
Outfielder Canaan Smith-Njigba
Canaan Smith-Njigba was one of the four players the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired from the New York Yankees last January in the Jameson Taillon trade. The left-handed hitting outfielder reached the Triple-A level by September last season, is on the doorstep of the Major Leagues, and this made him a prospect the Pirates deemed they needed to protect.
Smith-Njigba spent much of the 2021 season with Double-A Altoona where he hit for a .274/.398/.406 slash line to go with a 127 wRC+. The 22-year-old drew walks at a tremendous, borderline elite 16.9% rate, to go with 6 home runs and 11 doubles.
While he struggled in a late season promotion to Triple-A, Smith-Njigba bounced back with a strong showing in the Arizona Fall League. He hit for a .298/.452/.456 slash line in the AFL to go with a 9.6% extra base hit rate.
Smith-Njigba will start the 2022 season where he ended in 2021 with Triple-A Indianapolis. With a strong showing with the Indians he should be able to play his way into seeing playing time in Pittsburgh next season.
As Noah recently wrote about it would not be a surprise to see Smith-Njigba playing a role on the Major League roster for the Pirates by the end of the season. As we discussed when talking about Swaggerty, the Pittsburgh Pirates need outfield help. Smith-Njigba could also get ABs as a DH for the Pirates.