Pittsburgh Pirates News: Club Options Geoff Hartlieb

The Pittsburgh Pirates continue to make moves in anticipation for the season, including optioning a bullpen arm.

With the season starting on Thursday, the Pittsburgh Pirates need to continue to trim down their roster and get to 26 men.  We know the team chose Phillip Evans over Todd Frazier a few days ago, but there are more moves the club needs to make.  One of those moves was optioning relief pitcher Geoff Hartlieb.

Hartlieb was a 29th round pick in the 2016 Draft who made his debut in 2019.  In his career the relief pitcher has posted an ERA of 6.91 and FIP of 5.35.  His biggest struggle is command, as he walked 18.8 percent of batters last season, the same rate of strikeouts.  His biggest claim to fame is the ground balls he’s able to generate, getting a rate of 59.3 percent last year with his sinker.

The right has two options remaining, making it easier for the club to option him to start the season.  This Spring, Hartlieb continued to struggle with a 7.11 ERA and five walks in 6.1 innings.  He’ll likely be one of the first arms up in case of injury but the option makes sense and he needs to develop the command.

The Pirates also reassigned Brian Goodwin, Wilmer Difo, and Steven Wright to minor league camp.  Goodwin is outfield depth who has had experience at the Major League level.  This could indicate that both Anthony Alford and Dustin Fowler will be on the opening day roster.  Difo was a middle infield depth signing to provide a player at the position in case of injury.  Wright, signed last week, needs to throw and will too serve as depth in case of injury.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are continuing to trim down their roster.  There’s still some slight moves that need to be made, but the club is getting close to having their 26-man roster finalized before Opening Day in Chicago.