Pittsburgh Pirates: Breaking Down the Return for Rich Hill and Ji Man Choi

The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired three players in the Rich Hill/Ji-Man Choi trade. Who are they and what are they bringing to their new organization?

The Pittsburgh Pirates have now traded veteran rentals LHP starter Rich Hill and Ji-Man Choi to the San Diego Padres. In exchange for the two veterans, the Pirates received three players. So who are these players, and what are they bringing to their new team? What could we potentially expect from them in the future?

Jackson Wolf

Jackson Wolf is most likely seen as the headliner of this deal. A 2021 4th-rounder, Wolf is ranked as one of the Padres’ top 20 prospects, both by MLB Pipeline (no. 16) and FanGraphs (no. 12). Wolf has already made his Major League debut, and will likely be sent to Triple-A Indy for his first game as part of the Pirate organization.

The left-hander has spent most of his year with the Padre Double-A affiliate, working to a solid 4.08 ERA, 3.87 FIP, and 1.09 WHIP through 88.1 innings. Wolf has struck out a ton of batters with a 29.8% strikeout rate and has only dished out a walk 6.3% of the time. Home runs have given him some slight issues, but a 1.22 HR/9 for a flyball pitcher is decent nonetheless. Wolf has also done this in a pretty hitter friendly environment as the league average ERA and WHIP in the Texas League are 4.82 and 1.43, respectively.

Wolf is not a hard-throwing pitcher, only averaging 88-92 MPH with his four-seam fastball. In his one Major League outing, his four-seamer came in around 89 MPH on average. Although he’s not a spin rate darling, he does hit over 90% active spin. Wolf also throws a slider with just over 40 inches of vertical drop and 10 inches of horizontal movement. His third pitch is a curveball, which also projects as above average, though he didn’t use it in his one Major League start. His fourth and final pitch is a low-spin changeup and mainly uses it against right-handed batters.

Wolf has a low arm slot, which adds some deception to his stuff. FanGraphs notes he’s a nightmare for left-handed hitters with his almost sidearm-like delivery. That claim is definitely supported by his platoon splits as while they do have a .258 average against him, have yet to hit a home run and have drawn just five walks. Righties have given Wolf a little more trouble, but they have a lower batting average and have struck out more often against him.

In a lot of ways, Wolf is reminiscent of Hill. A tall, lanky left-hander with a low arm slot who uses deception and control over velocity to get outs. Wolf projects as a very solid no. 4/5 starter. Wolf could also provide a large volume of innings as he’s currently on pace to make more than 20 starts and pitch over 120 innings for a second minor league season.

Alfonso Rivas

Alfonso Rivas is likely just a throw-in to this trade to help with the lost depth at first base. Rivas, a soon-to-be 27-year-old first baseman/outfielder, has served as an up-and-down depth piece for both the Chicago Cubs and Padres. He’ll likely serve a similar function until Malcolm Nuñez is fully stretched out again after his rehab.

Most of Rivas’ playing time came in 2022 where he batted .235/.322/.307 with a .285 wOBA, and 82 wRC+ through 287 plate appearances for the Cubs. While he did post a 10.1% walk rate, he also struck out 30.3% of the time. Of the few positives, Rivas was a strong defensive first baseman when he took the field, racking up +6 defensive runs saved throughout just 646.1 innings.

Rivas has spent most of the 2023 season for the Padre Triple-A affiliate where he is batting .332/.462/.582 with a .457 wOBA, and 150 wRC+. While he struck out a ton in the majors in 2022, he has only went down on strike three 19.2% of the time. He’s also walked at nearly the same, 18.8% rate. Plus he’s hit for some pop with a .250 isolated slugging percentage. Although these are good numbers, keep in mind that this is the Pacific Coast League. The league average triple-slash in the PCL is better than it was at the peak of the steroid era.

At the very least, Rivas does provide some relief for Connor Joe against RHP. Rivas had an above-average .257 batting average and .347 on-base percentage against righties last season but slugged well below .400 at .338. Again, the Pirates probably don’t view Rivas as anything more than a bridge for Nuñez. There are far worse depth first basemen out there than Rivas, but he’s by far the least exciting piece of this deal.