The Pirates are re-signing catcher Tyler Heineman to a minor league contract, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Twitter link). He’ll receive an invite to big league camp.
Heineman will look to crack the Pittsburgh roster for a second straight season. The Bucs nabbed him off waivers from the Blue Jays last May, and he spent the remainder of the 2022 season in Pittsburgh. Heineman set career marks in both MLB games (62) and plate appearances (174) in 2022, with the bulk of that work coming in the Steel City. He and Jason Delay mostly split catching duties for the second half.
The 31-year-old hit .211/.277/.254 through 158 trips to the plate as a Pirate. He now owns a .214/.279/.276 line with one home run in 236 career big league plate appearances. The UCLA product has a far more impressive .283/.350/.413 mark in parts of seven seasons at Triple-A. Heineman has only gone down on strikes in 14.1% of his career trips to the dish at the top minor league level, and he’s carried those excellent bat-to-ball skills over against big league arms. He has just an 11.4% strikeout rate in the majors, but a complete lack of power has resulted in his overall lackluster offensive production.
At the end of the season, the Pirates designated Heineman for assignment. He was not tendered a contract while in DFA limbo, sending him directly to free agency. A month later, he’ll return to the organization and try to play his back onto the MLB roster. A 10-year minor league veteran, he’ll bring a fair bit of familiarity with the pitching staff in Spring Training.
The Pirates are sure to make more impactful moves behind the plate this winter. The Bucs only have one catcher, prospect Endy Rodriguez, on the 40-man roster at the moment. The switch-hitter is sure to open the season in the minors, so GM Ben Cherington and his staff will have to bring in a starting backstop from outside the organization. They could add multiple big league pieces. At the very least, they figure to bring in a new starter and another player or two on non-roster invitations to compete with Heineman and Delay for a backup job next spring.
Today Catchers have the spotlight for sure.
Guys like Mike Zunino, Austin Hedges, and Tucker Barnhart should see their markets pick up now that Murphy and Vazquez are off the board
except those you mentioned cost more than the major league minimum, to say they’d never even be considered for a job with the Bucs
The annual Pirate dumpster diving event continues
9 major league transactions today not one by the Bucs
Cherington lost 11 players to the Rule 5 draft and only took 4 from other teams He will either have to bring guys up from their minor league camp or start signing has beens to fill out the rosters at all of the minor league teams
Aw, it’s kind of like holding with no throw aways in 5-card draw. Ben knows he’s got the winning hand Why mess with it? LOL
I’m genuinely surprised that Jed Hoyer did not sign this guy to replace Willson Contreras under the guise of “intelligence spending”.
ok
Excellent move. Him and Delay at worse can battle it out for the backup with the loser as aaa depth. I expect a real starter to be signed even if its just Barnhart, Perez, Hedges.
I expect them to be OK with Heineman and Delay (or another Minor League signing). When they break spring training, they will DL guys, and not have to DFA players they want to keep. I think the expectation is that Endy comes up about July.
I like Delay better as a Pirates fan atleast he can hit.
I must have missed his hitting but glad you like him.
Fresh-Both Heinaman and Delay are solid AAAA catchers,nothing more.
This will be deja vu if they only sign one veteran catcher and use one of them for the backup until Endy comes up.
It would be OK to do for one month if they are sure that Endy will be ready by then,but it is my understanding that he needs more work as a catcher and has spent little time in AAA.
Heinaman has yet to hit a home run for the Pirates but nevertheless still waiting for Henry and Endy.
This guy is 0 for the century, but has several foul tips.
Yes, which is why he fits in well with the Pirates philosophy of “Strike out first, ask questions later”. Yeah. “Excellent move”
Lars-He did get ten hits as a Little Leaguer in the year 2000.
This is smart. Figured he’d be one of the two. On a minor league contract, Pirates don’t have to add him to the 40-man until end of spring training. No need to rush getting the second catcher. Take whoever is available on 3/30. Most of the legit big league catchers will want a job with a better paying club. Pirates will be a last resort for most.
There are a lot of ifs for the Dodgers to be good next year. May, Gonselin have to be healthy and effective… Good luck. Pepiot or someone else has to be a reasonably good starter. Muncy and Taylor have to be better. Lux has to be able to become a good defensive shortstop. And two or three of the kids need to be able to hit major league pitching. I’m hopeful, but that’s asking a lot from players who are just trying make a major league roster. What do you think?
