53.5 F
Pittsburgh

Pirates Claim First Baseman Lewin Diaz from Marlins

Published:

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.

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.

Liked this article? Take a second to support Pirates Prospects on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!
John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

Related Articles

Latest Articles