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Pirates Sign LHP Kent Emanuel to Minor League Deal

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The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed 30-year-old left-handed pitcher Kent Emanuel to a minor league deal. He was originally a 19th round draft pick of the Pirates out of high school in 2010, but decided to attend college, where he moved up to a third round pick in 2013. He debuted in the majors with the 2021 Houston Astros.

Emanuel has minimal big league experience, posting a 2.55 ERA and an 0.91 WHIP in 17.2 innings with the Astros. He was selected off of waivers by the Philadelphia Phillies during the 2021-22 off-season, but he spent the entire year in the minors and on the injured list. An elbow injury caused his season to begin late, while a shoulder strain caused his season to end early. 

Emanuel pitched well when healthy for Lehigh Valley of the Triple-A International League in 2022. He had a 2.37 ERA in ten starts, with a 1.07 WHIP and a 6:44 BB/SO ratio in 49.1 innings. He struggled for the most part while coming up the minor league system, owning a 4.56 career ERA in the minors over 590 innings, but he’s also played in some high offense parks/leagues.

The two injuries in the last season, along with him being an older player with minimal big league time, takes away a bit from the solid Triple-A stats in 2022, and nice numbers in his brief big league time. However, it’s a minor league deal, so there’s no risk to see if he can replicate that success when healthy.

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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.

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