Pirates utility player Chris Owings has gone unclaimed on waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Indianapolis, according to the transactions log at MLB.com. The veteran infielder has the right to decline the assignment in favor of minor league free agency; it’s unclear whether he’s done so.
Owings signed a minor league deal with the Bucs over the offseason. He got out to a strong .273/.360/.523 start in 13 games with Indianapolis. The Pirates selected his contract midway through May, marking the 11th consecutive year in which he reached the highest level. Owings saw only sporadic action, collecting just four hits (all singles) while punching out 12 times in 25 plate appearances. He was designated for assignment over the weekend.
An everyday middle infielder early in his career with the D-Backs, Owings has settled in as a well-traveled depth player over the past few seasons. He’s suited up for five clubs in as many years since leaving Arizona. Going back to the start of the 2019 campaign, he’s a .174/.254/.287 hitter in 131 big league contests.
Owings has never been a particularly imposing offensive threat. He’s made his mark with defensive flexibility and solid production in the upper minors. He carries a career .306/.347/.482 line over parts of eight Triple-A campaigns.
He’ll be missed.
(/s)
A true four a player.
Except by age 27 he made ten mill already , not bad
Seems like a player the pirates would pick up… oh wait
Too bad they couldn’t demote Shelton, he’s part of the problem
His lineups are absurd
The fastest player on the team regularly bats 8th in the order
The 2 best hitters against lefties bat 5th and 6th.
Connor Joe doesn’t put the ball in play enough to be batting 3rd
Your top run producer shouldn’t be batting 2nd
He pinch hit for Joe, Marcano gets a hit against a righty but allows Castro to hit against the same righty pitcher that struck him out the night before. Then he allows Polacio to bat against lefty, who’s pinch hitting for another loser, Mark Mathias
What did Castro do with Hayes at 3rd and 1 out?
He struck out
Shelton rarely allows Castro to hit against righties
because his average is pathetic
TheMan3, I agree with you but will ask again, just what are the options here for the long haul? It’s a rhetorical question, of course. There are none
The Pirates are better than they were the past few years and I can appreciate that and live with it. But this is a team with a great deal of scrap, nothing more, and this is especially true of the young guys coming up
Would they be on any other MLB roster?
I’ve seen enough of guys like Joe, Castro, Bae and others to say they’d be bench players, at the very best.
We keep hearing the hype about their rebuilt farm system and the number of blue chippers who are coming but really, are you excited about any of this given what you’ve already seen?
I’m not a fan of Shelton in any way but I’ll ask again, just what are his options?
Try as I might, I just can’t see guys like Hayes, Suwinski and Marcano—not to mention their pitching staff—leading this club to be a serious contender anytime soon
Shelton probably does the best he can with the players he has but he micromanages too much.
Different lineups on any given day.
While I agree, players like Joe and Castro would be bench players anywhere else, where I think Bae deserves a longer look.
And no, I am not impressed with their supposed “ top prospects “.
I remember the hype about Will Craig, then Jack Swaggerty, Cal Mitchell and CSN.
All but Swaggerty fizzled out at the major league level.
Corn, I’m just tired of living though mediocre after mediocre after mediocre seasons
Agree with all of that, but I’ll add that I’m tired of the hype regarding “the brighter days ahead”. If mediocrity is that brighter era, fine. I’ll even take 75-85 wins a year over the next few years over the 60 and 62 we’ve seen
But to placate a long-suffering fan base with the promises of a strong farm system that is rife with budding superstars is almost insulting
I get it. It’s way too early to think we’ve seen the upside of guys like Hayes and Cruz. Maybe even Suwinski
But nothing here has illustrated the idea of a team on the cusp of doing big things. The guys landing here are not cut from the same cloth as prospects that the Orioles or truthfully, even the Reds have coming up
And why do you think that the O’s and Reds’ prospects are conceivably better than those in the Pirates’ system?
Granted BC has only been the GM since 2019, that’s still 4 years that his draftees should be making significant strides
Only Henry Davis and Priester stand out.
Did I miss anyone?
BC has had three drafts Even college players usually take 2-3 ,years to make it up. High school guys take 4-5 years. BC’s Gonzales, Davis and Mlodzinski are at AAA. At AA they have Jones and a couple other high draft choices. His high school pitcher picks are in A ball. They are pretty much on schedule. I don’t think that Gonzales will be very good as he strikes out too much
Davis should be very good. Mlodzinski is only a bullpen pitcher, however Jones, Solemento and perhaps Chandler look pretty good. Personally I think Cherington has done a good job of drafting talent.
None of the guys you mentioned were ever high on MLB prospect lists, except Swaggerty. Most were not even in the top 5-10 on Pirates lists. Most were Huntington guys where development of players was very bad. It is probably still too early to judge development under BC. I think trades for young guys have already produced some good players like Bednar, Suwinski and his early draft choices will start arriving this year.
Suwinski won’t live up to any hype until he learns the strike zone and can hit with some semblance of confidence against lefties
I know those other players I mentioned were drafted by Huntington, I was making the point that hype associated with them by the franchise as top prospects was nonsense
Thanks for that, Norm. What you’ve related is undoubtedly true but here in Pittsburgh, they are names that we have heard over and over
I believe Cherington is the right guy for the job and take solace in what you’ve written. We can only hope
Whomever has pushed these guys to the majors however have not pushed the kinds of players who’ll make the Pirates contenders in the foreseeable future. Hopefully BC’s guys are more in line with the polished products of development we see in other organizations. Thanks
Chris Owings was the best pitcher on the Pirates this year.
And Drew Maggi was the best hitter.
You can look it up.
And who was/is the worst batter and pitcher this season?
Anyone you want them to be.
You can look it up.
I was looking for opinions Mendoza
Well, this is no surprise, really. I mean, van Meter is gone and all
I knew that.
But I gave the best.You give the worst.
Small sample sizes
Mark Mathias, Andujar and Owings on offense
DeJong and Underwood on pitching
Castro and Mathias on defense
Shelton on being a micromanaging manager
I think that Owings is no longer a viable ML hitter.
De Jong needs to have good outings over the next two or three ones to remain a ML player.
I do not know much about Mathias,and Castro is certainly no Ozzie Smith,but keep in mind that the Pirates made the mistake in having him be the backup shortstop.The Pirates expect these guys to be able to play positions that they are not experienced in,and learn in the ML’s.
The jury is still out on Shelton inasmuch as he no longer has an awful team and better results are now expected.
I get it that they had no other option as a backup shortstop in keeping Castro but he’s still an inconsistent fielder
When the team traded for Mathias, I vividly remember comments here praising him and saying if given the opportunity he could show his offensive skills
As everyone knows, my opinion of Shelton is not very good. His endless obsession with a different lineup for every game is mindless
And he does have a better team than since becoming manager but the results remain disappointing
It’s my hope we don’t have to use DeJong in a game any time soon. It usually means we’re getting our butts kicked and they need an innings eater
Castro is not a good fielder anywhere.
They got Matthias on waivers.He had a fairly good batting average but with no power and probably was not a good fielder.
DeJong has an era comparable to Van Meter had.The only problem is that they do not have a lot of qualified candidates to replace him.He will be gone if he does not pitch well in his next few appearances.They do have some young pitchers in AAA that they may be able to bring up relatively soon at least to get them some ML experience.
The A’s series kind of makes me see doom and gloom on the horizon. The Mets just got swept, Alonso is on the DL and they’re going to miss Verlander and Scherzer in the rotation starts this time. And yet, why is it I see that as a red flag?
More importantly, they have a big road trip coming that again, with the A’s series in mind, could really spell trouble