They’ll still be pretty good
This guy just needs more regular playing time. He’s got the numbers in aaa
Looked pretty good with the jays last year
This guy just needs more regular playing time. He’s got the numbers in gaaa
Looked pretty good with the jays last year
The pirates will be really bad again in 2023.their goal must be to get as many prospects ready to perform in the bigs by 2024 as possible.
Ideally they are getting some months of mlb time this year already so they can make some adjustments.
I wouldn’t worry about winning so much but about giving the key guys who do have a future enough playing time so you can see who is real.
Couldn’t agree more, this is the year to let the kids play and get some of the growing pains out of the way
Those young guys had last year to get their growing pains out of their respective systems and they still managed to set the franchise record for most strikeouts in a season.
Suwinsky for example had twice as many strikeouts as he had hits. That’s pathetic, the majority of his home runs, were solo shots
The team leader of doubles was Hayes followed by now traded Kevin Newman with 19.
Of those young hitters only cruz and hayes are really part of the future, guys like suwinski were experimental guys that you hoped could turn into bottom of the lineup or solid bench guys.
The real guys that you hope to pan out apart from hayes and cruz are still in the minors (endy, davis, peguero, Gonzalez). If 4 out of those 6 guys become good you could have a nice hitting core that you could build around, especially if other prospects join them in the next 1-2 years and you add one or two in free agency.
Domingo, I hope you’re right. Truth be told, none of the guys who came up look to be perennial all stars or guys who can push the team out of the doldrums.
Cruz obviously has upside but needs plate discipline, and understanding of pitch counts. A long way to go as a fielder.
Hayes is a strong fielder, no doubt, but I’m not sure he’ll ever qualify as a strong hitter
Like many fans, I know nothing about what’s on the farm and hope you are right. I notice you don’t mention Swaggerty and a couple others whose names are mentioned
Here’s the thing, again. 2022 was that year for many of these kids to get their “growing pains” out of the way. I’m expecting the same this coming season
Where I differ with some fans is the simple fact that it’s not growing pains at all
They are who they are
An upgrade over the scrap heap that gets signed, but not a group that’s going to compete anytime soon
perfectly stated, Dude !
I suspect that after another “really bad” season, there will be some clamoring for another season of sorting things out in 2024 to see who is real
Many of the kids currently at the MLB level were here for 3/4 of the season in 2022
It wasn’t pretty. As a fan who watches this team game in and game out, you want to see instruction, learning and above all, progress
I can name the progress: Mitch Keller
That was about it
But let’s keep pounding that “they’ll be competitive in 2024” drum
Maybe the kids who are still on the way up will be more refined and maybe someone on the staff will step up and actually teach
and my other concern is if 2023 becomes another 2022, the rebuilding will continue and it will be another few years before we see a competitive team
Paul- They need to win at least 75 games for the season to be successful.
Shelton’s contract is up after the 2023 season, I suspect himself and his hitting coach staff will not return in 2024 if there’s no sign of improvement
As Yogi once said It’s Deja vu all over again
Mitch Keller always had talent, he just needed to mature as a pitcher while not solely depending on his fastball. I’m not even sure Oscar Moran’s coaching made a difference considering there’s other pitchers his age that digressed last year
Our hitting coach failed to help Cruz if you recall, Dude, which prompted Cruz to hire his own coach.
@fre5h: For the record, Heineman had 34 hits and Delay had 33 hits. Heineman hit .217 and Delay hit .213. Throw in the 14 hits by Perez, and 5 more by Knapp, and our catchers had 86 hits. There may have been a few more, but I can’t remember who else caught a a game.
You forgot Van Meter, Mr super utility player, he caught at least one game last year
86 hits and over 100 strikeouts, to go along with 10 homers and less than 30 runs batted in
yes quite a stellar offensive performance
They could maybe go sign Hedges for his defense, but he hit .163.
a .163 batting average would be in line with that of former Pirates catcher Mike Pérez
As long as he can handle the pitching staff, offense isn’t important or necessary for that matter
I hope Jason Kendall doesn’t see that.
I was referring to the current ownership
Okay. Got it. btw, I sure miss Kendall.
I agree. Budget on Kendall. Before his injury he was a force to be reckoned with