Pittsburgh Pirates Sign Catcher and Claim Young Pitcher Off Waivers

The Pirates also dabbled in the waiver market and claimed 23-year-old right handed pitcher, Roddery Muñoz off waivers from the Washington Nationals. Before the 2023 season, Muñoz was a top pitching prospect for the Braves and was added to their 40-Man roster, so that he would not be selected by another team. However, his tenure on the 40-Man wouldn’t last long and he was subsequently designated for assignment in July and claimed off waivers by the Nationals.

In Triple-A, Muñoz posted a combined 5.86 ERA, struck out 68 batters, and had a 1.65 WHIP across 66 innings pitched. Muñoz struggled with control of his pitches, leading to 46 walks and 11 home runs given up. Unlike Sanchez, Muñoz has two options remaining and will most likely be sent to Double-A to work on his pitches. Ben Cherington must see something good in this kid, and I hope he succeeds and works to make his Major League debut. As the old saying goes, “you can never have enough pitching”, so I’m not entirely upset with the signing.

As of writing this article, the Pittsburgh Pirates have only signed three players; none of which are anything extravagant.

With glaring needs in the starting rotation and at the 1st base position, the Pirates NEED to start making moves at the Winter Meetings if they are actually serious about contending in 2024. The St. Louis Cardinals have bolstered their pitching staff by adding Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, and Kyle Gibson to fill up 3/5ths of their rotation for 2024. Meanwhile, the Pirates have been sitting back and have barely added to their roster. All we can do is hope that Ben Cherington has something up his sleeve, otherwise, this will be a bleak offseason.