3:27pm: Pittsburgh formally selected Bae’s contract. Catcher Tyler Heineman has been placed on the seven-day concussion injured list to clear an active roster spot. The Pirates 40-man tally now sits at 39.
8:51am: The Pirates are set to promote infield prospect Ji-hwan Bae, as first reported by Ryan Palencer of PiratesProspects.com (Twitter link). He’ll need to have his contract formally selected to the 40-man roster, though the Pirates currently have two vacancies in that regard, so Bae’s promotion will only require a corresponding 28-man roster move.
Now 23, Bae originally planned to sign with the Braves as an international amateur in 2017, but his agreement was dissolved when the Braves were penalized in 2017 for a bevy of rule violations ono the international market. The South Korean-born Bae instead signed a $1.25MM bonus with the Pirates a year later.
Bae currently ranks 11th among Pittsburgh farmhands at MLB.com and sits 23rd on Baseball America’s midseason ranking of the system. He’s spent the entire season with the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis, batting .289/.362/.430 with eight home runs, 23 doubles, six triples and 30 stolen bases (in 38 attempts). Bae has fanned in 16.9% of his plate appearances while walking at a 10.1% clip.
Scouting reports on Bae tout his 70-grade speed (on the 20-80 scale) and his above-average contact skills, though his eventual defensive home is rather unsettled. After spending much of his early pro career at shortstop, he’s played more second base in recent seasons and now begun to add further positions to his repertoire. The Bucs have played him primarily at second base (457 innings), shortstop (177) and in center field (161) in 2022, but he’s also had briefer looks in left field and at third base.
Bae was found guilty by a South Korean court in 2018 of assaulting his former girlfriend, and was subsequently ordered to pay a trivial sum to the victim (about $1,750 U.S. dollars, which she donated to charity). Major League Baseball conducted its own investigation into the matter, ultimately suspending Bae for 30 games of the 2019 season under the joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy.
Love it when you can assault someone and you get off by paying basically nothing to an MLB player
It sucks, but it also isn’t Bae’s fault that the punishments were so lame.
Who cares what MLB did to him? Dude was convicted in Korea and paid ¥2 million.
you used the japanese yen sign but korean won amount. you are wrong as often times as you are.
Jeez man I used the wrong symbol. *￦. There you go.
Note DarkSide aragons sentence made literally no sense 😉
I love how you didn’t say Bauer was proven innocent rather allegations were false. Twisting of words by the others who responded and attacked you
I think his past is newsworthy. An NBA coach was just suspended a year for consensual intimate relations and everyone is talking about it. Here we have an alleged past of domestic violence. It is news. You can do with it what you like. I am at least impressed that they have not closed comments on this. I remember when they closed comments on SF Giants CEO Larry Baer and there was a video of his assault.
picking nits here, but you can drop the “alleged” when talking about his past, seeing as a court found him guilty of his crimes
Seems like the Pirates have multiple scofflaws in their infield.
Even worse when a presidential candidate admits to assaulting women by grabbing “ them by their p***y” and not only isn’t scrutinized and booted out of his party but is elected president
The man…also it is hard to believe all the woman who back this molester
I’m sorry, but what does his arrest and suspension record have to do with his being called up? That serves absolutely no purpose other than to inflame people against him.
How would you like it if every time anyone talked about you, they threw in a comment about the worst thing you ever did in your life? I know I wouldn’t like it and it definitely would not be fair.
In this case I’m inclined to agree with you. He did his crime, he was punished, he served his sentence. The incident might have had something to do with the delay in moving him up the minor league ladder, but otherwise it doesn’t have anything to do with his promotion now. I abhor domestic violence, but I also believe in second chances, and this was 4 years ago.
Agreed in many cases. I think, morally, there is no place in this world for people who violate another person’s basic human rights (not to be assaulted). Certainly, institutions such as MLB or NFL or any highly regarded/unbelievably well paid and highly visible celebrity types can afford to be choosy as to whom they allow into their ranks. However, I think Bill Maher made a great point about it being stupid to judge past behaviors using todays social values. Now this isn’t exactly ancient history, but if there is no pattern demonstrating continued idiocy, I think we need to leave room for the probability that people can learn and grow and mature and generally become better people. Each case is different, and I agree it is unfair in many cases that these things can hamper opportunities and hinder the ability for people to move on. Who are we to judge?
