have let go 39 players from their minor league system, joining multiple other teams in mass releasing minor leaguers. The Pirates let go a handful of notable names, which we’ll get into in a bit. You can check out the list of released players here.

One of the most notable players the Pittsburgh Pirates released was pitching prospect Yordi Rosario. Rosario was acquired by the Bucs in the trade that sent Ivan Nova to the Chicago White Sox. Rosario actually looked like a decent building block before the trade even, having a 2.57 ERA, 2.34 ERA, and 1.11 WHIP in 56 innings in the Arizona Fall League and Dominican Summer league. He also had an outstanding 5.58 K/BB ratio, striking out 70 batters and walking only 12.

Last year in his first year in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, Rosario was moved to the bullpen, but still posted great results with Rookie Ball Bristol. In 31.1 innings, Rosario posted a 2.87 ERA, 3.49 FIP and 0.98 WHIP. Despite seeing his strikeout rate take a bit of a dip, he only walked four batters. However, home runs became a bit of an issue as he surrendered three. Before being released, Yordi Rosario was the Pirates’ 38th best prospect per FanGraphs.

Another very notable name to be released by the Pirates was 19-year-old outfielder Juan Pie. The Dominican born prospect made his professional debut last year at the age of 17, and did pretty well with the Dominican Summer League. Pie batted .258/.382/.421 with 2 home runs, and a 134 wRC+ through 255 plate appearances. Pie walked a ton, reaching base on balls 36 times resulting in a strong 14.1% walk rate.

Last year, Pie started the year off at Rookie Ball, but struggled, only managing a .661 OPS and 91 wRC+ through 139 plate appearances. He was moved to Low-A West Virginia where he improved, and batted .357/.438/.571 with a 198 wRC+ though a very small sample size of 16 plate appearances.

Pie was seen as a prospect with high power potential. Fangraphs gave his raw power a future grade of 55, and his game power also a future grade of 55. He also can be a decent runner too, seeing as he has a 55 current run grade, and 50 future run grade. Fielding wise, he has a strong arm with a 55 current/60 future grade, and 50 future fielding grade. Before his release, FanGraphs placed him just below Rosario at 39.

Outfield prospect Conner Uselton was also let go by the organization. Uselton was a second round pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2017 draft. He only played two games in 2017, and got his biggest cup of action in 2018. Through 175 plate appearances, Uselton batted for a .225/.280/.250 line, good for a 46 wRC+.

Injuries have long plagued the 22-year-old as he missed all of 2019, and missed most of 2017 because of a hamstring injury. It’s possible the Pirates saw that the injury in 2019 could affect him long term, as Uselton still looked fairly promising. Like the aforementioned Pie, Uselton had above average power grades with a 55 future grade for raw power and 70 future grade for game power. He also had a strong arm with a 60 future/current grade.

One last name worth mentioning was control artist Pedro Vasquez. The 24-year-old right hander was acquired by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2016 trade that sent flamethrower Arquimedes Caminero to the Seattle Mariners. Vasquez was never a big strikeout pitcher. His career strikeout rate is 18.6%, but he has been a soft contact control master. He has a career walk rate of just 5.2%. He also has a minor league HR/9 rate of just 0.7.

Last year, Vasquez spent time between Double-A and Triple-A, and combined for a 3.06 ERA, 3.36 FIP, and 1.11 WHIP in 132.1 innings. He allowed just 9 home runs, resulting in a 0.6 HR/9. That is a very low number speaking that the lowest HR/9 at Triple-A (min. 100 innings) was 0.8.

Again, the soft tosser struck out less than 20% of the batters he faced at a 18.7% rate, but was walking them at a strong 6.1% rate. Vasquez uses a fastball, change-up and slider. While his change-up and slider only grade out around average, his fastball has a future grade of 55. Although he probably wouldn’t have played a large role in the Pirates’ future, he could have been a solid innings eater. He has averaged about 5 and two thirds a start in the minor leagues.

Out of the 39 players that were released, three have seen action in the majors. Those three were Jake Elmore, off season minor league signee Charlie Tilson and pitcher Luis Escobar. The Pirates can still resign any of the players they released, which I think could be a good possibility with Yordi Rosario since he was a very promising looking minor league pitcher, and Vasquez since he was on the cusp of making the majors. I also think that Pie could be resigned as he was a fairly under the radar prospect.