When it was announced that Chris Owings was among the non-roster invites for spring training, his experience and versatility made him look like an ideal candidate to fill out the bench.
A strong showing in spring only strengthened his case to be included, but eventually he found out that he wasn’t going to be part of the Major League roster to begin the season. He did have an opt-out clause in his contract, meaning he could become a free agent should he not make the team, but instead accepted the assignment to minor league camp.
One thing that was brought up by Ben Cherington while on the broadcast of the game against the Baltimore Orioles was them continuing to try and build as much depth as possible.
Not only will the Pirates have some of their best prospects in the system in Indianapolis to begin the season, it will also have a player with nearly 2,500 career plate appearances at the major league level.
The Indianapolis infield could field any number of names that could include Nick Gonzales, Jared Triolo, Malcom Nunez, Ji-Hwan Bae, Liover Peguero, and Tucupita Marcano before we even factor in Owings. Peguero would be a strong candidate to start the season over in Altoona just due to the number of names in Indy.
They’ve succeeded in putting enough depth in place, something that will be needed over the course of an 162-game schedule. That will come in handy as well if the offense continues to struggle into the regular season.
Eddy Yean Fastball Velocity
The Pirates went with a bullpen game on Sunday, using eight different pitchers, with most pulled from the minor league side of things.
One of those players was Eddy Yean, who was acquired along with Wil Crowe in the Josh Bell trade. A still very young 21 years old, the righty hasn’t posted the best numbers in his two years with the Pirates, but his fastball/slider combination remains intriguing.
I’d have to go back and watch some video but don’t remember this being the case from Eddy Yean. Topped out at 99. Sat 93-95 rest of the inning thought #Pirates pic.twitter.com/SXXezsD1Qa
— Anthony Murphy (@__Murphy88) March 27, 2023
His first pitch hit 99 mph, which is an interesting development. Pulling as much video as I could on him, he had never hit more than 96 mph, even going back to 2022 when he focused on shorter outings.
Yean has the frame that would support more velocity, it would just be a matter of controlling it. He also seems like a prospect that a longer approach would need to be taken, but could also have a decent payoff.
Pirates Prospects Daily
By John Dreker
Pirates lost 8-1 to the Atlanta Braves on Sunday. Here’s the boxscore. Connor Joe was hit by a pitch and removed, with the Pirates saying he was day-to-day. Pirates are on the road today at 1:05 PM against the Minnesota Twins. The lineup will be added below once it becomes available.
**Pirates Reassign Angel Perdomo and Miguel Andujar to Minor League Camp The latest roster cuts
**Pirates Prospects Daily: Did the Pirates Do It Again with Vince Velasquez?
**Pirates DVR: Thomas Harrington, JP Massey, Michael Kennedy
Song of the Day
It could very well be a manic Monday with the amount of roster moves that still need to be made
Today’s Lineup
The squad vs. the Twins.
📻 https://t.co/gff1SXInI8#LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/2ler07UQSt
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) March 27, 2023
Anthony began writing over 10 years ago, starting a personal blog to cover the 2011 MLB draft, where the Pirates selected first overall. After bouncing around many websites covering hockey, he refocused his attention to baseball, his first love when it comes to sports. He eventually found himself here at Pirates Prospects in late 2021, where he covers the team’s four full season minor league affiliates.
If you have read my previous comments, you know I am neither “for” nor “against” BC or Shelton. I have watch most of the spring training games that have been streamed by mlb. Having Suwinski playing CF and batting in the starting lineup is just flat out ridiculous right now. If anyone needs to get full time at bats in AAA and full time reps at a “new” position, it is Suwinski. It is absolutely no good right now running him out there to fail against left handers, and even right now against right handers. It is also no good to have him in CF where he clearly looks uncomfortable. And it ridiculous to move Reynolds off of CF and to replace him with someone that has played below Reynolds level in the field for the entire spring training. Having Suwinski in CF is not win now, it is not good for the short term or long term development of the team, and it is certainly not good for Suwinski’s development. It is time they quit being stubborn about whatever plan they have for Suwinski and Swaggerty and CF, and change the plan, this plan will be a disaster in April.
I tend to agree.
With Mitch Haniger on the DL it’s expected that RULE 5 pick BLAKE SABOL will be starting in LF for the Giants on Opening Day. How one club can have such a different opinion about a player than another club, especially one with so little experience, is really eye opening. Either the Giants are very weak or they have a lot of faith in their scouts and Sabol.
Reading FG I come away thinking that SF has a weak farm system.
Hell of a lot of difference between a guy starting on opening day for a team while an obviously weaker team can’t find a spot for him on their 40 man roster. I’m not saying the Giants are right, I’m just amazed at the difference of opinion on the kid’s worth. But past history would suggest the Giants have a pretty good eye for talent.
And the composition of their roster does not suggest otherwise.
You’re suggesting the Pirates are a stronger team and organization than the Giants?
