Matt Hague is with the Pittsburgh Pirates and he will be added to the active roster for tonight’s game. According to multiple reports on Twitter, Starling Marte isn’t with the team right now and Rob Biertempfel points out that Marte’s locker is empty. A roster move with need to be made to add Hague to the 40-man roster, which is currently full. More on this as it develops.
Hague played for the Pirates in 2012, hitting .229/.270/.257 in 30 games. This season for Indianapolis, he is hitting .267/.363/.456 in 80 games, with 13 homers and he leads the International League and all Pirates minor league players with 59 RBIs.
Hague has played 38 games at third base this season, splitting the rest of his time between first base and DH. Ryan Palencer recently talked to Hague about his power spike this season and playing third base.
5:13pm: Still no word on the move to put Hague on the roster, but it was announced that Starling Marte was placed on the Bereavement List. Hague hasn’t arrived at the stadium yet, but he’s on the lineup card and available to play tonight.
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When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
Sorry for you loss Starling. Starling went to the Dominican for personal reasons a little while ago, this was probably the reason, you have to wonder how much this was on his mind the last month or so.
I don’t think juggling a couple players on this team means as much as straightening out the Pen.
Exacto leadoff. And getting a more reliable starter than Cumpton. He was pitching last night like he was throwing eggs…and was afraid they would break.You can not pitch afraid in MLB.
Sorry to hear about Marte’s mother, but It’s nice to see Hague get another shot.
Clint Hurdle and Neal Huntington have both said that we’re going to start seeing Josh Harrison at SS. I think Matt Hague makes sense as a better bench piece, as he can spell Pedro at 3rd against LHP. If he can out-perform Gabby, he might find himself a permanent spot on the bench.
I would think that since they could have brought up Decker for a few days easier (he’s already on the 40 and been here this year), I think the move to bring Hague may be more than just a couple of day thing. He did not get off to a good start tonight, but just seems to be someone who could give us just a little better bat off the bench.
Bringing up Rojas would have made more sense, since they gave the other good option away – Chris Dickerson.
They probably didn’t want to burn an option year over three days. And if it was going to be an OF it would be Decker before Rojas. He’s already on the 40-man.
Prayers with Starling and his family.
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If you have not seen the Root special on Marte back in his home country it is worth you time – family is important to this young man – as it should be.
Yeah I agree. I did check it out and he seems like a great kid. Really good documentary they did.
Our prayers are with the family.
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Pirates can use the type of bat off the bench that Hague brings.
They really need a quad A slap hitter with a poor average? Things aren’t that desperate
Agreed, why not keep Hague up and send Martinez back down while Barmes is out?
Because with Barmes out, no one else can capably back up Mercer at SS should he get a spike in the shin.
Well they could always call him back up if Mercer got hurt. I’m sure Harrison could get by for a couple games, considering they already said he is going to get some starts at SS.
A player optioned to the minors cannot be recalled within 10 days of his assignment unless someone goes on the DL. Besides, with Marte out, in your scenario Harrison would be the only depth at OF AND SS. All so that we can stash Hague on the bench. I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, but it makes the Pirates unnecessarily vulnerable.
I was speaking of when Marte gets back. Harrison goes back to bouncing around. I just don’t see any value in keeping Martinez up but of course not much value in Hague being up either. I guess I would prefer Hague but that isn’t saying much.
Report is his mother in law passed away in the DR