The Pittsburgh Pirates announced four roster cuts on Monday, getting the Spring Training roster down to 32 players with three days left before Opening Day. Infielder Mark Mathias has been optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis, while infielders Drew Maggi, Chris Owings and pitcher Tyler Chatwood have all been reassigned to minor league camp.
We have optioned INF Mark Mathias to the club’s Triple-A Indianapolis roster.
RHP Tyler Chatwood, INF Drew Maggi and INF Chris Owings were also reassigned to the minor leagues.
There are now 32 players remaining in big league camp.— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) March 27, 2023
Mathias hasn’t been with the Pirates long after coming over in a trade with the Texas Rangers earlier this month. He hit .222/.417/.278 over eight games.
Maggi has seen extensive playing time this spring, getting into 24 games. No other player has been in 20 (or more) games. He hit .345/.424/.724 in 33 plate appearances, mostly appearing off of the bench.
Owings had the opportunity to opt out of his contract, since he didn’t make the Opening Day roster. He decided to accept the minor league assignment. He hit .250/.405/.406 this spring in 42 plate appearances.
Chatwood has allowed nine runs over five innings this spring, in his five appearances.
The Pirates have one more Spring Training game after today (tomorrow afternoon), then they will have an off-day before opening up the season on the road against the Cincinnati Reds.
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.
Two days before OD…….now is when BC will strike! Plenty of bright new shiny toys are now on the market. Don’t be surprised for a last minute dumpster dive.
A poster suggested catcher Jorge Alfaro a few days ago. I would love to see the Pirates get him as one of our two catchers.
Man, that guy is huge. Saw him playing in WBC, he just towers over guys. Baseball ref has him as 6’3″, 230, but that can’t be right.
I thought that either Mathias or Owings were ‘destined’to make the OD.
So……no gift for the Maggi??
Maybe later in the season depending 🙂
They have always had every team’s record 0-0 before OD but this year when I glossed over it had Pittsburgh 0-1 😖
Yordany has issues with arm strength?
CSN fits our mold for this year of guys that should get on base and don’t K a ton (choi, santana, etc.) and Bae’s speed should become even more of an asset with the bigger bases, they seem to be going all in on rule changes
Moreta making his way onto the team
that was a hell of a double there
want to see more of that
I see in the Box score we had a shift violation. What all happened? What was the violation and what is the penalty for a violation? I forgot what happens when a violation occurs…. lol!
The penalty for a violation, is the hitting team has the option to redo the play with a ball being awarded to the batter, or let the play stand. If there are runners on base, and the batter reaches base, and the runners advance, then the play stands.
Much obliged!
Come on- Maggi tore it up? Seems like the wiley utility guy they need 5 of.
In reality, Maggi tore it up in the first half, but really fell off, when the pitching started getting better. He hit the ball well early, when he was not facing the best pitching.
Thru 3/10 Maggi hit .500, after 3/10 he hit .176.
hoping they start Canaan in right field and bat him second in the lineup
It does look like Bae and CSN are on the OD roster. I am pleased to see this, but not real surprised. I kind of figured when Owings did not make the team that meant Bae did. I originally thought it would be Owings, but Bae played well 2nd half of ST, and pushed is way on the team. When Swaggerty went down, I knew CSN had a good chance. He has looked like the best hitter in camp, and has been starting game a lot lately. I would have kept Swaggerty and sent down Suwinski, but glad to see they kept CSN.
Swaggerty deserved the OD. Suwinski was Shelton decision and may go down soon. When is expected date for TSwag return after ‘seasoning’?
Fully expected Castro to be optioned and for Mathias and one of Owings/Maggi to make it.
i wouldnt have even been necessarily upset about it.
I still have a feeling about them making a pickup and then optioning Castro. not necessarily for it. not necessarily against it. just a feeling.
Awesome for Canaan. he deserves it.
The easy take is “they dont believe in Swaggerty” but i think my take is different. My interpretation is that they see Swaggerty being a MLB player in the long term regardless, and that this is sort of their window to see if Njigba can hit. Njigba’s future is a lot less certain than Swaggerty’s, IMO, due to defense.
So, gotta figure out if Njigba is anything. This is his window.
This is so f*cking stupid.
I promise there are better ways to evaluate prospects than collectively saying “F*ckit, YOLO!”.
Mathias is heading into his age 29 season and is a DH/OF – maybe better than Joe, but how does Castro get into that conversation? Owings is headed into his age 32 season and posted a -0.7 fWAR for the Orioles last year and Maggi, heading into his age 34 season has never played an MLB game as far as I know.
Rodolfo Castro played as a 23 year old in 2022 for the Pirates and posted a +0.9 fWAR. He still has not reached a year of MLB Service. Castro and Bae are the best tandem we have to play 2B/Util for this Pirate team. Cruz and Castro played MI together and then when Cruz was promoted, Castro and Bae played the MI together.
Agree, but for the fact they so often bring guys up to see if they can hit and … never let them hit. I hope CSN brings it, would love to see him succeed!
I like this take.
If this means Smith-Njigba and Bae both make the team, then I am surprised and pleasantly surprised. I thought they might carry one more infielder instead of Smith-Njigba. I hope he’s there and gets into the lineup semi regularly and so does Bae.
I would look at it like Reynolds, Hayes, and Cruz are everyday players. The other six spots in the lineup aren’t everyday players or even strictly platoon players either. Just kind of a bunch of quasi platoon players who all of play semi regularly depending on matchups. Too many of them hit left-handed to have straight platoons anyway. As long as the younger guys get at least semi regular at bats, then this is fine with me (and one less infielder that can’t hit works for me – please no late waiver wire pickup to ruin this for me).
If Owings, Mathias and Tucu all got cut, then who is the 4th (remaining) remaining bench player after Heinaman, Bae and Canaan?
Connor Joe
So 32 players left. Only Bae and CSN are non-catchers though right? So they made it. Right?
yeah they´re down to just deciding on Yerry or Moreta
Bru to IL , well that clears the starting rotation up.