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Pittsburgh Pirates Sign Catcher and Claim Young Pitcher Off Waivers

By Brenden Zielinski |
Roddery Muñoz Atlanta Braves
Roddery Muñoz Atlanta Braves / Julio Aguilar/GettyImages
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On Friday, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed a catcher to a one year Major League contract and claimed a young pitching prospect off waivers from the Washington Nationals

With the Winter Meetings only a few days away, the Pittsburgh Pirates have had a dreadfully slow start to the offseason, especially in terms of signing quality free agents. On November 20th, the Pirates signed outfielder Gilberto Celestino to a minor league deal, which became their first signing of the offseason.

Some Pirates fans (myself included) have been frustrated with how slow the offseason has been for the team, and are anxiously waiting to see if General Manager Ben Cherington and owner Bob Nutting will spend money on quality free agents this offseason. As we’ve all been waiting, Jason Mackey reported that the Pirates have made two moves; one signing and one waiver claim. Let’s break down the recently added Pirates players:

The first acquisition of the day was signing 26-year-old catcher, Ali Sanchez, to a one year deal. Some Pirates fans may remember Ali Sanchez’s brief tenure with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2020, and that he was claimed off waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates on October 18th, 2022. Since then, Sanchez has been primarily a Triple-A catcher for the Detroit Tigers and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

With the Reno Aces, Sanchez dominated offensively, hitting .311/.375/.492, 11 home runs, drove in 43 RBI, and had a 108 wRC+ across 67 games and 267 plate appearances. Sanchez only struck out 15.7% and walked 9.7% of the time at the plate. Sanchez also flashed a phenomenal glove behind the dish, only allowing one error, and threw out 22 runners. Sanchez is out of minor league options and was given a major league deal, so it is likely that he will be attempting to compete for a backup catcher role in Spring Training.

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.

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