Pittsburgh Pirates: Four Potential Minor League Free Agent Targets

The Pittsburgh Pirates should look into these minor league free agents that elected free agency earlier this month to boost their roster.

With the regular season concluded there were recently many players who qualified to elect minor league free agency during October and hit the open market. These players include ones who have at least 3 years of MLB service time but were not on a 40-man roster at the end of the season, ones who have been out-righted off a 40-man roster multiple times, or ones who have spent at least 7 years in the minor leagues. Some of these players can help out the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Going through the lists, there are a handful of names you may recognize as former Pittsburgh Pirates. Michael Feliz was a former reliever for the Pirates and JaCoby Jones was once one of their more noteworthy prospects. But there are a few free agents with some upside I think the Pittsburgh Pirates should go after. Today, I want to take a look at two of those players, both of which are right-handed pitchers.

A.J. Cole

Once one of the Washington Nationals’ top prospects, A.J. Cole was considered a consensus top 100 prospect. However, he never fully reached his potential as one of the Nats’ top starting pitchers, alongside their other top starters.

Regardless of that, he’s appeared in every single Major League season since 2015 with varying degrees of success. Cole mainly appeared as a swingman through his first four seasons in the majors but has recently made the full transition to the bullpen.

Even though Cole hasn’t played much in the majors the last 3 seasons, he has been effective when he has taken the mound. Since 2019, he has pitched 57.1 innings with a solid 3.14 ERA, 3.97 FIP, and 1.291 WHIP. He’s only allowed walks at a 7.4% walk rate with a 23.5% strikeout rate. Overall, he’s had a K/BB ratio just over 3 (3.14). Granted, his 1.26 HR/9 rate isn’t great, that shouldn’t be a huge surprise for a very flyball-heavy pitcher.

During this time, he’s had a fly ball rate of 50.3%, though with a strong 18.8% line-drive rate. Though when batters do make contact, they make quite weak contact. He has allowed an exit velocity of just 87.4 MPH and a 27.4% hard-hit rate. The only issue is that he’s had quite poor underlying numbers. The right-hander has just a 4.95 xFIP, 4.18 SIERA, and a career 4.76 DRA.

Now while Cole may have poor underlying numbers, he would be a solid pick-up. He has good enough surface numbers to warrant a minor league or low-risk one-year deal. The Pirates could use some extra help in the bullpen with only David Bednar and Chris Stratton as the only relievers with guaranteed spots for 2022.

Dany Jimenez

Another right-handed reliever that the Pirates should take a look at is 27-year-old Dany Jimenez. Jimenez has bounced around quite a bit over the past few years. He was selected in the Rule 5 draft by the San Francisco Giants, then returned back to the Toronto Blue Jays. Then he was selected off waivers by the Oakland Athletics, just to be returned again to the Jays in March 2021. Even though he’s been passed around like hot potato, Jimenez still ranks as the Jays’ 27th top prospect per FanGraphs.

Jimenez pitched well with the Jays’ Triple-A affiliate. In 44.2 innings, Jimenez had a 2.22 ERA, 3.23 FIP, and 1.209 WHIP. Jimenez also struck out 39% of all the batters he faced and his underlying numbers were also strong. He had a 2.97 xFIP.

Jimenez also has some strong stuff. His four-seam fastball comes in around the mid-90’s with about 2450 RPM. FanGraphs sees it as a 60-grade offering. He also throws a slider that has the same current and future grade as his fastball. Jimenez

However, there are quite a few concerns regarding Jimenez. For one, he walked batters at a 13.4% rate. Now granted, he had a much better and much more usable 9.5% walk rate. Plus between 2018 and 2019, he had a strong 8.3% walk rate. Still, he only projects with 30-grade command. Plus he had poor batted ball results at Triple-A. Jimenez allowed a line drive at a 24.5% rate. His ground ball rate also wasn’t good at just 39.1%.

Still, there’s some potential in Jimenez. While he’ll be a bit older with 2022 being his age-28 season, the upside is still apparent. Two 60-grade pitches are quite good and there’s no risk in taking a minor league flyer on him. The Pittsburgh Pirates could give him a shot in the Major Leagues in 2022 given their lack of bullpen options. Worst case scenario is that he throughout April and is either DFA’d or released.

Renato Nunez

The only position player we’ll be taking a look at today, Renato Nunez would provide a power bat at first base and designated hitter. He’d also provide a solid hold-over until Mason Martin is in the majors. If the Pirates sign Nunez while also resigning Yoshi Tsutsugo, he would make Colin Moran expendable.

Between 2019 and 2020, Nunez was quite a solid batter. He hit .247/.314/.469 with a .329 wOBA, and 104 wRC+. The 1B/DH provided some quality power. He blasted a total of 43 home runs in 815 plate appearances. That comes out to about 31 long balls in a full season’s worth of plate appearnces (600) He also had a strong .221 isolated slugging percentage.

The only thing is that he’s pretty much an all-or-nothing power hitter. Nunez only walked at a 7.5% pace while striking out 25.4% of the time. While neither are awful numbers, they’re not good either. Nunez has a flyball approach, hitting the ball in the air at a 45.9% rate in ‘19-’20. Though he also had a solid 21.7% LD%. Aside from power, he doesn’t do anything particularly well, nor does he do anything particularly bad either.

After the 2020 season, the Orioles non-tendered Nunez. He bounced around with the Detroit Tigers and then the Milwaukee Brewers. Despite only receiving 55 plate appearances in the major leagues in 2021, Nunez still has the power. At Triple-A this year, he had a .268/.360/.515 line and 21 home runs in just 386 plate appearances (about 32 across 600 PAs). He was walking more often, this time at a 9.6% clip. Though his strikeout rate of 24.1% wasn’t a major improvement.

Nunez may not provide much defensive value, but if he could continue to hit .250/.310/.460 with 20-25 home runs, he’d be more than worth the small investment. The Pirates do need some power, at least until Oneil Cruz and Mason Martin are ready.