Pittsburgh Pirates: Locks to be Removed From the 40-Man Roster
By Marty Leap
Right-handed pitcher Cody Ponce
Cody Ponce came to the Pittsburgh Pirates from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for Jordan Lyles at the 2019 trade deadline. Since then Lyles has made 20 MLB appearances with the Pirates, with 5 of them being starts.
In these 20 outings Ponce has pitched 55.1 innings, posting a 5.86 ERA and a FIP of 5.47. Ponce has walked 6.9% of batters faced, struck out 19.6% and has allowed home runs at a woeful 2.11 HR/9 rate.
Ponce has struggled throughout his MLB career. He also does not possess any plus level pitches, or any tools that would appear to set him up for long-term success in the Major Leagues. Due to this, Ponce would appear to be an odd man out with the upcoming 40-man roster purge.
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Ponce will turn 28-years-old in April and is no longer a young prospect. Often times the past two seasons it has appeared that the Pirates were using Ponce to eat innings and lessen the workload of younger pitchers more than anything else. If that is all they view Ponce as, then pitchers like like that can be found easily.