Pittsburgh Pirates News: A Top Outfield Prospect Recalled From Altoona

With just seven games remaining in the 2020 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates have placed outfielder Jason Martin on the injured list and recalled outfield prospect Jared Oliva.

Prior to the start of Monday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs, the Pittsburgh Pirates made a roster move. This move saw the team put outfielder Jason Martin on the injured list. To replace Martin, outfielder prospect Jared Oliva has been promoted to the active roster from the team’s alternate training site in Altoona.

Martin had just 11 plate appearances with the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games played. In those 11 PAs, Martin did not record a hit, he walked twice and he struck out four times. With just seven games remaining in the season, this IL trip will end Martin’s season.

The past two seasons Martin has 51 plate apperances in 27 games played for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Martin owns a lowly .200/.294/.244 slash line with a 27.5% strikeout rate in his career. At this point, it appears Martin may not even be a fourth outfielder for a MLB team.

To replace Martin on the active roster, Oliva was recalled from Altoona. Oliva is one of the top outfield prospects in the Pirate minor league system and a player that many fans had hoped to see earlier in the season.

Oliva spent the 2019 season with the Double-A Altoona Curve. In 123 games played, he hit for a .277/.352/.398 slash line in 507 plate appearances. He had a .121 ISO, a healthy 123 wRC+, he collected 36 extra base hits, and he stole 36 bases. Had it not been for the cancellation of the minor league system, Oliva would have been at Triple-A this season. Also, odds are, with a full season he would have made his MLB debut sooner than the final week of the season.

Hopefully, Oliva will get the opportunity to make a few starts in the final week of the season. Oliva could be part of the Pirates’ future, so the sooner the team starts to answer that question the better for everyone involved.