The Pirates have designated shortstop Pedro Florimon for assignment in order to clear space on the roster for right-hander Josh Wall, tweets Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The move comes less than 24 hours after the 28-year-old defensive specialist delivered some late-inning heroics with a walk-off triple in the 15th inning.
Florimon has appeared in 15 games with the Buccos but received just 21 plate appearances, as much of his work has come as a defensive replacement. He logged 134 games as the Twins’ primary shortstop back in the 2013 season, hitting .221/.281/.330 with nine homers and outstanding defense, but he’s never hit consistently enough to stick in the Majors for a stretch of multiple seasons. Florimon’s batted just .095/.181/.147 in 107 plate appearances since his lone season as a regular in 2013.
Defensively speaking, Florimon is a gifted shortstop. Defensive Runs Saved pegs him at +21 in a little more than a full season’s worth of innings (1716), and UZR/150 has him at 3.6 runs above average. He also has above-average speed, having delivered positive value on the bases throughout his career, including 24 steals in 31 attempts (77.4 percent).
“Pedro Florimon, you’ve just hit a walk-off wall shot in the 15th! What are you going to do next?”
“I’m going to Indianapolis!”