Bae was 18 in ~2018 and presumably younger when the infraction occured. Personally, DV isn’t acceptable at any age, but young people seem to do this sort of thing a lot. Another reason why I think rushing into a relationship isn’t a good idea. Very few people seem to be mature in their mid-20s, much less as teenagers.
and there are lots of young girls attracted to future stars.
Okay, O.J.
Finally, way past the time he should have been promoted. Better late than never.
Opening 2023 with Hayes, Cruz, and Bae in the infield would be pretty good defensively. Hope Hayes can figure out how to lift the ball. I think Bae will be fine. Even if he’s just an Adam Frazier type hitter, he has more speed. Though I’m inclined to say he’ll likely have a higher walk rate than Frazier, just based on his K% and BB% throughout the minor leagues. He’s a prototypical leadoff hitter type.
I’d be happy if Hayes just put the ball in play. His strikeouts are happening at an alarming rate. 3rd basemen are historically power hitters so I could understand if he was truly a power hitter as they tend to strike out often
But 7 homers is a pathetic total for a corner infielder
I’m not too worried about his K%. He has just a 22.4% K-rate. Though his 25.9% K-rate since the ASG brea is a bit worrisome. If he doesn’t hit for power, then it’s whatever. But you can’t have a an 85-90 wRC+ guy playing everyday, regardless of position. I’ve pointed this out many times, but it’s not as if Hayes doesn’t have the power. He is in the 85th or better percentile of both hard hit rate and exit velocity and he’ll be the first player ever in the statcast era to play a full season and not have 20+ home runs while being in the 85th+ percentile in both stats.
Where Hayes fails is lifting the ball. He has a 48.6% ground ball rate and 6.2 degree launch angle. For hypothetical’s sake, let’s say he even ups that to an 8.5% launch angle, he’d have a similar batted ball profile to Alejandro Kirk, which nobody would complain if he hit like Kirk.
While I do not disagree with your analysis,I think it easier said than done at a ML level with pitches coming in at all angles and speeds and spins.
Hayes is a young player and was moderately successful in the minor leagues at doing what he does.He hits the ball hard and in gaps.He will never be a home run hitter just because he can hit the ball hard.
I saw what trying to teach a young hitter to learn a launch angle when he was not a home run hitter was when the genius Phillies tried to change Scott Kingery’s swing and ruined him.
Statistics are fine to be used when you plan on how to pitch someone or place your fielders or need to project a player’s future value based on a small data base.
They are much less useful and can actually do harm when you use them to change a player’s basic approach which they have developed since they were Little Leaguers unless they need to change to be successful.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Hayes is a much better hitter than he is showing.It May be because someone is messing with his swing.
I agree with what you are saying. I do not want Hayes to go full flyball hitter approach and completley change his mechanics. I just don’t think that would work for him. However, you’re still talking about a guy with top of the line raw power not lifting the ball at all. He doesn’t have to become Joey Gallo, but just a small uptick in launch angle would greatly benefit him.
I am not saying that it wouldn’t.I just do not know how difficult that is to change.You may be right.But he is not built like Cruz or Pedro Alvarez so what will it get you?Maybe go from 10-12 to 15-16 home runs a year?We take for granted that these are world class athletes but some are more powerful than others and although they make it look easy sometimes 350-400 feet is a long way to hit a ball no matter what launch angle one has.
I really think he has the potential to have consisten 20 home run seasons, but that isn’t a requirement for him to be productive. If he bats .270/.340/.450 with 15 home runs but like 35 doubles, I’d be perfectly happy with that.
My point is that I think that he should be able to come real close to that with far less strikeouts.
No matter the philosophy though it is ultimately up to the player to produce the best that he can.
Thanks mlb.
Cruz is kind of awful in the field.
Bucs-He has been better than I expected fielding but he is one player who has never really learned the basics,especially in hitting.
He really still does have a high ceiling but needs proper and rigorous coaching to get there.
And that is something that the Pirates do not generally have.
