The Pirates claimed right-hander Eric Hanhold off waivers from the Orioles, both teams announced. Hanhold has been a member of the Baltimore organization since September 2019, when he was acquired in another waiver claim off the Mets’ roster.
Hanhold has pitched in parts of two MLB seasons, tossing 2 1/3 innings for the Mets in 2018 and then returning to The Show this season to throw 10 1/3 innings for the Orioles. The righty has a 7.11 ERA over his brief big league career and hasn’t fared well either at Triple-A, with a 5.28 ERA over 93 2/3 frames at the top minor league level. Not a big strikeout pitcher, Hanhold has relied on some hefty grounder rates in the minors, though he has only a modest 37% groundball rate as a Major Leaguer.
The Pirates can now take a look at the 28-year-old reliever, though it might not be surprising if Hanhold ends up designated for assignment or claimed by another team in the wake of future Pittsburgh roster moves. Assuming he stays with the Bucs through the winter, Hanhold will get a chance to win a job in Spring Training as the Pirates sort their way through a wide assortment of bullpen options.
From the Orioles’ perspective, Hanhold may have been an expendable piece as the O’s continue to create some room on their 40-man roster. Baltimore has several young players in need of protection from the Rule 5 Draft, so roster space will be required for the team to protect as many of these prospects as possible.
The Pirates are claiming an Orioles pitcher? A new low
Eric Hanhold? His family name is strange. Most people are named after a place or profession. Eric’s place or profession must have been about holding hands. Do any of you guys listen to “Death Metal?” I don’t. I think it sounds terrible. They usually talk about really violent stuff in death metal songs though. I always thought it would be funny to make a death metal song but the entire song is about holding hands. I can’t think of anything less metal to make a song about but no one would notice because you can’t understand what death metal singers say anyway. The song would sound so hard but be about something totally not hard at all.
I want that 30 seconds of my life back, so I could do just about anything else other than read that again.
Word from the wise: if a comment is over 6 lines, simply skip it
Death metal is good but not as good as thrash metal
That’s a matter of opinion. There’s so many good death metal bands now whereas there’s not that many good thrash metal bands. Give Opeth, Jinjer, and others a listen.
Are you scraping the bottom of the barrel when you sign waivers from the Orioles? How desperate are the Pirates? I thought they were in full rebuild so why give up a roster spot?
Orioles got tired of the handholding
I’d say that the chances of him remaining in the Bucs’ 40-man until spring training are sketchy at best.
BC must see something in this guy that doesn’t show up in his numbers. His minor league numbers aren’t much to look at either. Spaghetti against the wall move?
Hanhold isn’t even a 4A reliever, don’t bother with someone who hasn’t even had success above AA. I wouldn’t consider wasting a 40 man roster spot on him.
You mean to tell me the guy the Mets got back in the Neil Walker salary dump didn’t turn out to be very good? Who’d a thunk it?
My one memory of this guy was him coming in and giving up a bomb and 4 runs against the Jays in garbage time at the end of the year when the o’s were just throwing minor leaguers out there
You’ve got a lot to prove if you’re being released by the orioles. Get em Eric.
The Pirates have to clear space on the 40 man to protect some prospects. Why clutter it up with this guy?