According to Craig Mish, who covers the Miami Marlins, the Pittsburgh Pirates have claimed 26-year-old first baseman Lewin Diaz, who was designated for assignment six days ago. The Pirates will need to open up a 40-man roster spot to add him.
Pirates claimed First Baseman Lewin Díaz from the Marlins off waivers per source.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) November 22, 2022
Diaz has played parts of three seasons in the majors with little success. His 2021 season was worth 0.8 WAR, giving him a total of 0.1 WAR over the 2020-22 seasons, but his offense has been below replacement level all three seasons. In 112 big league games during that time, Diaz has a .181/.227/.340 slash line, with a 28.9% strikeout rate and 13 homers. He’s a 6’4″, 217 pound lefty hitter, who has put up positive dWAR numbers in all three seasons, leading to the overall positive number. Diaz has shown solid contact rates coming up through the minors, helping him to an .829 OPS over 156 games in Triple-A during the 2021-22 seasons. That Triple-A success at the plate has yet to translate to the majors.
Assuming Diaz can get things to click in the majors, he would probably best serve as the first baseman with Ji-Man Choi as the DH. They’re both lefty hitters, but there’s a big difference in their defensive numbers. Diaz has to hit first for that to be an issue.
