The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed left handed pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes to a minor league deal, according to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com. We heard the Pirates were interested in Reyes back in December.
Reyes is 27 yeas old has a career 6.05 ERA in 334.2 innings in the majors, with a 5.8 K/9, a 3.9 BB/9, and a 1.5 HR/9 ratio. He’s a good flier to take on a minor league deal. He was once a highly regarded prospect in Atlanta’s farm system. When he came in to the league in 2007, I thought he could become a left handed version of Ian Snell, back when that was a good thing. He combined for a 2.72 ERA in 109.1 innings between AA and AAA that year, along with a 9.1 K/9 and a 3.9 BB/9 ratio at the age of 22. I guess he did end up being the left handed version of Snell, although not in the way I figured he would be.
Reyes is still young enough to have a major league career. He has a career .736 OPS in the majors against left handers, so worst case he could be left handed relief depth. He will most likely pitch out of AAA in 2011.
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.
Hopefully, he’s not a head case like Ian. 🙂
Nice move, he’s way better than his numbers make it look. Lefty with a good ground ball and strikeout rate too. He could possibly be a better option than Correia in the rotation, but he might even be more valuably used in relief.