Infielder Jake Elmore has cleared waivers and has been assigned to Indianapolis. The Pittsburgh Pirates designated Elmore for assignment last Tuesday when they made the Jung Ho Kang signing official. The Pirates originally claimed Elmore off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds back on November 7th.
The 27-year-old will now serve as a depth option in AAA, where he will likely see time at second base and shortstop, the two positions he has played most often in his career. Elmore has actually played all nine positions in the minors, though his time in the outfield has been limited to 16 games in left field and one game in both right field and center.
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
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.
Two of the three nobodies are now gone. One to go.
I am glad we protected this guy on the 40 man, while exposing Andy Oliver to the Rule 5 draft. Oliver at least had potential to become something, this guy is nothing more than a AAAA player.
Probably true, but the Pirates didn’t have Kang when they had to protect the roster against the rule 5