We need to get rid of Haines. He isn’t a good hitting coach at all. Cruz brought in a personal hitting coach about a month ago, and that has coincided with better results. Maybe it’s just concidental, but Cruz does have a 148 wRC+ over his last month of playing time. Also, since the start of September, Cruz only has an out of zone swinging percentage of 24.6% (league average is 32.6%) and his swinging strike rate of 14.1%, while still below average, is still a noticable improvement from the 16.3% rate he had in July-August. I think he’s figuring it out, just based off those numbers. Of course, it is a small sample size, but you at least like to see him trending in the right direction if nothing else.
MLB-Hayes need to relearn how he hit in the minor leagues-line drives into the gaps.Hard hit balls find their own paths to hits.He will never be a home run hitter and now strikes out too much if they are teaching him this crap.
That is fine for a powerful minor league hitter who cannot hit and has only that going for him.But the same clothes do not fit every player.
I think he needs to take the same approach as Alejandro Kirk. In terms of exit velocity and hard hit rate, they’re pretty similar and it’s not like Kirk has an insane 15+ degree launch angle. He has an 8.5 degree launch angle. Bo Bichette is another guy who’d I’d tell Hayes to try and emulate.
I’ve been waiting for Bae all year. No reason this shouldn’t have happened before Van Meter was brought on or after he was sent home.
They stuck with several players for too long, Van Meter wasn’t alone, MacBeth
kind of awful says it mildly
I am glad to see Bae finally get a shot.I think that he has been hurt for a while so this would probably have come earlier.One thing that I would say about the Pirates is that they have certainly played a lot of different young players this year to get a sense of what they need to do to get better.The problem is that the fundamentals that they lack should have been learned in the minor leagues.
I am surprised that Bolton has not been brought up.The bullpen has really imploded and Shelton keeps using the same pitcher to close the few games that they have scored enough runs to lead into the ninth inning.
Since their 24-28 start they have won at the same % that they did in the 60 game schedule in 2020.And that would mean 51 games in a full 162 game schedule.
Needless to say,changes have to be made for them to have any credibility at all.
He hwan a new bae.
Happy to see Bae move up to AAAA.
Gosh this Bae stuff happened when he was an adolescent. He paid for what he did. Time to move on.
He will not be on the opening day roster. Throwing him a bone for a good season. They will suck again and then he will be up after the service time super 2 manipulation is over
The union signed off on the deal man. Stop blaming teams for things the union continually allows.
Im not blaming anything. I’m just stating facts.
Cousin of Kenneth Bae.
Bae said. (insert weird cartoon frog image here)
I think the Bucs will be much improved next year. I see similarities between them and what the Orioles are doing now. No, I’m not suggesting making the playoffs, but I can visualize them being, say, 10-12 games over .500 in 2023. But hey, unlike the Orioles who have to compete in the tough AL East, our Bucs get to play in the NL Central which would be an easier path to the playoffs if everything comes up smelling like roses.
I like Brubaker, Contreras, Ortiz and Keller for solid and improved SP. Though they won’t be known as the “Bombing Bucs”, I’m oaky with middling pop so long as the Ks are down and the walks are up.
Bag all this launch angle nonsense. See the ball, hit the ball. Besides, HR have been cheapened over the past twenty years with the construction of retro parks that are more bandbox than baseball stadium.
Finally, two things. I’m glad Reynolds wasn’t traded, and they should put Cruz in CF and leave him there for the next dozen years.
Backup catcher-I wish I could share your enthusiasm.There is a reason why they are decent the first third of the year and gradually go downhill.They are a small market team with no depth.
Injuries rule baseball now.If you do not have twice as many good players that you need starting out you will not win.
They need a real infusion of mid level free agents on short term contacts to be able to sniff 500.I do not think that Nutting will pay for them.
They need minor league coaches who demand players to have fundamentals which has been sadly lacking in too many of the young players who have been called up this year.I do not think that Cherington knows enough of them.
They need a manager who holds players accountable and expects solid play.Shelton is not him.
I saw a photo of a game a few days ago where there may have been 1000 people in the stands.
The Pirates are absolutely awful.Yes,they seem to have some young players with potential.But do you think that they can attract young players like Brian Reynolds to stay or good free agents to come?
