Pirates pitchers Montana DuRapau, Williams Jerez and Luis Escobar have all cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Indianapolis, Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic tweets. The three were designated for assignment a week ago. Nobody from this group has been outrighted in the past, nor do they have enough service time to opt for free agency, so they’re all slated to remain with the Pirates.
Among the trio, the 27-year-old DuRapau was the busiest at the major league level in 2019. He totaled 14 appearances and 17 1/3 innings, during which opposing hitters lit him up for 18 earned runs on 27 hits, four home runs and nine walks (against 22 strikeouts).
Jerez, also 27 and the lone left-hander of the troika, divided the season between the Pirates and Giants, with whom he combined to surrender five earned runs on 12 hits, nine walks and nine strikeouts in 10 1/3 innings. He was much more successful in 56 Triple-A frames, logging a 3.86 ERA/4.03 FIP with 9.8 K/9 against 2.57 BB/9.
Escobar, 23, got his first taste of the majors this past season, though he struggled in 5 2/3 frames, yielding five earned on 10 hits and four walks, and striking out just two hitters. Escobar fared better (albeit not great) at the minors’ highest level in 2019, as he managed a 4.09 ERA/5.06 FIP with 9.33 K/9 and 5.24 BB/9 across 55 innings.
Just like last years winners!
Whitman, Price and Haddad!
Comment excellence.
I wish I could like this more than once.
Thanks guys.
Glad they got them back. Escobar has hope of being a decent 4 or 5 starter, Jerez has hope of being a decent reliever, and Montana Durapau (has to be kept with a name like that) got baptized enough this past season to have learned how to get big league hitters out better. He’ll improve given the chance.
Montana DuRapau’s middle name… Robert. He’s had issues with “drugs of abuse,” testing positive in two consecutive tests, and was suspended,which leads me to believe it is a certain substance. I really hope it’s nothing to do with that and if it IS, I hope the Pirates get him the help he needs.
Montana DuRapau tested for cannabis, which ironically they only test for in the minors. I’m not too worried about it, because as you will read, a lot of major league players use it regularly because they don’t test for it. You can read all about it here – https://expressdigest.com/cannabis-in-major-sports-a-review/
Williams Jerez was oteighted by the Red Sox in December of 2016
*outrighted
Jerez is on his third DFA now.
Nice use of the word “troika” there.
Saw enough of these ham and eggers in 2019.
They are cleaning house now that they have a front office and manager. Now they need pitching coaches and such. While they are at it, drop Archer and Moran
I hope for the Pirates fans’ sake their bullpen won’t have as hard a time getting outs again as they did last season for a very long time. That was brutal.
It wasn’t just the bullpen struggling last year. The whole pitching staff was horrible. It was like watching little league pitching
Jeres is pitching really well in the DR winter league. He have a lot potential.