The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that right-handed pitcher Ricky DeVito has been sent to the Texas Rangers as the player to be named later in the Mark Mathias trade made on Wednesday.
DeVito was acquired by the Pirates in the Rich Rodriguez trade made during the 2021 season. DeVito was injured at the time, so he didn’t debut with the Pirates until 2022. He was an eighth round pick out of college in 2019, who pitched just 57 innings over the 2019-21 seasons, despite working as a starter during that time.
He pitched for Greensboro last year, where he had 5.40 ERA, a 1.53 WHIP and 90 strikeouts in 70.1 innings over six starts and 29 relief appearances. The 24-year-old had some obvious control issues, with 44 walks, 14 hit batters and 15 wild pitches in his somewhat limited time.
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.
I thought DeVito was worth keeping!
in preparation for the Reynolds trade
That’s kind of annoying. DeVito’s high risk, but considering Mathias was DFA’d and the Pirates have 3rd priority anyway, it feels a tad like an overpay.
The Pirates got him for his potential power and versatility was the same thing they said when they got VanMeter with the only difference being that VanMeter had around 600 MLB pa’s when the Pirates got him compared to 170 or so for Mathias who’s a year older than VanMeter.
Best splitter in the system had him as a guy to watch for me. I could see him flying up the Rangers system assuming he can stay healthy. Mathias is fine, but I wonder how many similarly profiled RH utility hitters we need. Seems like a senseless trade for me but I hope I’m wrong
I could see him flying up the Rangers system assuming he COULD EVER FIND THE STRIKE ZONE.
I fixed that for you. 24 and in High A doesn’t bode well for his future.
Injuries and Covid should be considered if you empathize age. He was my early pitcher to click pick for this up coming season.
Judging by your Gif, I assu,e you didn’t like the deal? 😇😇😇
I was never high on DeVito. To me, no great lost. Wild arms, no matter how talented, are a dime a dozen.
I’m just a sucker for a good change, I was hoping to see him in AA. I might be wrong, but last year was his first full season as a pro since he was injured.
Hopefully he taught that change to all the Hilltoppervpitchers.😎😎😎
Noooooooo, Noooooo
No problem with this. DeVito was neither young for his level nor a likely contributor to a MLB roster. The Mathias pickup for him was a Pirate plus in my opinion even if Mathias doesn’t last long on the roster or doesn’t contribute much.
In the end, the Rodriguez trade proved to be a trade with basically no value to either Atlanta or Pittsburgh. R.Rod stunk for Atlanta, Wilson stunk for the Bucs and DeVito doesn’t look like he will amount to anything unless he miraculously gets his control under control.
Rich Rod was decent for Braves. He helped them get to the playoffs. Had 8 holds, 1.08 whip, low 3.00s era.
On the surface, Rich Rod was decent for the Braves but his strikeout rate was miniscule and his peripherals unsustainable. The Braves didn’t trust him by the end of the season and left him off their postseason roster. Then he didn’t even pitch in the majors last year (the year after the trade) after signing a minor league deal with the Yankees. From Pirates closer to unrostered in half a season is not good. Now he’s on a minors deal with Miami.
Two things became big problems for Rich Rod……1) umps checking for sticky substances midseason. 2) 80 game PED suspension. I think BC trading him was a great move/timing.
Bummer. Fair trade, but Mathias (while maybe an option this year to be slightly better than a Joe or Andujar or our prospects) just doesn’t seem like long term help at his age. Small chance but at least DeVito could be seen as a potential late inning guy in the compete phase over the next years.
Highly unlikely with his control problems. Just another electric arm that couldn’t find the socket (plate), is a much more likely outcome.
You completed the circuit with that comment.