Pirates designate Roansy Contreras for assignment to make room for Paul Skenes

The Pirates number one prospect, Paul Skenes, officially made his debut on Saturday afternoon. Before making his start, the Pirates needed to free up room for Skenes on both the 40-man roster and the active roster. Ben Cherington decided to designate 24 year old, right handed pitcher, Roansy Contreras. Opposing teams have seven days to determine if they would like to pick him up off waivers or make a trade for him. If no teams pick him up, he will return to the Pirates triple-a affiliate, Indianapolis, and remain off of the 40-man roster.

Contreras was one of the four players the Pirates got back from Jameson Taillon in 2021. Contreras was the Pirates fifth-ranked prospect in 2022 and pitched in 21 games that season. That 2022 season was the best for Roansy as he had a 5-5 record with a 3.79 earned run average in 95 innings pitched and struck out 86 batters. He also added a WHIP of 1.27 and an opposing batting average of .225.

As a rookie with the Pirates, Roansy looked like he was going to be the team's ace and possibly a future all-star, but in 2023, he fell off and he has not been the same pitcher ever since.

Since his great rookie season, Contreras has a 4-7 record with an earned run average of 6.17 in 84.2 innings pitched and has struck out 71 batters. He also added a WHIP of .158 and an opposing batting average of .287. Contreras could not limit the baserunners resulting in all of his struggles. His velocity dropped in 2023, but it returned in 2024 and he had the same troubles.

Roansy has some great pitches and his potential is great, but his production has been very poor, resulting in this decision. If he had better control, he would be a very successful pitcher. Oscar Marin and the Pirates were unsuccessful in finding a way to make Contreras a consistent pitcher. Let's hope Ben Cherington can find a trade partner and get something in return.