Long time Pirate fans,even the ones who are not negative,are highly skeptical due to the necessary changes that are not occurring in this organization.
Mendoza, Nutting’s on record of saying that he won’t increase payroll through free agency unless attendance also increases.
Ironically, attendance won’t increase without putting a competitive team on the field.
As of Thursday’s game, home attendance was a paltry 1.15 million for the year.
That said, the belief that a 33 year old catcher with a history of injuries could play 100-125 games in one season and without having an adequate backup to replace him, is one of many absurdities of this team’s upper management decisions.
And there have been too numerous to count
Well he has to do something to jump start this franchise.If he doesn’t he becomes a big part of the problem.
I have no problem with him running it like a business but he has to realize that this level of incompetency May permanently injure his investment.
I was highly critical of BC since he relied so heavily on Pérez from the start after trading Stallings.I think that that is on him.He needed at least two competent catchers,hopefully one being younger,to start the season.Why do you and I know that and he does not.Perhaps it is Nutting and his frugalness who gave him a budget and he had to work within it but he still should have had a decent experienced backup catcher.This is not nuclear science.
See my post below but I think that with some serious organizational changes BC has accumulated some players who with good coaching and training could become competent in a relatively short period of time.The jury is still out on BC.The organizational coaching does not seem a lot better than that of NH,and that is what ultimately got him fired.
I just think that 3 1/2 years is long enough to get a competent team on the field.
It’s time to give Castro a break, bat Bae lead off, Reynolds third and sit Chavis against right handed pitchers
Bae is a good contact hitter with a good eye of the strike zone and with his speed, bunting, a concept Shelton rarely uses, he’s likely to get into scoring position far more often than Cruz
Batting your best power hitter second with the best potential to drive in runs should provide more offensive opportunities
Shelton’s overuse of Crowe in close games has proven to be a failure of monumental proportions. I wouldn’t be surprised if Crowe’s confidence is shattered from how he’s been used
Wilson pitched a competent game last night, minus the 2 run homer he gave up, I believe he had enough gas in his tank to have pitched another inning, instead, Shelton, as he’s done all year, pulled him too early, only to see Crowe have yet another short meltdown
Shelton and Haines, if on any other team, would be looking for new jobs next year.
On the bright side, the season is almost over, however, there’s a few players, if coached correctly, could have major impacts in 2023
THeMan-I generally agree with what you say here but Shelton has been somewhat hampered by both Nutting and Cherington.They traded their starting first baseman for a middling reliever just to save money.I think Crowe proved not to be a closer after the first or second time but Shelton did not have many choices with Yerry and Bednar down He still should not have used him like that.I also think that Crowe is tired but Shelton and the pitching coach should have figured that one out and put him on the IL..BC has been collecting other team’s rejects for the bullpen but give a guy like Stephenson a chance at closing games.He cannot do any worse.
Any student of baseball other than analytics junkies knows Cruz is exactly the type of hitter who should not be leading off.The manager has to put his foot down at a certain point.He may concentrate more if he is hitting fourth behind Reynolds.
Castro has been one of their best hitters lately.I would mix him in at third base to give Hayes a “ rest” so that he can eat his sunflower seeds on the bench,Him and Cruz are treated like prima donnas.
They need to keep Newman as he is a steady hitter and a good middle infielder.
Wilson and Thompson are decent pitchers but neither is consistent enough to be good starting pitchers.They will need to prove themselves next year,or else move to the bullpen where both of them have shown some promise.
Chavis is winding down and is a good guy and hustler but I doubt that he has enough to be anything more than a utility man along with Castillo.
I think that the failure of this year,and it is a big failure,can be equally apportioned to ownership,upper management,coaching,and management.And that is what bothers me the most as it is easy enough to change the manager and a couple of coaches but harder to change the rest.
If you can remember, call me Paul. The name I wanted wasn’t available so the site gave me this one.
That said, I’m in complete agreement with everything you said, however Shelton makes up the lineup cards, and batting Reynolds second, is just a horrible idea.
Your leading run producer should be positioned with the potential of more runners in scoring position.
