The Pirates have agreed to terms on a minor league deal with catcher Dom Nunez, per their transaction log at MLB.com. The ALIGND Sports client will be assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis.
Nunez, 28, was released by the Cubs over the weekend but quickly found a new home with the Pirates organization. The former Rockies backstop hit .216/.367/.366 in 147 plate appearances with the Cubs’ top affiliate in Des Moines, drawing a walk in a whopping 17.4% of his plate appearances but also striking out at an untenable 27.5% clip.
A sixth-round pick back in 2013, Nunez has a career .229/.346/.433 batting line in parts of three Triple-A seasons but has managed only a .180/.280/.373 output in 347 Major League plate appearances. He’s belted a dozen homers, 16 doubles and three triples in that time, showing above-average power, but Nunez’s 34% strikeout rate as a big leaguer has been too large an obstacle to overcome thus far.
Nunez’s career 29% caught-stealing rate (minors and majors combined) is better than average, although like many catchers, he’s seen a dip following rule changes that have emboldened baserunners. He’s sitting at 23% in Triple-A this year. He regularly graded as a plus framer earlier in his minor league career, per Baseball Prospectus, although his marks have dipped closer to average this season. Statcast credits him as slightly above-average in terms of both framing and blocking throughout the 826 innings he’s caught at the MLB level.
The Pirates traded catcher Austin Hedges to the Rangers prior to the deadline, paving the way for top prospects Endy Rodriguez and Henry Davis to get more playing time behind the plate. (Davis has played almost exclusively in right field in the Majors.) That trade and the pair of promotions thinned out Pittsburgh’s depth in the upper minors, so it’s not all that surprising to see the Bucs scoop up an experienced catcher to provide some depth. Between Rodriguez, Davis and Jason Delay, the Pirates have three catching options on the current big league roster. That jams up Nunez’s path to the big leagues, but he should get playing time in Indianapolis alongside 2018 fifth-rounder Grant Koch — and he’ll be an option if the Bucs wind up needing to tap into their catching depth for any reason.
Rodriguez is a bust and Davis has looked ridiculous. Nunez will easily be the starter in 2024
Slider without brains, Endy has only been playing for a brief period in the majors and Davis is being trained to play right field
You’ve never been right about anything Pirate related including your prediction that Cutch would be gone at the trade deadline
Teams were reluctant to part with cash considerations and were just waiting for his DFA.
TheMan3, pay no attention to the flies like this that are a nuisance at the picnic.
Endy and Davis are going to be just fine but given the back up options, you can’t blame the Pirates for adding a guy with some experience
I won’t be surprised to see him get a call up in the next few days because gee, Endy might need a rest
The only player who should be considered for rest is Suwinski. He goes into prolonged slumps and strikes out too often to contribute to the offense
It still makes my blood boil that Shelton allowed him to bat against a left handed pitcher in last night’s game when we were only up by one run in the 7th inning. Davis or Joe should have been used as a pinch hitter
I listen to the broadcasters rave about his power but what good is it if he doesn’t make contact with the ball?
I said this on another thread but will repeat it in the name of boiling blood
Anyone who watched the 9th inning of Monday’s game saw Bednar bringing extra heat, hitting the gun at 99 at times.
You had to be impressed by the Braves approach, from Harris and then the top of the order. Bednar gave up a run and got the save, but every Braves hitter was on Bednar
Last night, I get why you bring Bednar in the game even after an incredible showing from Jackson. He’s your closer. This is his role
What I don’t get is giving the 3rd base line to Braves batters in a 1-run game in the 9th, especially knowing they’re the best hitting team in baseball and after Monday night
Just who is the idiot positioning players in the field?
The rest is history, of course. They play Delay, bat a guy who is woeful against left handers…and fall asleep in positioning.
A sickening loss
There was a few times during last season when another pitcher was used as the closer because Bednar had pitched in the previous two games.
You’re right, @ Cornwhisperer, the Braves hitters were able to adjust to Bednar’s heat which should be concerning to management but Shelton is too concerned about giving Endy, Joe and Davis a day to really care
I’ve defended Suwinski here on MLBTR, and he’s still performing (slightly) above average according to advanced stats, but yeah…. WTF is Shelton thinking letting him face a lefty in a key situation with Joe & Davis on the bench?
I’m also gonna do the honorable thing and accept Corn and TheMan were right about Jack’s inability to swing at a bad pitch.
Still think he has a chance of All-Star level production due to his fielding and running, but he needs to learn how to choose a pitch to hit instead of always waiting for the full count.
The problem with him being at a full count more often than not he tends to swing at the next pitch no matter where it’s located and misses
He does have great potential, but he leads the league in strikeouts while looking.
