Tuesday night was the deadline to add prospects to the 40-man roster to protect them from next month’s Rule 5 draft. The Pittsburgh Pirates added top 100 prospects Endy Rodriguez and Mike Burrows, as well as pitcher Colin Selby and third baseman Jared Triolo. To make room on the 40-man roster, catcher Tyler Heineman and pitchers Jeremy Beasley, Junior Fernandez and Manny Bañuelos have been designated for assignment.
Endy Rodriguez was named as our Player of the Year, as well as the Pirates minor league Player of the Year and he won the South Atlantic League MVP. He was already a fringe top 100 prospect in the game coming into the season, but he firmly put himself among the top prospects in the game by hitting .323/.407/.590 in 125 games over three levels, finishing the year in Triple-A Indianapolis.
Mike Burrows is one of the top pitching prospects in the system, and he showed why early in the year with Altoona, posting a 2.94 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 69 strikeouts in 52 innings. He struggled in a few starts with Indianapolis, but he had a 2.45 ERA over 33 innings in the other nine contests. He was showing up on top 100 prospect lists later in year. He just turned 23 years old.
No one questioned whether or not Rodriguez or Burrows would be added, both were obvious choices. It became a bit up in the air with everyone else after them. They decided to protect relief pitcher Colin Selby and Jared Triolo, leaving a group of interesting prospects unprotected. More on them shortly.
Selby had Tommy John surgery in 2020 and came back last year on a limited pitch count. He then missed time this year, which limited him to 35.2 innings during the season and another ten in the Arizona Fall League. As we mentioned in our AFL Recap today, he was among the hardest throwers in the league and showed off a nice slider. While mostly pitching in Altoona this year, he had a 2.27 ERA, a 1.21 WHIP and 43 strikeouts in 45 innings. He then gave up two earned runs in ten innings in the AFL, where he added 12 more strikeouts.
Triolo had a rough start to the season, but he finished very strong, at least until a minor knee injury ended his season early. He’s been the Defensive Player of the Year for the Pirates two years in a row, with the athleticism to play almost anywhere in the field, including shortstop and center field. He also put up a .944 OPS over the final 44 games of the season.
As for the DFA’d players, Heineman and Banuelos saw some decent time with the Pirates this year, while the other two were mostly in the minors. All four players joined the Pirates during the season. Heineman hit .211/.277/.254 in 52 games this season. Ali Sanchez is the only catcher on the 40-man roster besides Endy Rodriguez now, so expect the Pirates to add to their catching this winter. Banuelos had a 4.96 ERA, 34 strikeouts and a 1.32 WHIP in 32.2 innings over 31 appearances. The 25-year-old Fernandez was limited to three scoreless outings with the Pirates, while Beasley only pitched at Indianapolis briefly after suffering an injury shortly after joining the Pirates.
