Pittsburgh Pirates Make a Minor Trade With the Philadelphia Phillies

On Wednesday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired left-handed reliever Austin Davis from the Philadelphia Phillies in a minor trade

With MLB’s trade deadline now just four days away, the Pittsburgh Pirates are likely to be active on the trade market in the next few days. While it was a minor trade, the trading started for the Pirates on Wednesday afternoon.

In a small trade, the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired left-handed reliever Austin Davis from the Philadelphia Phillies. To acquire Davis, the Pirates sent the Phillies cash considerations. They will also send the Phils a player to be named later.

Davis was designated for assignment by the Phillies on August 21st. This came after he allowed 7 earned runs on four hits, a walk, a home run, and two strikeouts in 3 innings.

For his career, Davis has pitched 58.1 innings for the Phillies the past three seasons. He has allowed 67 hits, 11 home runs, walked 27 batters, and struck out 64 in these 58.1 innings of work. This comes out to a 5.86 ERA, 5.08 FIP, 10.0% walk rate, and a 23.8% strikeout rate.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have not yet announced if Davis will join the active roster, or be sent to the alternative training site in Altoona. With the active roster currently full, odds are Davis will be sent to Altoona.

While Davis has struggled in his career, there are some glimmers of hope. His fastball averaged a healthy 93.8 MPH last season, and ranked in the 85th percentile of baseball in spin rate. His curveball was in the 67th percentile of spin rate. While Davis may never be a great, shutdown reliever. He appears to have the stuff to at least be a solid option against left-handed hitters.

Odds are, the player to be named later in the trade will not be a player of note. So, losing a quality prospect in the trade is not something fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates should have to be worrying about.