The Pirates announced a number of roster moves today, optioning pitcher Mitch Keller, JT Brubaker and Luis Escobar to Triple-A Indianapolis. Pitchers Dario Agrazal, Elvis Escobar, Eduardo Vera, Blake Weiman, as well as catcher Jason Delay were re-assigned to minor league camp.
Keller, 23, is the biggest name of the bunch, the Pirates top prospect and the #19 prospect overall according to MLB.com’s rankings. GM Neil Huntington provided commentary on the demoted pitchers to reporters today, including Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. On Keller, he said (via Brink’s Twitter), “He’s not the first or the last guy to have some struggles in spring training, but what’s really encouraging is his attitude about it going out. It’s not what he wanted, it’s not what we expected, but he’s ready to tackle it head-on.” Keller surrendered 10 earned runs in only 4 innings of work this spring, including 3 home runs. He struck out only one batter out of the twenty-five faced.
On Brubaker, 25, Huntington said (Twitter link), “J.T.’s been a guy for about four years now that we’ve liked much more than kind of the external noise is on him.” Brubaker put together a strong showing in Double-A and Triple-A last season, earning an overall 10-6 record with 2.81 ERA in 154 innings.
After this first round of roster moves, the Pirates big-league camp is down to 54 players, including 18 non-roster invites.
Since Keller showed pretty much nothing this spring he has nowhere to go but up. Should motivate him.
Let’s hope…to bomb that badly in ST scares me…I hope there isn’t an arm injury. Not that we need him right away, since we have the great Jordan Lyles as our #5 SP…LOL.
One thing to remember is that each time he moved up, he had struggles to start the higher level and then adjusted and pitched well. We shall see this year in AAA. he struggles to star there last year and was turning it around at the end of the season. At least he has the right attitude to allow adjustments to happen.
Just fire nutting and get it over with (yes, I know he’s the owner)
I like Keller. He actually wasn’t horrible in AAA last year. He had increased his K/9 rate from 7.95 in AA to 9.8 in AAA, he lowered his HR/9 rate to just .52 per 9, and his FIP was only 3.22 in Indy. He just seemed to have some bad luck with balls in play.
Does the quote in the second to last paragraph not make sense to anyone else ? Maybe I need more coffee …
It means that there isn’t much hype surrounding him, but that they really like him.
I was surprised that he was 25. In my mind, I had him about 3 years younger.
In a convoluted way.He is saying that Brubaker is not well known outside of the organization but well respected within it.
They mentioned the word tackle. Assuming Trenton Brown is signing with the Steelers.
Please tell me that Jason Delay’s nickname is “Rain”. If it isn’t, it should be immediately.
His architect is Art Van Delay.
You are dating yourself Mr Seinfeld.
Dario is an absolute stud. I think he’s the Pirates 4 by the end of the year. Excellent control and looked strong in camp.
I enjoy reading what fans have to say about their clubs. So this question to Pirates fans: will the Pirates be a contender for the division title this year?
Contender until early August, unless things go terribly wrong for at least 2 other teams in the NL Central, wondering whether to be buyers or sellers at the deadline.
A lot of things need to break their way. Polanco returns after a month or two, so we got that maybe.
If they hit they will contend. They really need Bell to figure it out for a whole season.
I really like this team, especially the pitching
Keep them mowing blades sharp
Is it me or does it seem that the Pirates seem to bring their players to MLB squad until they are 23-25? Seems that if your year after year drafting in the top third of draft that there should be more under 21 talent coming to bigs at a faster rate. Maybe indictment on their investment in quality scouting?