The Pittsburgh Pirates made five cuts on Saturday afternoon, as we reached the midway point of the 18-game Spring Training schedule. All five players are pitchers, including Roansy Contreras, who is rated by all top sources as a top 100 prospect in baseball. He was optioned to Indianapolis. The other four pitchers, Yerry De Los Santos, Enmanuel Mejia, Hunter Stratton and Blake Weiman, were all reassigned to minor league camp.
The 22-year-old Contreras pitched twice during Spring Training, allowing three runs in three innings of work. He pitched once for the Pirates at the end of the 2021 season, but he has just one game of Triple-A experience, as well as half of a season of Double-A work, so we probably won’t see him until mid-season unless a need arises before then.
The other four are all relievers, who were in camp on non-roster invites. None of them have any big league experience, and the Pirates still have a large group of pitchers competing for spots in the rotation and/or the bullpen. The regular season opens up in 12 days. MLB teams will have 28-man rosters to start the season. The active spring roster is at 48 players.