And yes Shelton must use the players available, his earlier consistent use of Yoshi and Van Meter in batting orders less favorable to their abilities contributed heavily to the team’s failure to score runs. For most of the season, he’d change the lineup almost daily, except for Reynolds. And while I realize the lineup is considered depending on the throwing arm of the opposition, there’s never been any consistency
Lastly, I’ve never believed Shelton is either a good leader or a good motivator. He was a former assistant hitting coach, which puzzles me even more.
Paul-I have come around to most of your negative thoughts on Shelton.First time managers can be in over their heads just like any rookies in baseball or otherwise.
You and I are old enough that we can both go back to the “old” days long before analytics.Back then you had a high OB guys leading off and someone with a decent average who was a smart hitter hitting second.The best hitter was third,followed by your main homer run hitter and then your second best fifth.
I realize that the leadoff man gets 11% more at bats than your second batter but he follows the seventh,eighth,and ninth hitters which for almost any team other than The Lumber Company even now with the DH are not real good hitters.
This is a perfect example of where analytics is overused and common sense is not so common anymore.
I do not know how much Shelton was told to invest in this thought.
I think that we can both agree that as long time Pirate fans we want the best for them.My point over this and the last two postings is that Shelton is the most readily changeable part but the problems could run deeper.
And that is what disturbs me the most.
Mendoza, McClatchey paid $98 million for this team in I believe 1997, according to Forbes, the franchise is now worth $1.3 billion
If I recall, Nutting was an investor in the McClatchey ownership, though silent on franchise decisions and he eventually bought out McClatchey for $150 million.
Also according to Forbes, Nutting has earned at a minimum, $35 million in profit for each of the years he’s been sole owner.
Like you, I don’t begrudge baseball being run like a business nor the business turning an annual profit but I do question when it’s time to invest money to make his/her team competitive
My personal dislike for Shelton is how he uses his players. This is his 3rd year I believe and they’re worse now than when he took over. Of course it’s not all his fault, but I’d like to think he has input with Cherington on players to either keep at the major league level or release.
As we’ve agreed on prior, keeping both Yoshi and Van Meter for well beyond their value to me, says more about Shelton than it does BC
Paul- Actually with Yoshi it it probably a Nutting rule that they must keep free agents as long as possible in order to justify the expenditure.
There is no explanation for Van Meter as they had other players who could play first base.
Inasmuch as BC has said that he and Shelton work very closely together I think that there is too much kumbaya between them as if one has a bad idea the other one goes along with it.That is on both of them.
I think that Shelton is a player first manager as evidenced by his effusion with Oviedo yesterday which is good but he may take it to an extreme and not show “ tough love” when necessary.
As a marketing friend of mine would say “Spend it or end it”. We tried the “if attendance goes up” analogy once before and Pittsburghers came in droves (15th in attendance maybe), just to be met with a payroll cut the following year while being in a serious playoff window. Ownership lost all our trust at that point. BN must invest in this team if he ever wants to see a filled stadium again. Pittsburgh loves our sports teams, and will come out to support win or lose, but if we feel ownership is not trying their hardest to help the situation you lose our support. Lastly, I used to golf with Mark Melancon regularly when he was here, and he told me they had player meetings with ownership/management on many occasions on what they needed to compete and every time they were either ignored or a lesser signing was made. The players loved playing in Pittsburgh but did not feel appreciated/heard.
There was an article in the Athletic last year about Nutting’s unwillingness to increase payroll
Once the organization gets it’s share of the luxury tax, it’s all profit for him.
My continued beef with Shelton was again on display in last night’s game
Our starting pitcher was throwing a beautiful game, his pitch count reached 82 after 7 innings, 7ks, no walks, gave up a mere 3 singles, probably the best pitched game of any starter this season.
Why not allow him to go for the complete game shutout?
Luckily, Thompson didn’t ruin the shutout but Shelton’s historical decisions more often than not, have backfired
Dr- Interesting Take.The problem with having meetings such as Melancon said is that the players can begin thinking that they are running the team.I see that with Harper here in Philadelphia.Ownership has pretty much followed what he wanted done.I understand that the players can see some things that management cannot,so it is good to have such meetings,and they should be invested in the team,especially if they are making $30 M a year,but what they can lose sight of is that high salaries show a lot of appreciation in the first place,
I find it interesting with him as he went to the Giants for $16 M a year,and just started pitching well for a mediocre team in the last year of a four year $64M contract.
