The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed utility player Jake Fox and right handed pitcher Shairon Martis to minor league deals, according to Matt Eddy of Baseball America.
Fox turned 29 in July, and has a career .237/.288/.425 line in 489 at-bats in his major league career. He’s played first base, third base, the two corner outfield positions, and has caught in his four year major league career. We heard rumors during the season that the Pirates were interested in Fox, and they also expressed interest in him last off-season.
Martis turns 25 in March and has pitched 106.1 innings in the majors, with his last stint coming in 2009 at the age of 22. He has a combined 5.33 ERA, along with a 4.8 K/9 and a 4.3 BB/9 ratio. The right hander put up a 3.05 ERA in 133 innings at the AA level last year, with a 146:39 K/BB ratio. He will likely be used as depth out of the AAA level.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
Martis really bumped up his conditioning last year, and it showed in his stuff and results. He’s still pretty young and fresh, and I think he could be a dark horse for the rotation this spring, which is a good thing, because our current staff is shaky as hell.
Good signings, could really turn out to be significant.
Fox could theoretically replace Doumit’s versatility & power and actually play more and be healthier consistently. He has always had good pop.
Martis is a good project, he looks like one of those many pitchers who doesn’t fully develop until his late 20’s. (Bob Walk, Jerry Reuss, Jim Gott, etc). Good double-a line last year, if he does the same in trip-a he’ll pitch decent in the bigs. He’s always had potential.
not huge but i really like both of these guys