Following up on the previous news that the Pittsburgh Pirates have signed Jake Fox and Shairon Martis, Baseball America’s transactions page adds that the Pirates have also signed Brandon Boggs and Stefan Welch.
Boggs, an outfielder, has played for Texas and Milwaukee in the majors, spending most of his career in the Texas system. He has a career .209/.315/.380 line in 326 major league at-bats. He turns 29 in January and has played all three outfield positions. Boggs has a career .271/.389/.432 line in 1032 at-bats at the AAA level. He will likely serve as outfield depth in Indianapolis next year.
Welch has spent most of his minor league career at first base, although he’s also played third base. The 23 year old Australian had a .271/.361/.438 line in high-A last year, which is his highest level to date. He’s currently playing in the Australian league for the Adelaide Bite, who are managed by Pirates’ scout Tony Harris. My guess is that he will play off of the bench in either Altoona or Bradenton, backing up first base, third base, and the corner outfield spots on occasion.