It’s almost as if the pitch isn’t right down the middle of the plate he ignores it completely
When pitches are thrown at the upper right side of the plate he ignores those too, when he could easily bat the ball foul just to keep him alive.
It is apparent he doesn’t have an understanding of the strike zone and at 24 with almost 2 years of major league experience, he has to learn it before he becomes one trick pony. Home runs or Ks
We’ll find out in tonight’s game if Suwinski has learned anything from last night’s game since he’s in the lineup against a left handed pitcher
It’s almost as if Shelton wants to lose
Oh I’m not giving up on the kid, Terrier. I actually do think he’s a huge piece of their core and think he’ll be alright. But hitters are made in the off season. I would hope he goes the route of Cruz and hires a competent instructor/coach.
He’s 4 for his last 40 ABs, has already exceeded his strike out totals from last year (121) and for the 2nd consecutive season, he almost has twice as many ks as hits (65)
If he doesn’t hire a personal hitting coach in the offseason, he won’t get much better any time soon
Endy Has been anything but a bust. Davis is being transitioned to RF with his arm and has shown he can throw runners out. Needs reps to handled oddly hit balls without thinking about it is all he needs. Gutierrez is going to end up being the 2nd catcher with Endy. He is in AA right now.
Let’s hope Davis can be more than Craig Wilson who promised so much as a power hitting catcher to RF conversion.
Thinking he will be much more than Wilson was. I think that the Pirates expect his bat to play and want to have both his bat and Endy’s bat in the lineup most every game moving forward.
Are you trying for the most stupid post of the day?
You’re lucky I’m even commenting on anything to do with the Pirates.
Actually we’re luckier when we don’t see your name on anything Pirates.
Probably more of a blessing than lucky
I’m stunned someone upvoted this post. Unless of course he upvoted his own post.
To slider with fumunga cheese you must be a maganuts…or a simple nut
Plus framer baby, gotta find more reasons to sit Rodriguez and Davis
MINOR LEAGUE DEAL. This is roster filler / we have a temporary depth gap signing. If Bins had been healthy all year he would be the AAA depth. Nothing to see here.
Known for defense, doesn’t hit major league pitching. Seems like the guy that was just traded. Southern is right, this is depth and nothing else
Heck yeah Pirates are going to the super bowl now!!!
No need to get worked up about a milb depth option.
Delay is the backup OR depth person as of now. If he were pressed into starting I could see him being a close to average catcher.
Endy is the starter and has done a decent job. even with as bad as his small sample looks to the passer by, it really isn’t that bad.
IMO Davis would be catching more but that arm is pure gold. You can gripe about his hitting right now. IMO he is striking out to much for what he is, His swing looks more aggressive than I remember. I think he’ll catch on though
on all of them not much of a mlb sample size to say one way or another if they’ll meet their expectations or not. Just about enough sample to find where adjustments might need to be made.
Delay doesn’t bring enough to any game for him to be the backup. He has a poor arm and strikes out way too much though he is better at the plate than Hedges was but the bar is so low to begin with
Suwinski extends his league leading strikeouts while looking which needs to be asked, are these players taught to protect the plate at all costs or are do they not have an idea where the strike zone even is?
122ks and counting
And after watching Keller, Priester has decided that leaving pitches out over the middle of the plate is a good idea
It’s contagious cornwhisperer
Selby though so far seems to be the real deal
Shelton did it again, allowing Suwinski to bat against a lefty while there was a right handed hitter on the bench during the bottom of the 8th inning down one run
Jack accomplished what he does best, he swung at a pitch nowhere close to the strike zone
He had 3 ks last night
In Suwinski’s defense, the plate ump truly screwed him with strike calls on at least 3 occasions last night. I mean, sheesh.
He is showing progress against lefties, however incremental
Davis sure looked green last night
No way the Braves should have scored the go ahead run as he had momentum to the fly ball and the resulting throw would have been stronger. And his last at bat was like taking candy from a baby. Whiffed on a spin pitch down and caught looking on a fastball with movement to the outside corner
Shame. They could easily be looking at a sweep of the Braves today but instead have to hope for a split
Davis should have called for the fly ball that led to the go ahead run as he was coming forward and would have thrown a more accurate shot at getting Harris at the plate
I agree that the umpire’s strike zone was wider than normal but Suwinkski still needs to learn how to protect the plate and stop swinging at pitches above the zone
How is he showing improvement against lefties, he struck out 3 times against them last night
And his last AB against a lefty should have been pinch hit. There was still a right handed bat available, but I blame that on Shelton
A few days ago I defended having Williams in the lineup but have to admit I was wrong
He’s out of his element at the major league level
First off, you’ll no doubt notice that Endy is again is not in the lineup today. Guess he needs a rest. Again
The kid has fire but instead of playing, he can be a cheerleader
Palacios is leading off and I believe I read he is 6 for 52 in that role. Reynolds gets to DH. At least Peguero is at SS and Triolo at 2nd
Agree 100% about Davis on the fly ball. That stuff is taught to outfielders in 8th grade but he’s apparently being asked to learn as he plays. If they’re going to sit Endy, why not catch Davis? Perhaps they have given up that idea
TheMan3, you’re absolutely right about Suwinski. All I am referring to is comparing this year to last. At least he tends to battle a bit more and his stats against lefties in the past couple months have been a bit better
I don’t have the answer where Suwinski is concerned. While Hayes hitting two homers this series has been nice to see, he’s generally not the power guy here
Occasionally Reynolds hits one (actually thought Acuna trapped that long fly ball in the 9th last night against the wall) but who are the run producers here going forward?
