Pittsburgh Pirates News: Team DFA’s Anthony Alford, Select Beau Sulser’s Contract

The Pittsburgh Pirates announced they have DFA’d Anthony Alford and have selected the contract of RHP Beau Sulser.

The Pittsburgh Pirates made a notable roster move today by designating outfielder Anthony Alford for assignment. To take his place on the 40-man roster, the team has selected right-hander Beau Sulser. The news was first broke by Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post Gazzette:

This is the second time the Pirates have designated Alford for assignment since acquiring him back during the 2020 campaign. This likely ends the outfielder’s tenure with the Pirates, who was already on a short-leash to begin with. Alford opened the season on the injured list and only recently returned to the Major League team. He’s went 1-4 in his two games since coming back.

After being designated for assignment by the Pirates the first time in 2021, Alford cleared waivers and was sent to Triple-A Indy. He earned himself another shot after putting up a  166 wRC+ through 226 plate appearances, leading him to be re-added to the 40-man roster and recalled in August. Alford wasn’t an awful hitter down the stretch either with a 114 wRC+. But there was good reason to believe this kind of production was a fluke.

Despite having a wRC+ above 160 at Indianapolis, Alford also struck out 34.5% of the time. Not only did he strikeout a ton, but he got extremely lucky on batted balls. Alford had a .454 batting average on balls in play. For reference, no player has ever had a BAbip above .430 in as many plate appearances as Alford had at Indy. Strikeouts and extremely lucky batted ball luck carried over into the majors during August as he K’d at a 35.3% rate and posted a .387 BAbip.

To replace Alford on the roster will be right-hander Beau Sulser. The 27-year-old was a tenth round pick in 2017. Sulser made the full transition to the starting rotation last year with Triple-A Indy, but struggled in 122.2 innings. Suler posted a 5.65 ERA, 5.32 FIP, and 1.66 WHIP while allowing 21 home runs. He also struggled to get strikeouts, having an 18.1% strikeout rate, as well as prevent walks with a 9.4% walk rate.

However, Sulser has gotten off to a phenominal start to his 2022 campaign. He’s pitched in 3 games and 12.2 innings. He’s only allowed three earned runs, one home run, 2 walks, and 14 strikeouts. Currently he has a 7.0 K/BB ratio, and sub-3 ERA and FIP. He’s getting a ton more swinging strikes, according to FanGraphs. Plus all three of his earned runs came in his first game of the season. He has yielded no earned runs in his last two appearances.

Sulser will likely command a bullpen spot to start, but may end up working his way into the starting rotation if he can prove himself arm. After all, the rotation has been this team’s biggest weakness and he doesn’t have a very high bar to outperform. Alford on the other hand will have to go through waivers. The Pirates now have the options of trading him, sending him to Triple-A, or outright releasing him, if he doesn’t elect free agency.