According to their milb.com player pages, the following DSL/VSL players being recently released:
DSL Players
Darling Alduey – Just 18 years old, he signed in late 2009 and posted a 6.43 ERA in his only season last year, walking 17 batters in 14 innings. His release comes as a surprise as he signed for a decent amount, $60 K and was said to have an above average curveball while also throwing his fastball up to 88mph with what they said was “room to grow”. Factoring in his age and that he is a LHP this one was unexpected.
Jona Corporan – 19 year old pitcher signed last year,was nearly unhittable holding batters to a .133 BAA but had major control issues walking 20 batters in just 13 innings.
Luis Valdez – This one is a bit of a surprise as he signed for $75 K in 2009 and was said to have an above average curveball and he threw in the low 90’s with a durable frame. His stats were decent for a first year player and he is just 19 so his release was a bit unexpected as well.
Jeffrey Jaquez – 20 year old catcher who lasted just one season in the organization. He was far down on the catching depth chart as well. Hit .293 but had a high K rate in limited AB’s and his defensive numbers were subpar.
VSL Player
Raul Ruiz – He has put up great stats over the last two seasons and not been promoted which usually signals that a player has an advanced off-speed pitch but no velocity on his fastball. He is also on the small side for a pitcher, listed at 5′ 10″ 160 lbs and pitched strictly in relief so there may have been stamina issues too with him. He is also 20 years old which is top end on the age chart for that league so that worked against him as well. Batters hit under .200 off him each of the last two seasons and he walked just 7 batters total those two seasons while getting a high amount of groundballs so he had great success but the other factors must’ve outweighed any possible potential.
The DSL roster now sits at 30 while the VSL is at just 28. Some of the players still listed on those rosters were with the Pirates in spring training and will be with the GCL team this upcoming season. Both summer league teams have a 35 player roster limit so expect some new players to be signed within the upcoming six weeks as both teams kick off their 2011 schedule in May. Back in early March we noted that the Pirates also released nine other International players.