When the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired Miguel Yajure in the Jameson Taillon trade, he looked like he was on his way to becoming at the very least a back of the rotation option going forward.
Inconsistencies, along with injuries, have really set Yajure back, and for some time it seemed his role in Indianapolis was up in question.
August has seen Yajure build his arm back up, and pitching deeper into games for the Indians, potentially opening the door as an option should the Pirates need another starter.
Things in Pittsburgh are getting a little rough when it comes to the rotation. Bryse Wilson only last an inning and another one of their starters, Zach Thompson, piggy backed behind him throwing four innings of his own. That’s not even factoring in the Pirates have had a little bit of a bullpen day built in with Tyler Beede taking a regular turn in the rotation.
He has starting experience, and the Pirates seemed content with letting him stretch out in the majors on the go.
That’s where Yajure could come in, as the righty has completed at least five innings in three of his last four outings. During the month of August, Yajure has pitched 24 innings five appearances (four starts), striking out 25 batters, walking nine and posting a 4.50 ERA in that span.
After Friday night’s outing, Yajure has back-to-back five inning, seven strike out appearances.
For some time it looked like injuries might force him to a full-time reliever role, but now Yajure is playing his way into potentially getting a couple more starts in the majors this season.
Tres Gonzalez Adjusting In Bradenton
With the kind of success that Gonzalez had at Georgia Tech, I thought he’d eventually get things going playing for Bradenton. The Pirates fifth round pick in this year’s draft extended his hitting streak to seven games on Friday against Dunedin. In those seven games, Gonzalez has picked up multiple hits in four of those games. He also has hits in 11 of his last 12 games played at the Single-A level.
It wasn’t really expected that he’d hit for a lot of power at the pro level, and of the 16 hits he has at Bradenton, only one went for extra-bases.
Pirates Prospects Spotlight
Pirates Links
Prospect Watch
Today: Prospect Watch: Pirates Gold Look to Advance
Yesterday: Prospect Watch: DSL Pirates Gold Stay Alive
Daily Video Rundown
Today: Pirates DVR: Luis Peralta, Luis Ortiz, Malcom Nunez Home Run
Yesterday: Pirates DVR: Nick Gonzales, Endy Rodriguez Home Run, Termarr Johnson RBI
Pirates Discussion
Today: Pirates Discussion: Stumble Into Philly
Yesterday: Pirates Discussion: Cross State Trip
Pirates Prospects Daily Articles
Other Pirates Coverage:
Card of the Day: 2018 Topps Living Set Jordy Mercer
This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History: August 27th, Jordy Mercer Leads a Group of Seven Players
PREMIUM ARTICLES
ALTOONA CURVE PITCHERS
By Anthony Murphy
Williams: Scouting Talent, Scouting People
Quinn Priester: Confidence Paves Path To Success On The Mound
Kyle Nicolas: Attacks Hitters Base Off ‘Feel’ On The Mound
Maintaining Focus on the Mound is Key To The Highest Level
Luis Ortiz: Focus On ‘Filling Zone’, Force Hitters To Cheat On Fastball
Tahnaj Thomas: Bullpen Role Helping Focus On Throwing Strikes
J.C. Flowers: Athleticism Allows Righty To Be A Quick Study On The Mound
ALTOONA CURVE HITTERS
By Tim Williams
Endy Rodriguez is Looking Like the Best Prospect in the Pirates System
Liover Peguero Needs to Control His Talent
Jon Nunnally Discusses the Hitting Development Approach in Altoona
Why is Nick Gonzales Struggling to Make Contact?
Blake Sabol: A Prospect Development Story
Aaron Shackelford: “It’s definitely been a growing season, mentally”
Song of the Day
Anthony began writing over 10 years ago, starting a personal blog to cover the 2011 MLB draft, where the Pirates selected first overall. After bouncing around many websites covering hockey, he refocused his attention to baseball, his first love when it comes to sports. He eventually found himself here at Pirates Prospects in late 2021, where he covers the team’s four full season minor league affiliates.
I was hoping Burrows would be called up to start last night since he was scratched from his start earlier this week for Indy. But of course we got more Beede. And we’re all the worse for it.
4.50 era in aaa last 5 games is an option for mlb rotation? Fuck me
Not impressed with Yajure….kind of a soft tosser and I don’t see much upside with him…not even in the bullpen….but, he might be better than Wilson and Thompson, which isn’t saying much.
Yajure has been pretty bad since we picked him up. I do think he was rushed through the minors with the Yanks so I would be happy to give him some time to develop. However, I’m not sure he is anything more than someone to eat innings at this point.
If he is an improvement over Bryce, Zach and Bullpen Beede, I am all for it! As far as I am concerned, we have 3 (somewhat) reliable SPs and the rest should be in Korea. Correction….Beede has been pretty good in relief. Keep him here in the ‘pen.
Yajure’s coming up, Oviedo will have to come up, Burrows will come up, probably Bolton, maybe Alldred. Pirate arms are falling apart and there are still over 35 games to go. Bednar, Peters and now Holderman on the IL. Cherington continuing to collect AAAA non-answers like Stout, Beasley and Ramirez and cycling dead-enders like Brice and Vieaux.
The whole plan is being exposed for the sham it always was. They didn’t have anywhere close to the number of reliable arms they would need to get through a season, programmed the few quality arms they do have to pitch multiple innings out of the pen, and kept on collecting more of the same. If Ben thought this would work, then he’s a fool. If he knew it probably wouldn’t, then he’s a fraud for trying to sell it as a strategy to paying customers.
Sorry for the rant on a Saturday, but it’s clear this season is not going to end with a promising 50 game stretch where the farmhands Cherington and Huntington acquired and developed start to look like a competitive 2023 team. It’s going to limp to the finish just like last season and we’re going to have to console ourselves with the (most likely unfulfilled) dream that he’s going to shell out $40+M in free agent salaries for 2023 to shore up the holes he has neglected so far.
Will Oviedo, Yajure and Boltonalso be AAAA arms? None are top prospects.
As for the 2023 train wreck, welcome aboard. Been riding on that one for a while now.
Oviedo is a viable major league relief pitcher TODAY. His slider is upper echelon, and he pairs it with an upper 90s sinking fastball that doesn’t get great swing and miss, but does yield below average damage on contact. Those two pitches alone make him useful in the 6th/7th innings, if not later (if he can hit the zone more than 1/2 the time). He might be stretched as a starter, but he would still be > Wilson. Higher floor, higher ceiling. But that’s more an indictment of Wilson than anything.
Yajure also has shown better raw stuff than most of the guys now pitching in Pittsburgh, but he’s been a freaking mess all year. While it’s nice that he’s putting together some decent outings, he’s still barely league average for AAA in August, which has been his best month. He’s not an answer, not now, but I’m 100% sure he’ll be called up, and probably not because he’s earned it, but because the big league team has run out of arms to finish the season. I still hold out hope for him for next year.
As for Bolton…honestly I’m not suggesting he’s going to stabilize the pen or anything. Just noting that in a season where they’ve called up Alldred, Sulser, Vieaux, Brice, Eickhoff, Fletcher and Stout, and cycled out Howard, Hembree and Banda, seriously: what would they have to lose?
And yet one year ago this was happening …
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/08/25/orioles-losing-streak/
And that turnaround didn’t depend on any FA’s
No but having the #1 farm system two years in a row sure helped.
Depends on the source but Pitt and Balt have been ranked about the same over the past two years
In that case, it’s not a good look for us, is it?