For this very reason, they’re not going to give up on Suwinski.
100% right about Davis but
Delay has probably the worst arm as a catcher this team has had since Barajas though at least he could hit
I don’t understand Shelton’s logic in sitting Endy after a night game. It’s not like the Reds used that approach to Johnny Bench when he was Endy’s age.I can see it with Hedges but not when your team still struggles to score enough runs to win games
Cutch had 2 hits yesterday and as a reward he is given today off.
Thankfully Williams isn’t playing though and wish Palacios wasn’t batting leadoff. His lineups are mind boggling
Lastly, the Pirate batters should watch intensely on how Braves batters can effectively hit the ball the other way. We have too many dead pull hitters
I wasn’t blaming Davis, it appeared that Triolo
called him off, even though Davis was in a better position to catch the ball
I also blame the positions of defenders on the coaching staff, Shelton especially
Does he teach anything to his players?
Swing and misses out of the strike zone and don’t swing at pitches in the strike zone
The theme of these young players
They played a solid game, including Jack hitting that double to help the team score a run.
If only instead of a DH they could have a DF ( designated fielder) as Palacios is a solid fielder just not a consistent hitter
And Hatch was impressive in his Bucs debut. I’m somewhat surprised Shelton kept him in for 4 innings the way he seems to change pitchers throughout any game
Since Hayes has returned from the IL, he’s been a solid hitter, unexpectedly no less, but if can sustain it, they might just surpass their win total from last year
I’m still disappointed with hitters swinging at pitches outside the zone and laying off those in the zone
But you’re right about how bad the home plate umpire was today. Part of me wants that umpire position to go digital
If anything, both Endy and Peguerro have earned their place as starters for the remainder of the season. As I said earlier, Williams is out of his element in the majors as it was good he didn’t start today.
But no doubt Shelton will reward Peguerro’s timely hits today with a day off tomorrow
I do believe they will use Hatch at some point as a starter. He deserves a chance and can’t be any worse than Falter
I think there’s a very good chance of Cruz not being quite as mobile at SS upon his return, and let’s face it, he’s not going to stick there in the long term anyway.
All the others you mentioned are 2b at best – so Williams is key to the Bucs immediate future as a genuine plus SS defender.
Before I forget, yes they played good enough during this series for a sweep but I’m sure the Braves never believed that this group of mostly raw rookies and low paid veterans could have kept each game as close as they were
The Bucs knocked their best pitcher out of the first game, having not even finished the 3rd inning
The Braves prior to this series had the 2nd lowest ERA and had given up the least number of runs by their bullpen
To go home with just a split, it’s got to be in some ways an embarrassment for them
You’re probably right about the lineup card but Rivas is 27 and shouldn’t be part of the core players of the future. Endy should be getting reps at first when he’s not catching because he is part of the core and one way or another he’s in the lineup every day
Marcano won’t be able to play for another 9-12 months. Triolo hasn’t shown any power yet and strikes out too much to be considered anything more than a utility player
Same with Bae as he and Gonzalez can compete for being the extra infielder but neither should he starters, not with how well Peguerro has played.
And with Cruz coming back, Williams can go back to Indy
Williams is out of his element, switching at 2 pitches that were 3’ off the plate
Jack just struck out without ever taking his bat off of his shoulder
If it’s Shelton’s belief that he will get any better against lefties, he’s living in fantasyland
At this point, I’m pretty sure Suwinski facing lefties is a front office led initiative where somebody (maybe BC?) still sees Jack as an everyday player.
I really don’t care for Shelton as a manager, but I think what’s going on right now as far as not playing the platoon advantage is the Buccos brass punting on the rest of this season to see what players can play where in 2024.
Does that include Williams who swings at every pitch regardless of the location?
His second AB, he swung at 2 pitches 3’ away from the plate
And there’s no excuse for Jack not to take his bat off at his shoulder on 3 pitches in the strike zone. He looked like he didn’t care