The Pittsburgh Pirates officially signed first baseman Carlos Santana on Tuesday afternoon. They didn’t announce a move to open up a 40-man roster spot until Wednesday afternoon. To make room on the roster for Santana, first baseman Lewin Diaz has been designated for assignment.
The 26-year-old Diaz was claimed from the Miami Marlins eight days ago. He’s a 6’4″, 217 pound lefty hitter. He has played parts of three seasons in the majors with little success at the plate, while displaying above average defense. 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. He has put up positive dWAR numbers in all three seasons, leading to that overall positive WAR 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. In a total of 112 big league games, Diaz has a .181/.227/.340 slash line, with a 28.9% strikeout rate and 13 homers. He had a .169 average and a .512 OPS during the 2022 season.
