The Pirates have claimed catcher Tyler Heineman off waivers from the Blue Jays, per announcements from both teams. Pittsburgh designated fellow catcher Andrew Knapp for assignment in order to create space on the roster.
Heineman, 30, wasn’t formally designated for assignment on the Blue Jays, nor was it announced that he’d been placed on waivers. Toronto surely hoped to open up a 40-man roster spot by passing Heineman through waivers while still keeping him in the organization to preserve some depth, but he’ll head to Pittsburgh and join the club as the new backup to Roberto Perez now that Knapp has been designated for assignment.
Set to turn 31 next month, Heineman is in his third big league season. Originally an eighth-round pick by the Astros back in 2012, he’s become something of a journeyman, having since bounced to the Brewers, Diamondbacks, Phillies, Marlins, Giants, Cardinals and Jays organizations. Heineman logged big league time with the ’19 Marlins and ’20 Giants and, in 78 career Major League plate appearances, is a .221/.284/.324 hitter. As one would expect, his work in Triple-A has been considerably better; the switch-hitting Heineman carries a .283/.350/.413 batting line in 1163 plate appearances.
Defensively, Heineman ought to provide the Bucs with a solid glove. He’s nabbed 38% of runners who’ve attempted to steal against him in his professional career, and Baseball Prospectus credits him with above-average framing marks and average marks on blocking pitches in the dirt.
As for Knapp, the longtime Phillies backstop inked a Major League contract with the Pirates during Spring Training but simply didn’t provide the team with enough offense to keep his spot on the roster. Chances were limited — such is the life of a backup catcher — but in 35 plate appearances, Knapp slashed just .129/.229/.161. His career .210/.310/.315 line is a good bit better than that, but the Pirates will hope for more immediate production out of the well-traveled Heineman.
Pittsburgh will have a week to trade Knapp, place him on outright waivers or release him.
Love Pirates news.
I love that when big free agents or trades are news, you can count on NY, LA etc. And I love that when there are guys like this, you can count on the Pirates.
Well said.
You give up Stallings and eventually get Heineman? What do you think Clemente?
Stallings hasn’t been good.
Yeah, who needs a GG catcher when you can have Heineman?
Yea, the Bucs would clearly be a playoff team with Stallings instead of this new waiver wire trash. Whats the difference at this point? Just hoping Davis is good in 2-3yrs
I am hoping that Davis is good and Rodriguez is pushing him hard and that will give them 2 really good catchers.
Knapp had to go. Van Meter and Tsutiugo need to be DFA and replaced with Cal Mitchell and Mason Martin asap.!!!! Theres no excuse for them not to be given the chance….(there our future)…..Cruz obviously needs more seasoning!!!
Adding Mitchell gives us 4 outfielders instead of sending one of our infielders out there!……Pretending ????
Lets get Roansy Contreras STARTING and bring ELECTRICITY back to PNC!!!!
Mitchell has cooled off and Martin strikes out 40% of the time with a 9% walk rate.Cruz is hitting 185.
Contreras will be up soon to take either Keller’s or Wilson’s place in the starting rotation.
Do you really think that Martin will strike out less in the ML’s?
Do you think that maybe Mitchell needs more time in AAA to prove himself?They do not need to drop anyone form the 40 man roster before he is ready to be brought up.
Do you think that they will eat Tsusugo’s salary this early,especially if they do not need to do so?
Mario…..you seem
to have some things % things off.
Martin has always been a 30% _33% SO Guy and is on avg this year!
Tsusugo is within 5%
And AVG .256 vs .174
OBP .328 vs .279
SLG .537 vs .228
OPS .865 vs .507 ALL FOR MARTIN!!!! HE PRODUCES…Our offense right now has no production!!!!
he’s got 11 rbi’s vs Martins 21!!!!
Oh and Mario….The Mendoza line has always been .200….LOL Not .215
Jeff-I got the % from the Indianapolis Indians stats sheet. I presume that it is updated regularly.
I am not saying tsusugo is a good player,just not that the Pirates will dfa him this early paying him that money.
The Pirates offense is putrid.Bringing up minor leaguers who have not proven to produce in the minors will not change that.Let those produce over a longer period of time to prove worthy of a promotion.
And Jeff check facts for once.Lifetime average is 215.That has been current for many years.Who is the one LOL!
Darn he was pretty good in limited action.. better then collins anyways but collins is a lefty
Heineman is a switch hitter, but Collins has more offensive upside.
Collins is a 27 year old who hasn’t hit yet in 400+ PA. Jays fans keep saying he has a good stick but I don’t know what they’re looking at.
That was a short Knapp.
It was a dirt Knapp
Can’t be worse than knapp.
Big welcome to Tyler Heineman from Josh Van Meter.
Catching is going to be a game of musical chairs until one of the prospects comes up, or they acquire a decent catcher. It really sucks what happened to Roberto Perez. He was off to a decent start with the bat and was putting on a defenisve clinic behind the plate.
What happens when you get thrown out of a game for yapping at the Plate umpire about balls and strikes and the starting catcher goes down with an injury shortly afterwards. Just took a short time until someone better got waived.
To be fair, that was one of the worst umpired games this year and there was no way Knapp would know that Perez would get injured like two innings later.
