The Pirates will select the contract of righty Dario Agrazal, per a club announcement. He has been tapped to start the club’s game tomorrow.
Agrazal was added to the Pittsburgh 40-man roster in the fall of 2017, but lost his spot this January. He remained in the organization after clearing waivers.
With the Bucs struggling to fill innings, Agrazal will now receive his first shot at the majors. He has pitched to a 3.27 ERA in 74 1/3 upper minors innings thus far in 2019, carrying 7.0 K/9 against 1.2 BB/9.
Agrazal to me is an interesting prospect. Pirates made a calculated gamble taking him off 40 man, figured he was too inexperienced for anyone else to grab him. I don’t think he’s ever been a highly rated prospect but anytime I read about future rotation candidates Agrazal’s name keeps popping up. This is probably sooner than they wanted to promote him but his numbers in his first crack at AAA warrant some attention.
I’m a bit skeptical because his strikeout rate last year was in the mid 5’s between high A and AA and his career minor league average is 5.7 K/9.