Pirates trade return from Adam Frazier deal is knocking on MLB’s door

When the Pirates traded Adam Frazier to the Royals during the All-Star break, fans could be forgiven for feeling underwhelmed by the return package of a player with no Major League experience. However, despite Cam Devanney being a relative unknown in the Pittsburgh area, Rum Bunter's Noah Wright gave the infielder a mostly positive review and graded the trade as a A for the Bucs.

Devanney offered plenty of intrigue as a power bat who had mostly played at shortstop during his time in the minors, but was also more than capable of stepping in at second and third base. In any event, he was enjoying an excellent 2025 season in Triple-A Omaha prior to the trade to Pittsburgh, highlighted by a .931 OPS and 137 wRC+.

Cam Devanney continues to have a career year in Triple-A

Well, the 28-year-old has continued to play well since joining the Pirates' Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis, to help the narrative that the team did well to get him in return for an aging utility player. On Tuesday night, he hit his 20th home run of the minor league season, in what turned out to be a 6-5 road win for the Indians:

With Devanney continuing what is a career year for him in his fourth season of Triple-A action, you have to believe he's going to get a chance sooner that later to make his Major League debut in Pittsburgh. Surely it can't hurt to give him his opportunity with a Pirates team enduring yet another terrible season, which sees them firmly rooted to last place in NL Central and sitting 14.0 games back of a Wild Card spot?

The 2019 15th-round draft pick was seemingly on the precipice earlier this season, when the Royals called him up on July 8 after a couple of players went to the injured list. Ultimately, though that Major League debut continued to allude him, his aforementioned trade to the Pirates eight days later gave him a new lease on a big-league tenure. We think? We hope?

Pirates need to give Cam Devanney his Major League debut

At the time of finding out about his call-up to the Royals, Devanney was understandably excited. As per Anne Rogers of MLB.com, he described it as, "Just a rush because it was late at night, I was getting ready for bed, and then my whole day flipped upside down. Definitely crazy. My girlfriend, Shannon, was there, so we had a moment, and I got to call my parents and some family and friends. That was exhausting but a lot of fun."

Devanney will obviously be hoping he gets another opportunity soon to go through the gamut of emotions which accompany being called up, but this time paired with actually getting to finally play in the big leagues. The productivity has clearly been there all season, and if hard work and perseverance count for anything, he's more than earned his moment to make his debut under the bright lights of Major League Baseball.