The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed two players who played for the Ogden Raptors of the independent Pioneer League, getting 25-year-old outfielder Jakob Goldfarb and 24-year-old left-handed pitcher Mitchell Miller.
Goldfarb was a 24th round draft pick of the Chicago White Sox in 2019. He didn’t get much of a chance in their system, but he crushed pitching in the Pioneer League this year, hitting .342/.460/.661 in 88 games, with 30 doubles, 24 homers and 45 steals. He scored a league high 116 runs. It’s a high offense league, with an average .888 OPS. He was seventh in the league in OPS, second in homers, and he finished first in steals, with 16 more than the next highest total. What you might not expect with that stolen base total is that he has experience behind the plate, catching in college at Oregon, in summer college ball, as well as with the White Sox and this season with Ogden. He’s mostly played outfield, but he’s been catching on and off since 2016.
Miller pitched at West Texas A&M in 2019-20 and he was at Clemson for two years before that stint. He had very little experience, throwing ten games with Clemson and 31.2 innings with West Texas A&M. He’s listed at 6’6″. He was a 31st round pick of the Los Angeles Angels in 2018, but passed on signing. With Ogden this season, he had a 5.71 ERA in 69.1 innings, with 86 strikeouts and a 1.64 WHIP. The league had a 6.98 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP.
Here’s a video that Mitchell posted last year:
Felt good to finally be back on the mound⚔️ @PitchingNinja pic.twitter.com/2f0yDjxTSQ
— Mitchell Miller (@lil_miller30) July 2, 2020
Both players are currently at Pirate City.
