Pittsburgh Pirates: Minor League Signing Updates

Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Pittsburgh Pirates have retained three of their minor league free agents. The official period opened up a few days ago.

The Pittsburgh Pirates had a handful of interesting minor league free agents this offseason. The biggest one being Diego Castillo, who was acquired in the Clay Holmes deal this past summer. Castillo hit .280/.368/.463 with the Pirates. Castillo started in Double-A Altoona but was promoted to Triple-A Indianapolis to start September. He avoided minor league free agency as the Pirates added him to their 40-man roster on Sunday.

However, nobody else was added making those eligible for minor league free agency free agents. Baseball America put out their list of minor league free agents today and there are a few notable names:

"RHP Alex AquinoRHP Tyler BashlorC Christian BethancourtRHP Chase DejongC Raul HernandezRHP Kyle KellerLHP Nathan KirbyRHP James MarvelLHP Oddy NunezRHP Connor OvertonRHP Shea SpitzbarthC Andrew Susac"

The biggest name is Nathan Kirby, who was acquired for Kevin Kramer. Kirby pitched in 19.1 innings with Double-A Altoona. In those 19.1 innings his ERA was a high 6.52 but he struckout 38.1 percent of batters. His downfall was control, as he walked 15.5 percent of batters. Still, he clearly showed some strikeout stuff and if the Pirates can help improve his command there is some upside left as he was a former first round pick. This news was reported by JJ Cooper of Baseball America.

The most notable player missing is Yerry De Los Santos, who we’ve profiled as a potential option to be added to the 40-man ahead of the rule five draft. He sits in the mid 90s and projects by FanGraphs to have at least two average pitches in his fastball and slider. The Pirates will still need to add him to the 40-man if they want to protect him from the rule five draft, as he is an upside right-handed reliever. However, with the team’s lack of true standout arms, there’s plenty of moves they could make to add De Los Santos. First reported by Alex Stumpf of DK Pittsburgh Sports.

Five Forgotten Prospects. dark. Next

The Pirates as they look to improve their system will likely make for more moves both on the 40-man and in minor league free agency. But they kept two players who have some upside. Kirby with his strikeouts just needs command. De Los Santos pitched well this year but is rule five eligible.