Pirates Trim Eight Players from Spring Training Roster, Including Endy Rodriguez and Mike Burrows

The Pittsburgh Pirates made eight cuts to the Spring Training roster following a pair of games on Tuesday. They optioned five 40-man roster players, while reassigning three players to minor league camp.

We have optioned the following players to our Triple-A roster:

RHP Mike Burrows
C Endy Rodriguez
RHP Colin Selby
INF Jared Triolo
OF Ryan Vilade

We have also re-assigned the following players to Minor League Camp:

RHP Wei-Chieh Huang
LHP Caleb Smith
RHP Nate Webb

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) March 14, 2023

Catcher Endy Rodriguez and pitcher Mike Burrows are among the top prospects in the system. Neither was expected to win a Spring Training job this year, as Burrows had minimal success at Triple-A Indianapolis last year, while Rodriguez was still in High-A as of early August last year. Both should see significant time with the Pirates during the 2023 season. Burrows might have a little more trouble, depending on how the rotation works out during the season, but he should still see late season time in Pittsburgh at the least.

Rodriguez went 7-for-17 in ten games this spring. He had three doubles, no walks and two strikeouts. Burrows allowed two runs over five innings in three appearances. He will use the rest of the spring to get stretched out as a starter.

Jared Triolo, Colin Selby and Ryan Vilade should all be with Indianapolis as well, though Vilade could be a fringe player if the Pirates need to add multiple people to the 40-man roster. Triolo struggled this spring by going 1-for-20 with a double and four walks. Vilade went 3-for-18 with three singles and a walk. Selby gave up five runs on seven hits in four innings this spring.

The Pirates cut down the pitching staff with the three reassigned players on minor league deals, sending out right-handed pitchers Nate Webb and Wei-Chieh Huang and lefty Caleb Smith. Smith allowed three runs over 5.1 innings this spring. Webb gave up one run over three innings. Huang tossed three shutout innings.

There are now 50 players in camp, so there are still plenty of roster moves to make ahead of the season opener at the end of the month.

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