The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that they have claimed right-handed pitcher Eli Villalobos from the Miami Marlins. To make room on the 40-man roster, shortstop Oneil Cruz has been transferred to the 60-day injured list. Cruz had surgery yesterday on his fractured left ankle. Villalobos has been optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis.
The 25-year-old Villalobos was a 14th round draft pick of the Marlins in 2018 out of California State University. He has been a reliever for a large majority of his minor league career, except for a short time during the 2019 season when he made a handful of starts.
He had some real success last year over a somewhat small sample size in Triple-A. After posting a 3.38 ERA, a 1.01 WHIP and 75 strikeouts in 61.1 innings with Pensacola of the Double-A Southern League, Villalobos made 12 appearances with Jacksonville of the Triple-A International League. He had a 1.04 ERA, a 1.10 WHIP and 26 strikeouts in 17.1 innings during that time.
Villalobos went to Spring Training with the Marlins this season, where he allowed two runs over 4.2 innings in four appearances. He struggled in his three appearances for Jacksonville this season, allowing runs in all three games, to the tune of a 11.57 ERA and a 2.36 WHIP, though he had seven strikeouts in 4.2 innings.
Baseball America has never rated him among the top 30 prospects for the Marlins. He had solid results in 2021, but the 2022 season was clearly a breakout performance for him. His stats before the lost 2020 season were poor at best.
He added a splitter to his arsenal last year, with outstanding results from the pitch right away. He was a catcher until early in his college career, so he doesn’t have a long track record of pitching like some players his age. He throws a lot of strikes and he’s posted an 11.3 SO/9IP rate throughout his career.
Villalobos was just added to the 40-man roster, so he still has two options remaining after this season.
Cruz is scheduled to miss four months, so the 60-day injured list assignment has no effect on his return. He had no chance of being back before 60 days will be up.
Tim Williams looked at how the Pirates could replace his loss yesterday, once we found out how much time he will miss.