There’s my boy….Connor Scott! 5-star diving catch in LF!
Escotto with a bomb! I can see why BNP is all in on Milb games only!
Hill with another gem, new shift rules are going to hurt hill.
Just checked the box score. Hill was held out sick yesterday. Does that make any sense sending out there today? Idk the details of what his illness were……but was he full strength today? 11 hits, 2 HR, 7 ERs??
a hit off the first base bag, a hit that was right at Cruz but was apparently a knuckle ball and dove under his glove, a hit on a pop up lost in the sun (by Hayes and not the usual suspects), and at least one soft grounder found a hole through the infield, all in the 5 run second innning. So he wasn’t hit hard for all 11 of those hits. That said, he isn’t going to strike out a lot of batters, so it is imperative that when there is soft contact it results in an out, because there will be a lot of contact.
Is that the modern day scoring that will reduce Cruz’s 60 errors to 30? The ball “dove” under his glove? Call it a hit. LOL
SuwinsKi.
SuwinsKKi..
on the third at bat a fair ball was struck, but only made it as far as the pitcher, progress!
lately he has been a one true outcome batter.
CSN, Bae, Joe on the bench. Given the makeup of the outfield, choosing CSN over Swaggerty defies baseball logic (and I like CSN).
CSN does not look good vs LH’ers. I got to see his 2 K’s today. KInda reminds me of Cruz last season……just guessing and flailing.
Things got interesting if Brubaker starts on the IL with forearm tightness. I thought he looked good this spring and he has been an analytical darling for a couple years now. I was rooting for him to have a mini breakthrough this year. I guess this locks Oviedo in the rotation?
Yeah this sucks. I was interested to see how he’d do this year. Again this goes back to me saying he would be a great set up guy in front of bednar. He struggles to get through 5 and seems to be hurt a lot. I think he’d be a perfect bullpen arm elite probably.
perhaps the Pirates should trade a player or two that is in the logjam for playing time at Indy/Altoona. At some point hard decisions are going to have to be made (and that’s a good thing…means you got options)
I’m sure that teams will be busting down the doors for our 27th and 28th men.
“Cash Considerations”…..BN’s favorite.
This is type of deal that happens at trade deadline or during hot stove season. These MI’s are going to have to sing for their supper the first few months, which in theory, benefits the organization.
I hate to admit. I had forgotten exactly how hot Susanna Hoffs was. Geez. She’s a 12 out of 10 in that video….
She is now 64 and married to the very lucky Jay Roach of Austin Powers fame.
Amen. I was just telling someone the other day how the “Eternal Flame” video shaped me as a I was hitting middle school. Opened my eyes a little. Just had another watch. While I was at it I then checked out “In Your Room”. She still looks good.
Those eyes were on full display in ‘Walk Like and Egyptian’.
We knew it as “Walk With an Erection”…
I was saving that one for later. Didn’t want to OD.
It’s the 80’s hairstyle that illicits this feeling.
I’m good with veteran depth and maybe he can even help in the development of some of the players. However, in the case of Peguero, if the plan was for him to start in AAA and he now goes to AA because of Owings (roster space in AAA will be at a premium) then I am not in favor of Owings being kept. Bottom line, the development plans for Peguero, whatever the final result, should not be altered because of the desire for veteran depth.
Thoroughly agree, although I wouldn’t be surprised if Peguero was destined for AA already. He didn’t get the end of season cup of coffee at AAA that Endy got. The article is pure speculation.
Bench Battles………………..original…now
10) Conner Joe………………..90%….100%
11) Tyler Heineman…………60%……90%
12) Mark Mathias…………….n/a…….80%
13) Ji-Hwan Bae……………..60%……70%
——————————————————————
14) Canaan Smith-Njigba..30%……50%
15) Jason Delay………………..10%……10%
.
With Swaggerty going down, Joe moves to lock status. Mathias gets to be this year’s Van Meter (sigh). I’ll buy into the comments about liking Bae’s speed and make him the last guy over Ngijba. Please get the torches and pitchforks organized.
Joe isn’t a lock due to possibility of landing on IL to start season.
I’ll be shocked if CSN is left off roster considering his ability to get on base and BC’s stated desire to have a team with guys who can do just that.
I do think Mathias > Van Meter if for no other reason than he has shown some power and has less of a failure rate already established in MLB. However, I still would prefer Bae and CSN on the opening day roster.
I don’t understand why Mathias would get the nod. He has options. He isn’t an opt out situation. The pirates owe him nothing. There is no reason to prefer him.
Oh wait, he already has a year plus of service time and CSN, like Swaggerty, needs some weeks learning “something something” in the minors until mid May or later. Just cuz.
I don’t think BC will hold these guys all down until super two, but I wouldn’t put it past him.
I also expect Hiura to get picked up and slotted in ahead of Bae.
I’m eating crow!!
Mathias optioned!
https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/transaction-tracker