1:35pm: The Pirates announced that they’ve selected Owings’ contract and optioned Mathias to Triple-A.
10:36am: The Pirates are set to select the contract of veteran utilityman Chris Owings, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He’s not on the 40-man roster, although the Pirates have an open spot after outrighting Drew Maggi over the weekend. They’ll still need to clear a spot on the 26-man roster.
Owings, 31, is out to a strong start with the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis, batting .273/.360/.523 (121 wRC+) with a pair of homers, five doubles and a 10% walk rate (against a 26% strikeout rate) in his first 50 trips to the plate. The Pirates will be the seventh Major League team for which he’s played, and this will be the 11th season in which he’s logged at least some time on a big league roster. He’s played every position other than catcher and first base over the first decade of his big league career.
Owings hasn’t topped 68 plate appearances in a big league season since 2019 and hasn’t appeared in 100 games since the 2018 campaign. His versatility and strong Triple-A production — career .306/.347/.482 in eight seasons — regularly make him a popular depth piece on minor league contracts like the one he signed with the Pirates. Substantial playing time in the Majors has been tough to come by in recent years, however, in part due to injury but also due to substandard performance at the plate.
Though Owings was generally productive with the Rockies in 2020-21, thumb and hamstring injuries limited him to just 94 plate appearances in that time. His .298/.372/.536 batting line with Colorado was obviously quite strong, but it’s a small sample that looks like an outlier when compared to Owings’ broader track record. In nearly 2500 career trips to the plate, Owings is a .239/.287/.366 hitter — including just a .107/.254/.143 output in 68 plate appearances with the Orioles in 2022.
Presumably, Owings will take on a bench role with the Pirates, who already have a pair of righty-swinging infield/outfield pieces on the bench in Miguel Andujar and Mark Mathias. Andujar is out of minor league options, so he can’t be sent down without first clearing waivers — and even then, he’d have the right to reject the assignment in lieu of free agency due to the fact that he’s already been outrighted once in his career (earlier this year by Pittsburgh). Mathias does have one minor league option remaining, though he’s also sporting a solid .275/.370/.325 batting line in 46 plate appearances.
Maybe cutch is going IL? They had the open spot on the 40 anyways
They had the open spot yesterday, so why did they wait?
Neither Mathias or Andujar have been impressive but neither has been Castro.
The latter already has 7 errors and swings at just about every pitch.
Suwinski striking out yesterday with the bases loaded was a real gem. Marcano should have pinch hit since his swing is much shorter.
But if I had to guess, it would be Mathias that will be sent down.
Cutch wouldn’t have pinch hit yesterday if his ankle was hurting that would prevent him from running
Yeah owings is there to play short. It will be Mathias. You are right. He has the option year.
Buc – This is a fantastic move, adding a 1.048 OPS hitter to the lineup (last year never happened). He was a fan favorite in Boston, sorry to see him go but we are all rooting for him!
Should have been Shackelford. Our lineup is too RH. But need to follow through on promises to FA they sign. I’m sure they told him he’d get a chance if opportunity presented itself. Pirates are classy in that way.
Another dumpster dive project. The team is on a losing streak and can’t compete with quality opponents because the Pirates are too cheap to pay for pitching and decent depth. Real classy owner they have.
Ship is sinking and this is their answer?
An outfielder in Indy has an OPS over 1.00.
Bring up the hot bat even if he flames out in a week.
Maybe he can jump start this offense.
If you are referring to Swaggerty, he is on the IL
Josh Palacios
Dang, forgot about Josh.
We’re desperate now.
The hitting coach should be on the hot seat now since their offense has returned to 2022 form.
And Shelton batting Suwinski 6th yesterday against a lefty and was 2-18 with 10 strikeouts before the game even started shows how desperate the manager is to get the offense on track again
Need someone to play shortstop. The ones we have been playing have cost us 3 or 4 games in the last 2 weeks.
Yep… the middle infield ‘tweeners’ have collectively proven there’s not an everyday SS between them this last week. I like the group as a whole, but no doubt now that it’s collection of promising young 2B/UT guys.
If Castro isn’t booting a ground ball, he’s striking out 3 times a game.
Marcano might have had a hot start at AAA, it never carried over to the major league level.
Bae is no fleet fitting player in the field either and while he’s the team’s fastest player, he rarely uses his talents to bunt especially on a club desperate for base runners
Which all makes me believe, Shelton didn’t deserve a contract extension
Too late.
Sparky Anderson would only get so much out of this team. They are improving, but the Rays and Jays are just in another class than Pittsburgh right now and dealt the Pirates a reality check. It happens. They need to regroup and start winning tonight versus the Rockies.
Thank heavens Josh Van Meter isn’t still in the organization, although Owings is certainly a reasonable facsimile.
At least Owings can field multiple positions semi-competently; VanMeter may “play” multiple positions, but he’s not particularly good.
Sabol would have been great , can’t believe we lost him to SF
He can’t play SS. That’s what the Bucs really need at the moment.
I guess feel good story has ended with a .333 batting average and 1-k in 6 ABs – only if he hit .400 and played infield
I wonder if this is one of those.. lets call him up.. see how he does and let him go if it isn’t exciting so he can try to catch on with another team. Pirates Middle inf is kinda crowded with younger players.
They are really digging in the trash now. Owings is a .237 life time hitter with .289 OBP. His strikeouts are like 10 to every walk. Yup, this is the saving piece the Pirates need to get back to winning baseball! Ffs