The Giants can well afford to throw away that type of money but I honestly believe that the Pirates cannot.Nutting needs to spend more money than he has on mid level limited contract time free agents but I do not doubt that the players,as good union brotherhood,wanted him to participate in the free agent spending wars that more often than not create doom for those teams.
And,in Pittsburgh,the Steelers and Penguins have always in comparison drawn clearly better than the Pirates,even when they have had very good teams.
Paul-Two things here.As much as us posters think that we know it all Oviedo was probably on a pitch count and that may be determined by common sense and the medical team.The broadcasters seemed to know this as Oviedo only had to throw maybe eight pitches in the seventh inning.
Some of ideas such as yours are coming from thirty years ago and now there is not as much emphasis put on these type of things like complete games.Injuries infrequently occurred back then.Oviedo could also very well be on an innings count too as I do not think that he had a year 2020 season.It would be very good to see what he can do for the next two starts as I think that this guy has the potential if he can get the ball over the plate to be a steal which would be a feather in BC’s cap.
Also,Thompson could possibly become a key bullpen arm.I think that the Pirates are smart enough to consider this.As with almost every small market team starting pitching is at a premium.,and they gave him a chance,which he proved to be too inconsistent to rely on.As proven recently though,you can never have too many relief pitchers,and I think that he could prove to be a good innings eater there,maybe being able to give them three good innings.It would be nice to get a feel for this this year if they can.
You have to remember that BC and Shelton do this for a living and have a different viewpoint and depth of consideration than fans do.Unfortunately,with the Pirates,at least for this year,I have divested myself from the importance of winning games to the standpoint of small victories and advancement of knowledge.
Mendoza, you make several good points that I didn’t consider
We’re each from an era when years ago, complete games were the norm and not unusual.
Pitch counts didn’t exist either, and it wasn’t uncommon for pitchers to throw 100+ in their starts. Nolan Ryan once threw 140 pitches in one of his no-hitters
Despite my previous post agreeing with Mendoza on pitch counts, what would have been the harm in allowing Ortiz to go over the apparent 80 to get the final out rather than pulling him so his relief doesn’t give up a 3 run homer
And I wonder why Collins is on the 40 man roster, he’s worthless as a hitter.
Paul- They May have noticed a significant drop in velocity from Ortiz and were afraid that he would give up a three run home run.
Collins is another dumpster drive for a last place team and they had him playing first base when they dfa’ed Van Meter.They May begin testing him for a backup catcher spot next year.
The jury is out on Delay as a backup and I think that Heinaman is fine as AAA depth.I think that they should resign R Perez and trade for Stallings.They need to make moves like this to approach 500 next year in order to be a decent team.
While I have you,what do you think about signing Josh Bell for three years and $40 M?
I would fully support signing Bell to a 3 year deal even for $40 million. Question is, would Nutting allow it?
Delay is a bum, Cruz should play solely as the permanent DH, for all the hype about Suwinsky’s home runs, the broadcasters never mention his 59 hits with 110 strikeouts.
I knew that Collins was a dumpster pick up, I just feel the need to vent sometimes.
The caught stealing by Delay and Cruz doesn’t make up for their otherwise sloppy defense today
Talking about batting your best hitter ,Reynolds second is ludicrous. I see the other day the Yankees bat judge first, Stanton second leaving a washed up josh Donaldson cleanup.
I for one don’t understand this logic. A 6’7 60 home run guy leading off.
I’m a traditionalist. I hate analytics, ruins baseball and all sports
Red Shelton took the rookie pitcher out today after 4 and 2/3 innings. Bullpen blew it. I think Shelton has cost the pirates at least 10 wins with his blundering of the pitching staff.
I know Mendoza and the Man won’t agree, but in excited about the starting pitching next year. Keller, Oviedo, Contreras and Cruz…and later priester.
Sorry it’s Ortiz not Cruz
Sorry I meant Ortiz as the pitcher, not cruz