Oh, I know that He had no way of knowing that Perez would get injured but he should know that he should not be the one yapping at the ump for the crappy calls with no one else on the roster with any catching experience at all. Poor VanMeter did not even know how to put the gear on.
PS the good news is, Davis should be up sometime next season and Rodriguez not to long following and the catching woes will be over, hopefully….
Go- I chalk that up to Shelton.In the old days,teams had three catchers.Now,with two,chances are good that you will lose one during the season.I am sure that Knapp hurt his cause by yapping,but Van Meter should have been given practice time at least in the bullpen catching pitchers if they were only going to have two catchers.Just as Park should have never been put in right field to embarrass himself.It is up to the manager to make sure that these guys are at least somewhat prepared for an eventuality that could come their way.
Seems like a smart fringe roster player would spend all of his free time working on becoming an option as an emergency catcher.
Only problem is, Shelton does not sign players and choose who is on the 40 man.. Van Meter may have gotten some BP time but that is nowhere near catching in a game when the pitcher is throwing with top adrenaline flowing. Guy can be throwing nice and smooth in the pen but on the mound under game conditions, when he is amped up, the ball moves much more.
This could have been worked on in Spring Training although in Van Meter’s case I don’t think that he was on the team then.
At least he would have known how to put the equipment on.
My point is with only two catchers it is the manager’s job to make sure that the “emergency” catcher has as much training as possible in case he is needed.This includes rudimentary signs and some knowledge of what pitchers throw and some practice at catching them and knowing how to wear the equipment and wearing it.
There was evidently none of this previously done.
Thank God! I would’ve taken a flier on any other catcher. I was getting tired of seeing him make light contact and strike out every ab
Heineman can be credited with providing the opportunity for one of Donaldson’s funnier postgame quotes after Heineman barked at him during an at-bat:
“I didn’t even know the guy. I didn’t even know that was his name. Never heard of him.”
Ouch.
Small detail, but Roberto Perez is on the 60 day IL and will be out for some time. Heineman will really be backing up Michael Perez.
That’s not small detail!
Poor reporting from the usually very good MLBTR.
Understaffed oversight though since both catchers have the same last name and neither has established themselves as a star player or anything.
Roberto Perez has been around for years… and Michael is no spring chicken.
Heineman is better than his stats. Watched him when he was with the Giants. If he can hit—even a little—he’ll help the Pirates.
Heineman is a good bunter!
They were looking to get rid of Knapp after that incident in Cincinnati.
How do I know? Michael Perez was the starting catcher instead of him. They should have left well enough alone and stayed with stallings/Michael perez. At least Zach Thompson is pitching better. Who didn’t know Roberto perez would get hurt?
I like the Stallings trade. They traded him at his peak value on the performance/contractual control scale and Thompson is arguably the least significant part of the return. Kyle Nicolas has been outstanding aside from one outing that skews his stats and Connor Scott has shown flashes of his potential, just a little inconsistent so far.
Exactly. Would have posted much the same thing. Very nice deal for Stallings. He was gone no matter what when Davis was ready and Rodriguez right behind him. Seeing Stallings stats now, he may be starting to drop from where he was and got a very nice return based on the same sample sizes.
Heineman is collecting a lot of hats/uniforms for his collection
1909 over Tigers
1925 over Senators
1960 over Yankees
1971 over Orioles
1979 over Orioles
2042 over Stars
I think the bucs get another title within 12 years, not 20.
48- Please give me the trifectas for the next two races in the Triple crown.
Pittsburgh really should have been in on Alfaro during the offseason.
I don’t know about that. 8% walk with 39% K. His defense is decent (.7) but offense is horrible (-.3) with WAR of .4. I get it, better than current option with the other Perez on 60 IL. But those strike out numbers are alarming and would make an already bad situation, worse. Who knows if he could manage a young pitching staff like the Pirates. What he has done in SD with their pitching staff which is more experienced, borderline average
He can’t be much worse that Knapp or Micheal Perez.
Send Knapp a ticket to Syracuse…
I have to give front office a lot of credit. Huntington or Cherington, every time I think it’s impossible to fill a roster with non-descript guys with questionable major league ability, they prove me wrong
Bravo, fellas. Bravo
Like a lot of fans, I’ll keep chasing that carrot they keep dangling, that better times are ahead
But this owner should write a book on how to utterly destroy interest within a fan base
I actually don’t mind Heineman as a third string catcher, that said it’s bad when a third string catcher is starting like Michael Perez.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review implied Knapp fell out of favor after the incident in Cincy. The fact he lost time to a guy who started in AAA–who they sent down in favor of Knapp–should say enough (his bat would have likely come alive to some extent if given enough playing time).
The real issue here is that this could have been avoided if the Pirates had a true emergency catcher on the roster. I’ve been a Pirates fan my whole life and know they have had some guys like this in the past. Adam Hyzdu used to warm up pitchers in the early 00s. Guys like Neil Walker were drafted as catchers and probably could have slipped back into action in a dire emergency. Craig Wilson came up as a catcher before he was moved to 1B/OF. None of these types of guys are still around.
IIRC, Jamie Ritchie is injured at AAA, so he can’t be an option either. Here’s hoping Heineman can be a pleasant surprise like Michael McKenry was about a decade ago.
Why do I feel like a “Phillies sign Andrew Knapp to a minor league deal” is imminent???