TREY HALEY, RIGHT HANDED PITCHER
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Born: June 21, 1990 Height: 6′ 4″ Weight: 205 Bats: Right Throws: Right Drafted: 2nd Round, 76th Overall, 2008 (Indians) How Acquired: Free Agent High School: Central Heights HS (Nacogdoches, TX) Agent: Relativity Baseball |
WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES |
Cleveland drafted Haley in the second round as a projectable high school pitcher who threw in the low-90s with a potentially good curve. He struggled badly as a starter early in his career and moved to the bullpen after three years. The move led to a jump in his velocity to the mid-90s and he topped 100 at times. His curve also has been a plus pitch at times, and he’s usually had high to very high K rates since the move. He’s been plagued, though, by non-arm injuries and poor control. Haley is a groundball pitcher and he’s had both reverse and conventional platoon splits. Seven years after being drafted, he hadn’t reached the majors and had spent just a year on the Indians’ 40-man roster. He became a minor league free agent after the 2015 season and, surprisingly, the Pirates signed him to a major league contract for 2016.
2008 Haley signed at the deadline and got into only three games, one in the Gulf Coast League and two in the New York-Penn League. The latter stop went badly as he couldn’t throw strikes. Baseball America rated him the Indians’ 20th best prospect after the season. 2009 The Indians moved Haley up to low A and he struggled as a starter. Opponents batted only .241 against him, but he walked more than he struck out. 2010 Haley returned to low A, still as a starter, and didn’t fare any better. 2011 Cleveland moved Haley to the bullpen and his velocity jumped to the mid-90s. He was hampered by a groin injury that cost him parts of the season’s first half. He struck out a lot more batters, but continued to have control problems. BA nevertheless rated him the Indians’ 16th best prospect. 2012 Haley missed two months due to a sports hernia, but otherwise continued to pitch much as he had the previous year, only a little better. His walk and K rates continued to be very high. BA rated him 14th in the Cleveland system. The Indians added Haley to their 40-man roster after the season. 2013 Haley spent the year in AA and managed to stay healthy, but his control took a turn for the worse. BA dropped him to 28th in the Cleveland system. After the season, the Indians dropped Haley from the 40-man roster and outrighted him to AAA. 2014 Haley was injured again at the start of the season and didn’t debut until late June. He joined the Indians’ AA affiliate after rehabbing and continued to have trouble throwing strikes. He would have been a minor league free agent after the season, but re-signed with the Indians before that happened. 2015 Haley stayed healthy and made significant progress in AA, cutting the walks dramatically and striking out well over a batter an inning. The Indians moved him up for his first shot at AAA in mid-July and the control issues returned, as he walked exactly a batter an inning. After the season, Haley became a minor league free agent and teh Pirates signed him to a major league deal. 2016 Teams don’t usually sign minor league free agents to major league deals, but it does happen a few times each off-season. Haley was an extreme case, though, as he had never reached the majors and had thrown only 21 unsuccessful innings in AAA. The experiment didn’t work, as Haley struggled in AAA. When the Pirates had to add Erik Kratz following an injury to Francisco Cervelli, they designated Haley for assignment. He cleared waivers and was outrighted to AAA. That was in mid-June. He went on to have his one good month of the season, holding batters in June to a .524 OPS, but even then he walked ten in 12.1 IP. He went back to struggling in all areas in July and, at the end of the month, the Pirates demoted him to Altoona. His first two outings were rough, as he retired only five of the 12 hitters he faced. After that, he allowed no runs in 9.2 IP, but he still walked six. Haley will be a free agent after the season. |
CONTRACT INFORMATION
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2016: Major League Minimum |
PLAYER INFORMATION
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Signing Bonus: $1,125,000 MiLB Debut: 2008 MLB Debut: N/A MiLB FA Eligible: 2016 MLB FA Eligible: N/A Rule 5 Eligible: Eligible Added to 40-Man: 11/20/2012 (since removed) Options Remaining: 1 (USED: 2013, 2016) MLB Service Time: 0.000 |
TRANSACTIONS
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June 5, 2008: Drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 2nd round, 76th overall pick; signed on August 15. November 20, 2012: Contract purchased by the Cleveland Indians. December 19, 2013: Designated for assignment by the Cleveland Indians; outrighted to AAA on December 23. October 30, 2014: Re-signed with the Cleveland Indians. November 6, 2015: Became a free agent. January 7, 2016: Signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates to a major league contract as a free agent. June 11, 2016: Designated for assignment by the Pittsburgh Pirates; outrighted to AAA on June 15. |